Legacy of ashes: the history of the Central Intelligence Agency

For the last sixty years, the CIA has managed to maintain a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, burying its blunders in top-secret archives. Its mission was to know the world. When it did not succeed, it set out to change the world. Its failures have handed us, in the words of President Eisenhower, “a legacy of ashes.”Now Pulitzer Prize–winning author Tim Weiner offers the first definitive history of the CIA—and everything is on the record. LEGACY OF ASHES is based on more than 50,000 documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA itself, and hundreds of interviews with CIA veterans, including ten Directors of Central Intelligence. It takes the CIA from its creation after World War II, through its battles in the cold war and the war on terror, to its near-collapse after 9/ll.Tim Weiner’s past work on the CIA and American intelligence was hailed as “impressively reported” and “immensely entertaining” in The New York Times. The Wall Street Journal called it “truly extraordinary . . . the best book ever written on a case of espionage.” Here is the hidden history of the CIA: why eleven presidents and three generations of CIA officers have been unable to understand the world; why nearly every CIA director has left the agency in worse shape than he found it; and how these failures have profoundly jeopardized our national security.From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. Is the Central Intelligence Agency a bulwark of freedom against dangerous foes, or a malevolent conspiracy to spread American imperialism? A little of both, according to this absorbing study, but, the author concludes, it is mainly a reservoir of incompetence and delusions that serves no one's interests well. Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times correspondent Weiner musters extensive archival research and interviews with top-ranking insiders, including former CIA chiefs Richard Helms and Stansfield Turner, to present the agency's saga as an exercise in trying to change the world without bothering to understand it. Hypnotized by covert action and pressured by presidents, the CIA, he claims, wasted its resources fomenting coups, assassinations and insurgencies, rigging foreign elections and bribing political leaders, while its rare successes inspired fiascoes like the Bay of Pigs and the Iran-Contra affair. Meanwhile, Weiner contends, its proper function of gathering accurate intelligence languished. With its operations easily penetrated by enemy spies, the CIA was blind to events in adversarial countries like Russia, Cuba and Iraq and tragically wrong about the crucial developments under its purview, from the Iranian revolution and the fall of communism to the absence of Iraqi WMDs. Many of the misadventures Weiner covers, at times sketchily, are familiar, but his comprehensive survey brings out the persistent problems that plague the agency. The result is a credible and damning indictment of American intelligence policy. (Aug. 7) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Bookmarks MagazineTim Weiner, multiple Pulitzer Prize winner, longtime New York Times reporter, and the author of Betrayal: The Story of Aldrich Ames, American Spy (1995) and Blank Check: The Pentagon's Black Budget (1991) hits his marks in Legacy of Ashes. Drawing on more than 50,000 documents and 300 on-the-record interviews with key players (10 of them former directors of the agency; all of the book's many notes and quotations are attributed), Weiner treats his subject with a ruthless, journalistic eye, skewering Republican and Democratic administrations alike for the CIA's slide into mediocrity. One critic finds a weakness in Weiner's exuberant dismantling of the old guard at the expense of more contemporary analysis. Still, this is an important book that will capture the attention of anyone interested in the CIA's checkered history.Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. Content: Author's note -- pt. 1. In the beginning, we knew nothing : the CIA under Truman, 1945-1953 -- 1. Intelligence must be global and totalitarian -- 2. The logic of force -- 3. Fight fire with fire -- 4. The most secret thing -- 5. A rich blind man -- 6. They were suicide missions -- 7. A vast field of illusion -- 2. A strange kind of genius : the CIA under Eisenhower, 1953 to 1961 -- 8. We have no plan -- 9. CIA's greatest single triumph -- 10. Bomb repeat bomb -- 11. And then we'll have a storm -- 12. We ran it in a different way -- 13. Wishful blindness -- 14. Ham-handed operations of all kinds -- 15. A very strange war -- 16. He was lying down and he was lying up. pt. 3. Lost causes : the CIA under Kennedy and Johnson, 1961 to 1968 -- 17. Nobody knew what to do -- 18. We had also fooled ourselves -- 19. We'd be delighted to trade those missiles -- 20. Hey, boss, we did a good job, didn't we? -- 21. I thought it was a conspiracy -- 22. An ominous drift -- 23. More courage than wisdom -- 24. The beginning of a long slide downwards -- 25. We knew then that we could not win the war -- 26. A political H-bomb -- 27. Track down the foreign communists -- pt. 4. Get rid of the clowns : the CIA under Nixon and Ford, 1968 to 1977 -- 28. What the hell do those clowns do out there in Langley? -- 29. USG wants a military solution -- 30. We are going to catch a lot of hell -- 31. To change the concept of a secret service -- 32. A classic fascist ideal -- 33. The CIA would be destroyed -- 34. Saigon signing off -- 35. Ineffective and scared -- pt. 5. Victory without joy : the CIA under Carter, Reagan, and George H.W. Bush, 1977 to 1993 -- 36. He sought to overthrow their system -- 37. We were just plain asleep -- 38. A free-lance buccaneer -- 39. In a dangerous way -- 40. He was running a great risk -- 41. A con man's con man -- 42. To think the unthinkable -- 43. What are we going to do when the wall comes down? pt. 6. The reckoning : the CIA under Clinton and George W. Bush, 1993 to 2007 -- 44. We had no facts -- 45. Why in the world didn't we know? -- 46. We're in trouble -- 47. The threat could not be more real -- 48. The dark side -- 49. A grave mistake -- 50. The burial ceremony -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index. Here is the hidden history of the CIA: why eleven presidents and three generations of CIA officers have been unable to understand the world; why nearly every CIA director has left the agency in worse shape than he found it; and how these failures have profoundly jeopardized our national security. For sixty years, the CIA has managed to maintain a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, burying its blunders in top-secret archives. Its mission was to know the world--when it did not succeed, it set out to change the world instead. Now Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Weiner offers the first definitive history of the CIA, based on more than 50,000 documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA itself, and hundreds of interviews with CIA veterans, including ten Directors of Central Intelligence.--From publisher description. Read more... Abstract: Here is the hidden history of the CIA: why eleven presidents and three generations of CIA officers have been unable to understand the world; why nearly every CIA director has left the agency in worse shape than he found it; and how these failures have profoundly jeopardized our national security. For sixty years, the CIA has managed to maintain a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, burying its blunders in top-secret archives. Its mission was to know the world--when it did not succeed, it set out to change the world instead. Now Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Weiner offers the first definitive history of the CIA, based on more than 50,000 documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA itself, and hundreds of interviews with CIA veterans, including ten Directors of Central Intelligence.--From publisher description For the last sixty years, the CIA has managed to maintain a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, burying its blunders in top-secret archives. Its mission was to know the world. When it did not succeed, it set out to change the world. Its failures have handed us, in the words of President Eisenhower, a legacy of ashes. Now Pulitzer Prizewinning author Tim Weiner offers the first definitive history of the CIAand everything is on the record. LEGACY OF ASHES is based on more than 50,000 documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA itself, and hundreds of interviews with CIA veterans, including ten Directors of Central Intelligence. It takes the CIA from its creation after World War II, through its battles in the cold war and the war on terror, to its near-collapse after September 11th, 2001. Tim Weiners past work on the CIA and American intelligence was hailed as impressively reported and immensely entertaining in The New York Times . The Wall Street Journal called it truly extraordinary . . . the best book ever written on a case of espionage. Here is the hidden history of the CIA: why eleven presidents and three generations of CIA officers have been unable to understand the world; why nearly every CIA director has left the agency in worse shape than he found it; and how these failures have profoundly jeopardized our national security. Intelligence must be global and totalitarian The logic of force Fight fire with fire The most secret thing A rich blind man They were suicide missions A vast field of illusion We have no plan CIA's greatest single triumph Bomb repeat bomb And then well have a storm We ran it in a different way Wishful blindness Ham-handed operations of all kinds A very strange war He was lying down and he was lying up Nobody knew what to do We had also fooled ourselves We'd be delighted to trade those missiles Hey, boss, we did a good job, didnt we? I thought it was a conspiracy An ominous drift More courage than wisdom The beginning of a long slide downwards we knew then that we could not win the war A political H-bomb Track down the foreign communists What the hell do those clowns do out there in Langley? USG wants a military solution We are going to catch a lot of hell To change the concept of a secret service A classic fascist ideal The CIA would be destroyed Saigon signing off Ineffective and scared He sought to overthrow their system We were just plain asleep A free-lance buccaneer In a dangerous way He was running a great risk A con mans con man To think the unthinkable What are we going to do when the wall comes down? We had no facts Why in the world didn't we know? We're in trouble The threat could not be more real A grave mistake It's broken The burial ceremony. Here is the hidden history of the CIA: why eleven presidents and three generations of CIA officers have been unable to understand the world; why nearly every CIA director has left the agency in worse shape than he found it; and how these failures have profoundly jeopardized United States national security. For sixty years, the CIA has managed to maintain a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, burying its blunders in top-secret archives. Its mission was to know the world - when it did not succeed, it set out to change the world instead. The author offers the first definitive history of the CIA, based on more than 50,000 documents, primarily from the archives of the CIA itself, and hundreds of interviews with CIA veterans, including ten Directors of Central Intelligence. With shocking revelations that made headlines in papers across the country, Pulitzer-Prize-winner Tim Weiner gets at the truth behind the CIA and uncovers here why nearly every CIA Director has left the agency in worse shape than when he found it; and how these profound failures jeopardize our national security. From the Trade Paperback edition Traces The History Of The Cia From The End Of World War Ii To Iraq, In A Study That Condemns The Organization For Its Record, Its Inability To Understand World Affairs, The Violence It Has Unleashed, And Its Undermining Of American Politics.