Baclawski, Joseph A. "A Basic Intelligence Need: The Best Map of Moscow." Studies in Intelligence (1997): 111-114.
Baclawski, Joseph A. "A Basic Intelligence Need: The Best Map of Moscow." Studies in Intelligence (1997): 111-114.
"This is the story of how the CIA developed [the best unclassified general reference] map [of Moscow] to fill a basic intelligence gap."
Gup, Ted.
1. "Star Agents." Washington Post Magazine, 7 Sep. 1997, 6-13, 22-23. "Over the Years, Terrorists' Bombs, Machine-Gun Fire, Snipers' Bullets, Plane Crashes, Land Mines and Torture Have All Added Stars to the Book of Honor." Washington Post Magazine, 7 Sep. 1997. [http://www.washingtonpost.com]
The author's rather silly emphasis on the relationship between the unnamed stars on the CIA's Wall of Honor and the continued existence of some "culture of secrecy" is more than minimally annoying. However, when the seemingly mandatory anti-CIA guff is stripped away, the stories told of six of the individuals whose names are not among the 29 openly listed in the Book of Honor (out of a total of 70 stars) are worth reading for a glimpse at ordinary and extraordinary people who gave the last full measure in the service of their country.
2. "CIA Officer's Name to Be Added To Honored Dead After 32 Years." Washington Post, 8 Sep. 1997, A6.
"The CIA [on 5 September 1997] informed the family of a covert officer killed in action 32 years ago that his name will be added to the agency's Book of Honor, the public registry of clandestine employees who gave their lives in service to the nation.
"The officer, Mike Maloney, was one of 41 CIA casualties memorialized only by an anonymous star in the book, which is on permanent display in the lobby of CIA headquarters and which was the subject of an article in [the 7 September 1997] Washington Post Magazine.
"Maloney, 25, died Oct. 12, 1965, when the helicopter in which he was a passenger crashed in the jungles of Laos."
Haines, Gerald K. "The CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90." Studies in Intelligence (Semiannual ed. 1, 1997): 67-84. Reprinted as "A Die-Hard Issue: CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90." Intelligence and National Security 14, no. 2 (Summer 1999): 26-49.
"The idea that CIA has secretly concealed its research into UFOs has been a major theme of UFO buffs since the modern UFO phenomena emerged in the late 1940s.... [Nevertheless,] while Agency concern over UFOs was substantial until the early 1950s, CIA has since paid only limited and peripheral attention to the phenomena." [footnote omitted]
Helgerson, John. Getting to Know the President: CIA Briefings of Presidential Candidates, 1952-1992. Washington, DC: Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, 1995.
In his "Foreword," Andrew calls this "an important and original book.... Helgerson provides the first detailed account of the way in which Agency briefers have attempted, with varying success, to adapt briefings to the different experience, priorities, and working patterns of successive presidents." Surveillant 4.4/5 exclaims, "Never before has the Agency disclosed much about the briefing of these presidents." Jonkers, AIJ 17.1/2, calls the work "[i]lluminating, interesting and recommended."
Clark comment: The book's importance may be arguable, but at a minimum it is original and, even more, it is certainly interesting. In light of all the uproar that would occur in later years over the hostage issue, it is worthy of note that the subject never came up in either the preelection or transition briefings of Reagan.
Text of Helgerson's monograph is available at the Web site of the CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence: https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/cia-briefings-of-presidential-candidates/index.htm.
Hulnick, Arthur S. "Openness: Being Public About Secret Intelligence." International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 12, no. 4 (Winter 1999): 463-483.
"[T]he American intelligence system has become the most open of any in the industrialized world."
Kessler, Ronald. Inside the CIA: Revealing the Secrets of the World's Most Powerful Spy Agency. New York: Pocket Books, 1992.
Clark comment: Kessler's Inside the CIA is divided into five parts, one each for the four directorates and a fifth covering the Office of the Director of Central Intelligence. Kessler makes clear, both in the obligatory "Acknowledgements" and an "Author's Note," that DCI William Webster afforded him "limited cooperation" (pp. xi, xviii) in preparing the book.
Surveillant 2.6 comments that there is "considerable regurgitation of old offenses some of which are supported, others not." The book has a "good chapter on the Career Training Program." Although it contains "many undocumented assertions..., [i]n total, Inside the CIA does make an interesting and valuable contribution ... but ... it falls far short of the expectations raised by the advertising copywriters."
For Macartney, Intelligencer 10.1, this "is an easy read with a lot of information, history, trade craft, and so on." However, it "is getting out of date." Bates, NIPQ 9.2, says he "found nothing new or startling," but thinks Kessler is "fairly supportive of the CIA."
Fein, FILS 12.1, notes that Kessler tends to "make uninformed judgments of the agency ... on issues worthy of more serious discussion." Many of Kessler's "verdicts are either groundless or seriously arguable" and the book's "analytical and factual errors ... are serious barriers to sophisticated understanding."
According to Peake, AIJ 14.1, "[n]o secrets are exposed.... Ranelagh's book provides more on what was done" even though "Kessler is ... several years more current." Nevertheless, this is the "well-written product of an enterprising journalist who has provided a good overview of the functional organization sprinkled with interesting anecdotal material." The author's "statement that the security guards carry machine guns and wear park ranger hats will bring chuckles to those performing security duties." In addition, the book is an "unabashed tribute to the Judge ... [and] has enough factual errors to convince most readers to be weary [sic] of undocumented claims."
NameBase finds that "[w]hile Ronald Kessler is not a critic of U.S. intelligence agencies, neither is he an unqualified booster. The strength of this book is that he's the first outsider to be allowed inside for a tour of CIA headquarters, and granted interviews with present and former CIA officials, for the specific purpose of writing it.... He blends a bit of historical context (including some dirty laundry) with a description of day-to-day operations, and the result is worthwhile even for those ... who have read dozens of books about the CIA."
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