Agencies

the book Bay of Pigs Declassifieied is very good it don't have quit all the facts in that it don't say one word about the small unit of guerrillas that I was in charge of we worked behind the lines to clear and hold a landing spot for troops that never came. the hole unite was captured and all but my self was killed including my interpter a young Cuban girl code name Louise she died so bravely she saved many lives by not telling where some of them were. I have tried to find some of her family and friends. but being short on money and not realy knowing where to look makes it all most imposable. she also saved my life and I would like to see her name in some of the books about the BAY OF PIGS INVASION

A fascinating post-mortem on the Bay of Pigs operation and all the more so because it was done internally by the CIA Inspector General. Suppressed for three decades because of its remarkably blunt honesty this book will have you shaking your head. A perfect example of why the 'best and the brightest' are not always so. I found it enlightening and humorous at the same time. Not one of the best run CIA operations by any means.

this is my second report on the book bay of pigs declassified as I don't think my first was quite fair I found fault in that he didn't say any thing about my unit of 45 people I think we were the only ones know one knew about. every one else had been given away. but that didn't help we were caught and killed any how all but myself that is. to get back to mister Peter Kornbluh's book it was a very fine piece of work and he must have done much work to get so much info and to get it right. thanks for the chance to tell what I think about this very good book.

Unfortunately for readers who were not alive at the height of detente, this book offers little explanation of the KGB's primary motive for engaging detente; the hope of exploiting intelligence collection opportunities against the U.S. and its allies. Numerous former KGB agents have revealed the Soviets true intent at the very beginning of detente. Subsequent efforts by U.S. agencies to end detente were born of a very serious threat to U.S. national security. Place the blame squarely where it belongs - in the lap of the KGB.

This is a very readable, interesting book written on a topic that few of us as ordinary citizens have been informed about - yet it has impacted our security, our international policy and our financial future for decades to come!! I appreciated the author's efforts to speak directly with so many of those involved in the process at the time rather than relying solely on the declassified documents . The author's efforts to give a thorough and well rounded view of this episode in history make this one of those books that should be read by historians and lay-folk alike !! I recommend it highly.

Well written, easy to read, fascinating subject about efforts by conservatives to destroy detente between the US and the USSR in the mid-1970s. Interesting reading for students and laypersons. Cahn unearthed lots of formerly classified documents.

I guess I wasn't looking for real literature when I picked up this book, but then again I was looking for something a little less....well, fluffy. The characters were all two-dementional (barely) and stereotypical (you could pick out the bad guys from their first words), the story was contrived (you spend the first few pages waiting for the mighty to fall and then spent the rest of the time waiting around until they come back to the top), and the glimse into the real world of modeling I expected was something I'd read in a tabloid or seen on E! many times before....however I was sucked in until the end. The sub-plots weren't finely woven additions to the story, but simply after-thoughts added to assist the ending. Borrow this for mindless reading on the beach...don't waste your money.

I thought The Look was an excellent book and I just recommended it to a friend. It is surprising and original and I'm glad I got the chance to read it.

This book has kept me going like no other book I have ever read. Nina Blanchard does an excellent job of exposing th real modeling world. The characters and storyline are so real you wouldn't know it was fiction. I definately would recoend this boo to anyone.

I will begin by stating that I have a major problem with the book. Savas skews his own statistics in order to push readers into supporting the privatization of our nation's public sector. His book focuses entirely on the private sector's greater efficiency over the public sector without addressing many other important issues. If you want a very one sided book that is pro-privatization, then buy this one. If, however, you would like a book that seeks to enlighten readers with facts and allows them to make their own decision on the matter, then find another book.

Is awesome to see ideas outside the mainstream. Most people today like monarchy. Kings are obsolete. Let people do as they please and the inefficiency will be squirted free like bad zits. Rmoving the rules that govern is privatization. Privatizing education alone would lead to much smarter people. Let all the rules that restrain people from creating good go away. Watch life improve. think different. Think freedom of action from the rules of the king.

Being a real rebel is thinking different. Thats what this author does. Get rid of rules of the goverment. Let private owners decide. These ways of releasing people lead to hugely improved results. Awesome read. Media will want to burn this book. It explodes all collectivist works.

This is a well written and informative book on Elizabeth Bentley and the ex-communist witnesses of the Red Scare period of the 1940s (and 1950s). Based on a rather narrow base of primary sources, while Olmsted appears to believe most of Bentley's fingering of communists, spies or otherwise, there is much still problematic in her story. She does not make the case that the "spies" posed any real threat to the security and stability of the country in the 1930s or during World War II, although some certainly existed and shared information, nuclear and otherwise, with the Soviety Union. Olmsted describes a most unstable woman, whose veracity is certainly questionable. And she underscores that spying ended with Bentley's public revelations at the end of World War II, long before the "McCarthy" Red Scare period of the early 1950s, as other historians have recently argued.

I was amazed that this book would be such a delight to read. Initially, the historical research is well narrated, maintaining the suspense, danger, and the confusion behind the real life espionage of Elizabeth Bentley. Kathryn Olmsted displays an enjoyable interest in the vocabulary of the time, and is not shy to weave a moral into the story, as lasciviousness trumps cleverness. This book is a great resource on the fascinating history of the puzzle called the "Red Scare". As the Russians open their archives, the truth can be sought from a new light. Kathryn Olmsted pieces together Elizabeth Bentley's life, exaggerations, and manipulations in the sordid web of spies testifying against spies amidst political ambition and posturing of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. Honestly, I couldn’t put the book down.

Red Spy Queen: A Biography of Elizabeth Bentley
By Kathryn S. Olmsted
University of North Carolina Press, 2002

Reviewed by Kenneth R. Kahn

"Either the government attacks you or they put you on the payroll" Chris Warnock

The long trail of bread crumbs leading to American communists acting as Soviet agents inside the U.S. government and the beginnings of the red scare in the 1950s leads to one woman--Elizabeth Bentley.

Long before the revelations of the Venona cables, Elizabeth Bentley, variously described as a spinster, neurotic, alcoholic, sexual adventuress, communist spy and FBI informant, was transmitting secrets to the Soviet Union on everything imaginable.

Elizabeth Bentley, born of New England parents, was a historic anomaly, a footnote in the history of the cold war and American communism. She brought her American character and applied it to her dealings with both Soviet agents and fellow American communists. She was one of those figures whose lifestyle intertwined with her actions and how she is portrayed by history is a direct result of this interaction.

Bentley, having followed a long, tortured and circuitous route to the FBI's field office in New Haven, Connecticut in 1945, remade American politics and led to the exposure of the top communists in America.

One of the primary themes, and intriguing concepts behind this book, is that it exposes a heretofore, seemingly unimportant person in early cold war history. Bentley's life and roller coaster like adventures stand in stark contrast to her personal appearance. Deemed by the press, 'the blond spy queen' she hardly seems to me a seductress. She seems a plain, ordinary woman by today's standards. Yet, her appearance and demeanor were pivotal to her story as a Soviet agent.

Elizabeth told her story of communist espionage activity before various congressional committees and testified as a government witness in the Rosenberg case. She managed to talk "McCall's" magazine into serializing her autobiography titled, "Out of Bondage." At first, they were leery of the former communist turned FBI informant until they spoke to FBI P.R. man Lou Nichols who gave the Bureau's approval. Amongst the lies she purported to McCalls was her self-description characterized in the headline of the June 1951 installment, "I Joined the Red Underground with the Man I Loved." In the article, she described herself as an ingenuous "college girl" despite the fact she was thirty when she met him.

In the curious case of Elizabeth Bentley, where twists and turns are the norm, as a government witness, Bentley had access to the protection of the government. In a little-known incident, the 20th century's prime mover and fixer, the infamous, gay, red-baiting Roy Cohn, came to her assistance after a beating by her live-in lover, John Wright. According to Olmsted, documented by Nicholas Von Hoffman in his seminal work, "Citizen Cohn" and an FBI memorandum dated May 13, 1952 contained in the FBI's file on Gregory Silvermaster, 65-14603-4417, Cohn told the FBI that Bentley's beating was, "the most serious problem he had faced since coming into the United States Attorney's office." As a chief witness in the William Remington case, the beating could, "ruin her career as a lecturer" (FBI memorandum from Agent Cleveland to SAC Alan Belmont, May 8, 1952, Bentley file, 134-135, no. serial), and could, "endanger the Brothman and Rosenberg convictions." The author writes, "Cohn told Elizabeth to entice Wright to New York under false pretenses. When he arrived, he was hit with the full force of the U.S. government. FBI agents whisked him to a meeting with two prosecutors and Special Agent John Danahy. U.S. Attorney Myles Lane told Wright "to get out of Bentley's life or else." He left Bentley alone.

On May 29, 1952, Elizabeth appeared before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee investigating Owen Lattimore and the Institute of Pacific Relations. McCarthy accused Lattimore of being a "top Russian spy." The Institute of Pacific Relations was accused of front activities, particularly aiding and abetting the "fall" of China.

As the anti-communist spotlight faded, so did Elizabeth's fortunes. In her later life, she taught classes at a reform school, publishing the school newspaper and avoiding the public spotlight. On November 18, 1963, at the age of fifty-five, she entered Grace New Haven Community Hospital. She was officially diagnosed with abdominal cancer but actually suffered from chronic alcoholism from years of self-abuse.

"Red Spy Queen" is an interesting, sad, twisted tale of one woman's political journey from fascism to communism to anti-communism and the human toll of political activism. It is an excellent read, an important story of a sad footnote in the history of the early cold war and that uniquely American obsession---anti-communism.

This book was a voluminous treaty on spying and the art of spies in the 20th. century, featuring an insider's view onto the british, american and russian intelligence service and stressing their inability to cope with real intelligence crisis and their aspect of ever growing paranoia. The author never really made much of a point on why it is the second oldest profession. Seeems like it is 20th century.

It is interesting to see how current events twist interpretations.

This book, copyrighted in 1986 two years after the Church Committee "declawed" the Central Intelligence Agency, concludes that spies tell us little about real or potential enemies.

They are as old as history. Delilah was one; Moses sent 12 into Canaan and Abraham Lincoln had none, so he retained the Pinkerton Detective Agency to provide intelligence. Alfred the Great was so frustrated with the information he was receiving, he disguised himself and went undercover.

Today, 16 years after what Kirkus Reviews called "perhaps the best book ever written about the business of spies and spying" we are being told the September 11th, 2001 attacks resulted from a dearth of "assets on the ground."

The author, who covered espionage for the London Sunday Times at the time he wrote this book, concludes intelligence agencies are a bureaucrat's dream - they are charged with an unclear mission, financed with undisclosed budgets and employ thousands and accomplish little. With that much at stake, Knightley argues, the rival agencies may actually connive to keep each other in business.

This is a view I doubt we will hear or see explored by today's Senate Intelligence Committee.

Phillip Knightly's THE SECOND OLDEST PROFESSION is one of the better books on secret intelligence that I've come across. He starts in the early part of the 20th century, and presents a convincing argument that the whole concept of the need for intelligence was based largely on *misinformation*. He also suggests that the Soviet's huge intelligence empire was essentially a reasonable *response* to the massive attempts of the West to overturn the Russian revolution, culminating in the failed assassination attempt on Lenin. (Imagine how history might have been different if the Russians had been initially approached with any kind of cooperation in mind!) With those beginnings, he goes on to show how the whole intelligence enterprise has essentially been a secret "comedy" of terrible errors. The main exception, perhaps, might be World War II, though even that era was no bright and shining star. His study of the Cold War era is both fascinating and well informed. This is one of the basic books for anyone interested in the subject.

Now that a bit more time has passed, it's interesting to be able fill in the blanks where this book left off (it was published about 15 years ago). In the light of news from the last several years, we can see now what some of the figures in the book could only guess. One of Kingsley's themes, you see, is that from day one, the Soviet intelligence service was consistently the real Master in this game. After a major spy was uncovered a couple decades ago, James Angleton (of the CIA) always maintained there was another mole yet to be uncovered. Angleton was somewhat ridiculed for his views, and seen as overly paranoid. Now, in 2001, we've discovered that the top counterintelligence directors in both Great Britain *and* the CIA were, in fact, Soviet spies. So, as Kingsley maintains in this book---with rare exceptions, the Soviets knew all along *everything* that they needed to know! Imagine that.

Again, highly recommended for those who like this sort of thing.

This book offers a insider's view of the intelligence community which in themselves is fascinating, but there is no way to check on its authenticity. Might this be another form of 'misinformation' by itself? Such is the paranoia that pervades the book and its historical case studies that slowly but surely indoctrinates its readers. In this respect, the book succeeds very well in representing the subject that it dwells on.

However, it remains a very Western account on the world of espionage. Laffin doesn't really explain why he thinks the Chinese intelligence is one of the best and most dangerous (and to whom?). Accordingly, East Asia and Southeast Asia are effectively ignored. I would like to have seen at least one case history about intelligence and espionage work in these regions...

this book was superior to any other espionage book that i have read.

Casey was a very complex character. He was always on the edge -- always straddling that ethical line (and frequently crossing it). The book is fair and it gives a good overview of the former chief of two much feared agencies: the SEC and the CIA.

Persico provides a balanced look at the deceased former Director of Central Intelligence. William Casey has served as both a lightning rod for criticism of the Reagan Administration's proactive foreign policy and as a right-wing hero. Unfortunately both of these views display an amazing inability to take into consideration all of the facts. The author presents Casey in an objective light, showing that the former OSS man often did what he felt was right for the country but in a fashion that just as often went outside the rule of law. Most importantly, Persico gives a more balanced and accurate view of Casey's role in the Iran-Contra scandal than the view presented in Bob Woodward's Secret Wars. Anyone interested in the career of one of the most respected and disrespected of America's former spy chiefs is encouraged to read Casey, from the OSS to the CIA.

I concur with the assessment of the first reviewer (I am also from UCSB). A knowledgeable person can easily figure out some of the redaction except for the budget figures. The article is probably largely derived from the special issue of Corona published in the 70s in Studies in Intelligence. I have seen this volume at UCSB (from the 1995 meeting) in a colleague's office.

Besides the geologic application, there are also the identification of chemical warfare sites (not completely certain how they made this accessment (it's can't just be double fences)), uranium mining in China, and other gems.

This volume began as a set of declassified and redacted documents ('redacted" meaning words and text still classified were blotted out) that was prepared by the CIA History Staff for distribution to participants in the November, 1995 symposium in which the CORONA reconnaissance satellite program (1958-72) was offcially declassified. The "story" of CORONA has now been told in three subsequently published books-- if you get to this review you probably are aware of the other books-- but this volume, because it presents declassified materials themselves, has much value. Highlights include CIA historian Kenneth Greer's 1973 short history of the CORONA program, originally published as "TOP SECRET", and a fascinating report on the geological applications of CORONA photography, originally commissioned by the CIA from [name deleted} in 1971. The latter is critical, particularly becuase so much of contemporary earth science applications of remote sensing descended directly from CORONA and its allied reconnaissance systems, almost all of which remain classified at present (February, 2000).

Although the book is comprehensive, it is overpriced

Excellent reference for all libraries