Company Man : Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA

From the “most influential career lawyer in CIA history” (Los Angeles Times) an unprecedented memoir filled with never-before-told stories from his thirty-year career at the center of the U.S. government’s intelligence program (1976-2009).In 1975, fresh out of law school and working a numbing job at the Treasury Department, John Rizzo took “a total shot in the dark” and sent his résumé to the Central Intelligence Agency. He had no notion that more than thirty years later, after serving under eleven CIA directors and seven presidents, he would become a notorious public figure—a symbol and a victim of the toxic winds swirling in post-9/11 Washington. From serving as the point person answering for the Iran-contra scandal to approving the rules that govern waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques,” John Rizzo witnessed and participated in virtually all of the significant operations of the CIA’s modern history. In Company Man, Rizzo charts the CIA’s evolution from shadowy entity to an organization exposed to new laws, rules, and a seemingly neverending string of public controversies. Rizzo offers a direct window into the CIA in the years after the 9/11 attacks, when he served as the agency’s top lawyer, with oversight of actions that remain the subject of intense debate today. In Company Man, Rizzo is the first CIA official to ever describe what “black sites” look like from the inside and he provides the most comprehensive account ever written of the “torture tape” fiasco surrounding the interrogation of Al Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah and the birth, growth, and death of the enhanced interrogation program. Spanning more than three decades, Company Man is the most authoritative insider account of the CIA ever written—a groundbreaking, timely, and remarkably candid history of American intelligence. From the most influential career lawyer in CIA history ( Los Angeles Times ) an unprecedented memoir filled with never-before-told stories from his thirty-year career at the center of the U.S. governments intelligence program (1976-2009). In 1975, fresh out of law school and working a numbing job at the Treasury Department, John Rizzo took a total shot in the dark and sent his rsum to the Central Intelligence Agency. He had no notion that more than thirty years later, after serving under eleven CIA directors and seven presidents, he would become a notorious public figurea symbol and a victim of the toxic winds swirling in post-9/11 Washington. From serving as the point person answering for the Iran-contra scandal to approving the rules that govern waterboarding and other enhanced interrogation techniques, John Rizzo witnessed and participated in virtually all of the significant operations of the CIAs modern history. In Company Man , Rizzo charts the CIAs evolution from shadowy entity to an organization exposed to new laws, rules, and a seemingly neverending string of public controversies. Rizzo offers a direct window into the CIA in the years after the 9/11 attacks, when he served as the agencys top lawyer, with oversight of actions that remain the subject of intense debate today. In Company Man , Rizzo is the first CIA official to ever describe what black sites look like from the inside and he provides the most comprehensive account ever written of the torture tape fiasco surrounding the interrogation of Al Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah and the birth, growth, and death of the enhanced interrogation program. Spanning more than three decades, Company Man is the most authoritative insider account of the CIA ever writtena groundbreaking, timely, and remarkably candid history of American intelligence. The "revealing" ( The New Yorker ) insider history of the CIA from a lawyer with a "front-row seat on the hidden world of intelligence" ( The Washington Post ). Former CIA director George J. Tenet called Company Man a "must read." Over the course of a thirty-four-year (1976-2009) career, John Rizzo served under eleven CIA directors and seven presidents, ultimately becoming a controversial public figure and a symbol and victim of the toxic winds swirling in post-9/11 Washington. In Company Man , Rizzo charts the CIA's evolution from shadowy entity to an organization exposed to new laws, rules, and a seemingly never-ending string of public controversies. As the agency's top lawyer in the years after the 9/11 attacks, Rizzo oversaw actions that remain the subject of intense debate, including the rules governing waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation techniques." Rizzo writes about virtually every significant CIA activity and controversy over a tumultuous, thirty-year period. His experiences illuminate our nation's spy bureaucracy, offering a unique primer on how to survive, and flourish, in a high-powered job amid decades of shifting political winds. He also provides the most comprehensive account of critical events, like the "torture tape" fiasco surrounding the interrogation of Al Qaeda suspect Abu Zubayadah, and the birth, growth, and death of the enhanced interrogation program. Company Man is the most authoritative insider account of the CIA ever written—a groundbreaking, timely, and remarkably candid history of American intelligence. This is "emphatically a book for anyone who cares about the security of this country" ( The Wall Street Journal ). In 1975, fresh out of law school and working at the Treasury Department, John Rizzo took "a total shot in the dark" and sent his résumé to the Central Intelligence Agency. He had no notion that more than thirty years later, after serving under eleven CIA directors and seven presidents, he would become a notorious public figure--a symbol and a victim of the toxic winds of post-9/11 Washington. From serving as the point person answering for the Iran-contra scandal to approving the rules that govern waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation techniques," Rizzo witnessed and participated in virtually all of the significant operations of the CIA's modern history. Here, he charts the CIA's evolution from shadowy entity to an organization exposed to new laws, rules, and a seemingly never-ending string of public controversies. Rizzo offers a direct window into the CIA in the years after 9/11, when he served as the agency's top lawyer, with oversight of actions that remain the subject of intense debate. He is the first CIA official to ever describe what "black sites" look like from the inside and he provides the most comprehensive account ever written of the birth, growth, and death of the enhanced interrogation program. This authoritative insider account is a groundbreaking, timely, and remarkably candid history of American intelligence.--From publisher description At the intersection of politics, law and national security--from "protect us at all costs" to "what the hell have you guys been up to, anyway?"--A lawyer's life in the CIA. Under seven presidents and 11 different CIA directors, Rizzo rose to become the CIA's most powerful career attorney. Given the agency's dangerous and secret mission, spotting and deterring possible abuses of law, offering guidance and protecting personnel from legal jeopardy was, and remains, no easy task. The author accumulated more than 30 years of war stories, and he tells most of them