Smith, Russell Jack. The Unknown CIA: My Three Decades with the Agency. Washington, D.C.: Pergamon-Brassey's, 1989. Berkeley Press, 1991. [pb]
1. John A. McCone
2. William F. Raborn, Jr.
Smith, Russell Jack. The Unknown CIA: My Three Decades with the Agency. Washington, D.C.: Pergamon-Brassey's, 1989. Berkeley Press, 1991. [pb]
Former DDI R. Jack Smith died on 27 April 2009 at the age of 95. See Rebekah Davis, "Russell Jack Smith CIA Deputy Director," Washington Post, 10 May 2009, C7. See also, Nicholas Dujmovic, "Russell Jack Smith, Giant of CIA Analysis, Dies at 95," Studies in Intelligence 53, no. 2 (Jun. 2009): 1-3.
Clark comment: Smith served as Deputy Director of Intelligence (DDI) 1966-1971.
Richard Helms, A Look Over My Shoulder (2003), 386/fn., calls Smith's book "an excellent text on the Directorate of Intelligence, and a fundamental document in CIA history." For Lowenthal, the book has "some useful detail on key analytical issues" through the mid-1970s and contains "a detailed and sympathetic portrait of DCI Raborn." The book gets a "highly recommended" rating from Surveillant 2.2; it gives a "rare glimpse into the analytic hub of the CIA." However, there are "some factual errors."
Wark, I&NS 6.2, believes that Smith's memoirs are "relatively unrevealing about the man, and function more as a kind of insider's history of the institution that he served." The work helps reinforce the perception that "the working relationship between intelligence assessment and presidential politics has scarcely been sorted out."
To Stein, CIRA Newsletter, Fall 2000, Smith "describes the [analysis] process vividly and enhances it with descriptions of his personal interactions with policymakers of the five administrations he served.... And he relates the often amusing, sometimes harrowing experiences he encountered in a lively, sometimes droll manner that is a delight to read."
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