Agency-securities Books

There is an advantage to reading a book a few years after it is first published. The advantage in this case is that the Saddam dictatorship is history and many of the assurances that lead us to war have been proven to be a little over hyped, to be generous. That comment leads us to this book. The author was the head of the UN weapons inspectors in the last two years they were in place, ending in 1998. This book is his review of his time on the job and the obligatory musings about what needed to be done with Saddam circa 2000. I had heard in a number of other articles and some books that the author was a bit arrogant and pushy. To be fair, those personality traits, if they even exist, did not come out in the book. The author presented his case in a rather fair sounding and well thought out process. There were no over the top dramatics nor did it seam to me that the author was trying to stretch the truth to prove his point.

I started this book thinking it would be one case after another of how Iraq had hid WMD`s, yet they were hardly ever mentioned. By this I mean that the author only detailed out a few cases of papers being found and old weapons parts being dug up. In all his pages on the inspection process, the author gives the reader no finds of the actual weapons the world was looking for. All the author really detailed was the unlimited number of ways the Iraqi's found to be unhelpful, arrogant, and just plain nasty to his team. If there ever was a case for how not to play well with others the Iraqi's are the hands down favorites. In hind sight, what is rather humorous is that if they would have just swallowed a little crow and let the UN run all over their county unmolested for a few years, they would have left and the Saddam cronies would still be in power. This could be the first dictator to loss power due to unending amounts of arrogance coupled with a good helping of plain ignorance.

The last item I found interesting was the side story that bordered on a male cat fight. This author and Scott Ritter, another of the weapons inspectors, had a few words while working together and both decided to finish the disagreement in the press. About the only value in the comments is that it makes you smile a little to think that this author lowered himself to grade school play ground name calling in a book for the masses. Overall, I found the book interesting in its detail of the way the Iraqi government dealt with the UN and how the French, Russians and Chinese all interacted with the US. I also thought the very apparent lack of evidence of WMD`s being discussed in the book was a precursor of things to come. If you are interested in the conservative thinking that lead up to the Iraqi war, then this book is an interesting bit a the picture.

Now is the time to read this book. All other reviews may be nullified at this point, because they were written before our war with Iraq.

I read this book with a gaping mouth that only got bigger and bigger with amazement as I went along.

The book has come to us through a time warp from the past to present time. Richard Butler accurately hits the nail on the head in his book. He relates events and issues to our present day situation with Iraq prior to them happening. The book helped me to see that situations and concerns that are being debated today have been known and existed many years. There is a lot of knowledge about Iraq that has existed for years and hasn't been dealt with, just swept under the rug.

Accusations about Saddam are true. I can see why when reading this book that France, Russia and China are against helping. I couldn't understand that before. It is scary and chilling to read each and every word - because each and every word validates the move against Saddam.

Richard speculates about a terrorist attack against New York and how it would be difficult to track the Saddam connection, but it most likely would be there. This book gives the evidence many are asking for, and confirms what it is being discovered everyday in Iraq.

Richard speculates that if the terrorist connection could be made or will not disarm who would be bold enough to start a war against Saddam. It would most likely be America and Britain, and that France, Russia and China would oppose.

Richard talks about evidence of chemical, biological and weapons of mass destruction that was found, but how Iraq squirms, lies and avoids answers, etc. They are aided by forces to help deceive.

You will feel like you are reading a newspaper of today - a newspaper that gives the un-muddled cold hard truth of the situation in Iraq.

Scarier than a Stephen King book.

This is a very good book by Richard Butler. Who is Richard Butler? He is an Australian diplomat who has been in the nuclear disarmament field for decades and was the Australian ambassador to the United Nations. Richard Butler was appointed the head of UNSCOM, which was the United Nations' body set up to oversee the Iraqi dissarmament of weapons of mass detruction after the Gulf War. If anyone should know what the world faces from Iraq, Richard Butler is the man and his story needs to be heard.

His views on Iraq are frightening and his information on the United Nations as a body and some of the countries that belong to it are disheartening. Throughout the book Butler explains why Iraqi leadership actually thinks they won the Gulf War. He explains how the United Nations waffled on enforcing the rules that they had instituted. His take on Kofi Annan and the politicians that made it easier for Iraq to evade the international laws passed by the U.N.

Is Iraq still harboring weapons of mass destruction? I think that is a foregone conclusion. Iraq has lied, cheated, broken treaties and evaded international law. Saddam has succeeded in stonewalling international monitoring.

Would Iraq use such weapons once they gather enough? I think the judgement on that is also already concluded. Saddam and Hitler where the only two people in history to use chemicals for genocidal purposes. Saddam already proved he would when he used them on the Iranian soldiers in the Iran-Iraq war, on the Iranian POWs (testified to by Iraqi defectors) and on the Kurds - citizens of his own country. Saddam showed once again his sinister side in 1991, shortly before the Gulf War, when he dispatched hit squads around the world to take out "coalition" diplomats.

Richard Butler's words should be read, his thoughts and insights should be considered. The book needs to be recognized by those in power before it is too late.

What an eye opener. The Greatest Threat gave me goose-bumps. I couldn't put the book down. Scary! Everyone needs to read this book. It grabs you right from the start as if you were right there with the UNSCOM inspectors. I agree with the author on American and International politics needing to be over-hauled. Maybe the mess we find ourselves in today could have been avoided if our country and other countries had worked together to promote disarmament. Then, inforced it when the country refused to comply instead of sweeping the issue under the rug.

The book is well written and reads like a the latest thriller. The trouble is it is very real. It's sad that one ruthless leader can cause so much pain to his own people and the world. I don't like war either, but it looks like that is the only choice we have as the author pointed out. This book is a must read if you want to know what is going on with Iraq and how we got where we are today.

This book is, in hindsight, horribly wrong. It is now known that there are no WMD's in Iraq. Saddam did not pose a threat to America and the world at-large. It's just sad that the trumpeters of the Iraqi war were playing to the wrong song. It's packed with faulty and "highly dubious" intelligence. The CIA has since admitted as much but I do not expect as much from a hack writting a book to profit from a "massive intelligence failure".

Gen. Kuklinski's efforts against a communist system controlled by an outside power seems commendable on the outside, but what everyone here seems to forget is that the same CIA that worked with Kuklinski, supposedly to 'fight communist tyrrany' was the same one involved in overthrowing legitimate governments, repressing independence movements, funding terrorism, assasinating foreign leaders who did not see eye to eye with US government policies and interests as well as many other unpleasant acts that sadly too many people either do not know about or do not care to remember.

What Gen. Kuklinski did or did not do is known only to him and his CIA handlers. But things in this book must be taken with a grain of salt. In the cold war, the CIA was notorious for anti-Soviet false flag operations and disinformation propaganda. I only read half of the book and did not bother finishing it. Some of the events might have been outright fabrications.
As far as whether Gen. Kuklinski was a traitor or patriot in the end really depends on which side one is on. To Gen. Jaruzelski, Kuklinski is a traitor while to some CIA official Kuklinski is a hero. But let's take it from another angle: Suppose Gen. Kuklinski's espionage efforts resulted in a covert CIA Op which ended up killing a bunch of Polish civilians? How would that be seen?
What is Gen. Kuklinski's legacy? It is one of selling out one miserable SOB to another miserable SOB, for a price.

"Sometimes it's not enough to do what is right, sometimes one must do what is necessary." Ryszard Kuklinski knew what was right, did what was necessary...and paid a terrible price.

Benjamin Weiser's riveting work A SECRET LIFE, on Polish hero Ryszard Kuklinski, is an enlightening look back into the dark intrigue, personal danger, and moral dilemmas surrounding one military officer's private battles to liberate his country from totalitarianism. Most importantly, this work shatters the left-wing's liberal illusion of "peaceful coexistence" with a communist system whose very raison d' etre is the destruction of freedom, democracy and enslavement of the West.

Kuklinski saw internal conflict to evict the alien system imposed upon his country by the USSR--as opposed to connivance or the wishful thinking of ideological transformation through "gradualism," favored by some of his Polish General Staff contemporaries, who, for lack of courage or personal gain, fully cooperated with their harsh Soviet task masters--as the only realistic option for peace in the face of Poland's likely nuclear annihilation, had war ensued with the United States. He dared to act accordingly, becoming an agent of change feeding top-secret Warsaw Pact military information to the CIA; thereby, tipping the balance of power in favor of liberty, while loosening the demoralizing death-grip of communist rule over Eastern Europe, as a de facto one-man Polish Underground.

When considering the totality of personal sacrifice and enormity of danger faced by Kuklinski, in his nearly solitary and single-handed struggle against radical, state-sponsored evil--who carried a suicide pill to end his life if caught and was sentenced to death, in absentia, by the Polish Military Court--moral giants like Kurt Gerstein and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn come to mind. It saddens me that former communist collaborators or sympathizers, like Aleksander Kwasniewski, were celebrated or elevated to significant post-Soviet leadership positions and societal prominence, while the country remains bitterly divided over Kuklinski, who has yet to be nationally vindicated, though history has already done so.

Former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzesinski said it best when he honored him with the words traditionally reserved for decorating Polish soldiers: "Pan sie dobrze Polsce zasluzyl: You have served Poland well." Rest in peace Colonel Kuklinski.

Move over, James Bond! Instead of repeating other reviewers, let's focus mostly on the intelligence-gathering aspects of this thriller.

Imagine that you're Ryszard Kuklinski. The best way to avoid excessive surveillance by Communist counterintelligence is to make your daily routine as predictable as possible. You get a dog so that you can stroll around the neighborhood naturally. You give and receive signals to and from your contacts with chalk marks on the pavement. (These sometimes get washed away). You use your wife's iron to reveal messages in invisible ink, and take up hobby photography as a cover for photography of another kind.

You dislike dead-drops because, for one thing, someone else might stumble upon them. You use the brush pass. As you walk per your usual routines, you turn into one of those impossible-to-predict labyrinthic streets so that you are out of prying eyes for a few precious seconds. During this time, you exchange packages with another agent.

The brush passes go uneventfully--until one night. No sooner is it completed than you are hit by the headlights of a car. You try to duck into a side street but your move is anticipated. Finally, you shake off the pursuer. Were you seen well enough by the driver to be positively identified? You think/hope not. But just in case, you get a haircut. Luckily this time, you are safe.

Even little slip-ups can be killers. At one point, your son finds a secret note that you had carelessly taped too lightly on the underside of a piece of furniture. You cannot account for a roll of film, and your colleagues speak of the discovery of a "spy film". (It later turns up in the pocket of your seldom-used shirt). At another time, you are in another world, and you crash face-first into a pillar while carrying sensitive information. Nice way to be unobtrusive!

Picture yourself (pardon the pun) getting caught red-handed, by an officer entering the room, taking surreptitious photos of classified documents. You act normal, but cannot get over the fear that the officer has seen exactly what you were doing and will report you. Then, when nothing seems to happen, you still fear that you are being carefully monitored so that the Communist counterintelligence can trace your contacts and then trap everyone.

You had better not carry a gun because, if you use it and then seek refuge in the US Embassy, the Communist authorities may have legal grounds to have you turned over to them. You fully realize that, if caught, you will be tortured into divulging information, and then be executed. Besides, the Communists will make a spectacle of you for propaganda purposes. For this reason, you request a suicide pill from the CIA. They at first refuse, fearing that an agent may take it in a moment of panic, or that the discovery of the poison could itself be used for propaganda purposes. But in the end the CIA provides the pill--inside a pen.

In any Soviet-NATO war, Poland would be the route for 95% of the Soviet military advance. Poland would then get hit with 400-600 nuclear bombs in an attempt to stop the Soviet advance without escalating the conflict into a full-blown Soviet-US nuclear holocaust (p. 16). No wonder Kuklinski realized that Poland was doomed! (Some conspiracy-minded Poles suggested that the Polack joke syndrome had been a concerted effort to demean Poland so that the American public wouldn't protest too much the future destruction of Poland).

Kuklinski's achievements were staggering: Tens of thousands of highly-classified Soviet documents passed on to the US (p. 300). And that was just the beginning. After his flight to the US, Kuklinski provided much information during his debriefing. May he be forever honored, and rest in peace!

"A Secret Life" is a gripping read for two key reasons. First and foremost, it is a suspenseful espionage tale with unpredictable twists and turns. To me, it even stands among the best fictional works of that genre by Le Carre and Ludlum.

The second reason is more holistic. The author, New York Times journalist Benjamin Weiser, has gotten at Kuklinski's heart and managed to successfully explore his motives and ethical dilemma for providing intelligence to the CIA. Kuklinski did not make this decision lightly. He felt morally obligated to do so, and his reasons for doing so are clearly spelled out in the book. When you read about these reasons, it's very difficult to disagree with him. (I do not understand the reviewers who call him a traitor.)

I would recommend this book regardless of whether you are pro- or anti-CIA. Some reviewers here claim that Weiser's purpose was to naively lavish the agency with biased praise. In his introduction, however, Weiser references the "justified criticism" that the organization has endured due to its activities over the years, and goes on to say that Kuklinski's story demonstrates that human intelligence operations can succeed brilliantly, and should serve as an example for such future operations.

Weiser's detailed and measured tale of Kuklinski's historical contribution to Cold War espionage is to be read and enjoyed. His story is taut and thrilling and reminds one of a good John Le Carre novel. Beyond the issue of whether Kuklinski is a hero or traitor to the Polish nation [which is fairly raised and detailed by the author], Weiser never loses control of the subject matter, and, of the abundant documentation he uncovered in his unique access to CIA records. He instills Kuklinski with humanity and sense of Polish nationalism. A fine work to be read and enjoyed.

This book is an excellent introduction to Intelligence gathering. The three sources are human intelligence (HUMINT), technical means and Open Source (OS). I remembered reading where the Soviet Union shipped 5 tons (that's right - tons!) of openly available documentation, magazines, newspapers, trade magazines, journals, etc., to the KGB for analysis. The next question is what to do with all this information and form it into `Product'. Shulsky intended this book as an academic tome for an introduction into this arcane world. He does a good job, analyzing the process and using historical cases to enlighten the reader. Security Studies is a growing field due to increased unrest in the world, the rise of Radical Islam and the potential for conflict with globalization.

Michael Mandaville, Author - "Stealing Thunder" and the coming "Citizen Soldier Handbook: 101 Ways for Every American to Fight Terrorism"

There are many same books are on sale, but I could not know if they are shipped abroad. So if you could show on the display before sellecting the item, that will really help me.

The book came right on time and in EXCELLENT condition. I will definately buy with this seller again!

After finishing this book I immediately lent it to a good friend of mine that was looking at getting into the intelligence community and he said the knowledge he gained from the book proved priceless when it came down to picking a career in an industry that can be very diverse and confusing. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in how the intelligence process comes together, and I would insist on someone reading it if they were thinking about getting into it!

I would say that this book would be a good first read for anyone interested in learning more about the intelligence community. It covers a wide variety of information without getting to in-depth into any one subject, so it feels like a pretty well-rounded experience. I also felt that the use of some historical examples really helped not only to make the book more interesting to read but to make some of the concepts easier to understand.

My biggest problem with this book is that at points it reads like a college textbook, which isn't always a particularly good thing. I also found some of the sections that talked about the relations between policy and intelligence to be pretty dull. Overall this book is a pretty informative and a mostly enjoyable read.

Mark Lowenthal, a long-time veteran of the Intelligence Community, is the author of "Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy," a superb introduction into the American Intelligence Community and its transition from the long Cold War against the Soviets to the current battles against rogues states and transnational terrorists.

Lowenthal writes at the survey level for an audience with a general understanding of American history and governmental processes but limited knowledge of how intelligence fits into either. In sequencial steps, Lowenthal explains what intelligence is supposed to be, how U.S. intelligence developed, and how the Intelligence Community operates. He reviews the intelligence process, the major collection disciplines, and the moving parts of subcomponents such as analysis, counterintelligence, and covert action. The last chapters explore the difficult issues of interaction with policy-makers, oversight, and transformation.

Lowenthal's narrative is remarkable on at least two counts. He appreciates just how challenging it is to produce timely, accurate, and useful intelligence, and he is exceptionally even-handed in describing all the things that can go right or wrong in the process. While no one topic is covered in significant depth, his coverage of the whole is very solid and perfectly suited to entry-level classes on intelligence and its interaction with policy. A nice selection of anecdotes and examples help provide depth to what might otherwise turn into dry narrative.

"Intelligence: From Secrets To Policy" is very highly recommended as an introduction to the intelligence business for use at the collegiate level and for the general reader.

This is a very good primer on US intelligence. It is the 3rd edition.

We used this book as a core reading material for US policy and intelligence course

I was assigned this book for a class I teach and have learned a great deal about the intelligence community through reading/prepping for class. While much of the IC has changed since publication, the concept is detailed enough for even my most novice students to grasp and for more practiced professionals to get a firm grasp on how the different aspects of the IC operate independently and together with policy makers.

Dr. Lowenthal has done an excellent job of introducing the reader to the field of intelligence in general (what it is, what it isn't), and to the United States' Intelligence Community in particular. He devotes a few chapters to the broad topic of intelligence and its history, the current makeup and structure of the Intelligence Community (IC) in the United States, and future iterations and problems for the IC (particularly in the United States), then transitions into an in-depth discussion of the various aspects of intelligence, such as collection disciplines, analysis, and policy implications. I'd strongly recommend this to anyone who has an interest in the field of intelligence, from a novice to a seasoned analyst.

This is as good a primer on the US intelligence community as you're likely to come across in open literature. Mr. Lowenthal is well qualified to provide insights into the IC, though I'd have to caveat it by saying his CIA-centric view often shows up in the text. As someone who sees things from the DoD perspective, I'll agreeably disagree on some of his observations regarding roles and missions. The 3rd edition is good with most of the recent changes in the IC, though some even more recent changes have not been reflected in the book.

Nuclear terrorism is a subject that keeps many awake at night. Filger's terrific novel, "King of Bombs," will not put any minds at ease. But it is a very intelligent, insightful, as well as entertaining thriller about the worst possible scenario for terrorism. The novel pits Al-Qaeda and its allies, Iran and North Korea, in a sinister yet ingenius scheme to destroy the United States as a world power, against an incompetent administration in Washington. The author has many twists and turns in the novel, keeping the reader guessing as to the final outcome. For anyone concerned about the direction of world events and the safety of America in the post-9/11 world, "King of Bombs" should be required reading.

Sheldon Filger's novel, "King of Bombs," provides the reader with an understanding of how real the threat of nuclear terrorism actually is. His characters are well constructed, the book fast-paced, with a plot loaded with intrigue, suspense and surprises. Some readers may object to the thinly-veiled George W. Bush as the U.S. President versus Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, however, I thought this added much realism to this terrifying novel, and the book certainly makes one realize that nuclear terrorism is not a pipe dream, but something that could really happen. "King of Bombs" is an outstanding read, which I highly recommend to anyone worried about the direction of the war on terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

King of Bombs is a first time novel by Sheldon Filger about nuclear terrorism. Filger is a native of New York City and, like all New Yorkers, the attack on the Twin Towers changed the way Filger looked at the world.

He began to wonder if a nuclear terrorist attack was feasible, and if feasible, exactly how could it be carried out.

On the jacket of the book Filger prints the following quote from Suleiman Abu Gheith, "We have the right to kill four million Americans - 2 million of them children."

And "If a bomb was dropped on them that would annihilate 10 million and burn their lands...this is permissible." -Sheikh Nasir bin Hamid al-Fahd, prominent Saudi cleric close to Al-Qaeda.

Chilling fiction? No. Those two quotes are chilling fact. They are accurate quotes from people close to or members of Al-Qaeda. Filger takes those pronouncements and weaves them into a chilling novel about nuclear terrorism.

The novel is not perfect. It is self-published and would have benefited from the attention of a skilled editor with a red pen. But that is not to say that the book is not a good read. Far from it. This book is a very good read.

It is gripping and the research Filger has obviously painstakingly undertaken is interwoven with the story to very good effect. There really was a Russian nuclear device called The Tsar Bomba ("King of Bombs") and the idea of terrorists obtaining nuclear material from a crashed USAAF bomber in Canada was told in such a way that it seemed plausible, as is the method they used to obtain the designs for the bomb.

The book, although written by an American rather intriguingly has the Canadian government and the Canadian Secret Service as the heroes attempting to track the terrorist bomb which is due to explode in New York. Aided by a renegade CIA agent who realises that his own government are too stupid to see that the terrorists do not propose to use a simple dirty bomb but a 100% accurate copy of the King of Bombs.

The novel does not pull any punches. The good guys use a South American torture expert to rip information from a Pakistani scientist, and the Canadian Secret Service operate illegally in America because the US government is too stupid to see the risk of the King of Bombs being detonated.

Of course, the good guys win through in the end. Well, they DO don't they? You will need to read the book to find out. But there is one hell of a twist to this novel, which I, for one, did not see coming.

It is published by Authorhouse and the ISBN is 1-4208-6055-0. It is available form Amazon UK at £14.49 for paperback and £25.49 hardback.

A bizarre murder in Northern Ontario leads intelligence agents on a path that unveils a conspiracy that may lead to the worst terrorism nightmare since 9/11. "King of Bombs" compares with Dan Brown and "The Da Vinci Code" in its meticulous research, dark and chilling plot and suspenseful turns and twists. It is almost prophetic in its description of a presidential administration based on George W. Bush and Dick Cheney that is dysfunctional and massively incompetent in responding to growing evidence that Al-Qaeda is planning a nuclear version of 9/11 in its next attack on America. "King of Bombs" is not only an entertaining techno-thriller and espionage novel, it is also a disturbingly realistic insight into what could actually happen-unless we all take the threat of nuclear terrorism far more seriously.

"King of Bombs" is a terrifying novel about nuclear terrorism. The author has clearly done extensive research on the subject. As the plot builds with suspense, Iran and North Korea conspire with Al-Qaeda in a scenario that is both frightening yet also highly plausible. You won't be able to put down this excellent novel. The ending has a shocking surprise. Well written with an amazing plot, "King of Bombs" brings home the threat of nuclear terrorism in a manner that is simply bone-chilling.

Some will argue in favor of this book calling it an honest account of what happened / happens in Pakistan and some will call this book hogwash and propaganda. I believe this book has some semblence of honesty and a fair bit of it could be propaganda but assuming this book is truthful in its assessment - what a tale it is !
Well researched and written with great passion. this book is ideal material for a movie one day.

Anyone who is interested in the real world outside of America should read this book. Even allowing for any bias of the writers, it give a chilling view of how world leaders ignore and lie about events that do not reflect their ideological wishful thinking. The true story of how Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, plus other supposed allies of America, spread nuclear technology and weapons throughout the Islamic world in defiance of treaties and agreements should be compulsary reading for all our public serbvants working for governments.

The timing was a bit unnerving as I was reading this book, Bhutto was murdered! An eye opener on the history of Pakistan's power struggles. There is just too much to explain here but bottom line --the region's stability is at a very fine balance and if power to the terrorist are able to destabilize Pakistan or if they can get their hands on a nuclear device, it won't be long before the west will see it detonated because they truly believe this is their right. It was hard to put this book down!

This book precisely details the failures of six US administrations and major World powers in preventing nuclear proliferation. It shows that our government's first priority is monetary gains for its closest supporters rather than the protection of its citizens. It shows the complicity of the US and many Major Powers in getting the nuclear bomb and technology for Pakistan and how a blind eye was turned as it was distributed through Middle East and Africa. It reveals with supportive documents the poor leadership and vision of many of our honored politicians. It details how the Pakistani leadership has always worked and supported Al Qaeda. It confirms that the political rehtoric is completely opposite of the real profit driven actions by governments. It is a must read for those who have long questioned the efficiency and effectiveness of our two party system.

a page turner; i could not put this book down. starting with the first attempts of Pakistan trying to obtain information on the construction of a nuclear processing plant, and ending with the still prevalent proliferation of Pakistan to foreign purchaser countries, this book will leave you fascinated beyond belief. unbelievably industrious was the attitude of the scientists working on this project; fatefully unapologetic was this nation to its best and brightest. an almost detailed account on the construction of the processing plant, the evidence laid forth in this book from IAEA investigations to covert intelligence secret knowledge here at home allowed Pakistan to produce a nuclear weapon. a highly recommended read. this book also briefly details Iran's current struggle with proliferation and Libya's attempted go at the nuclear field.

This book is an excellent book on the history on human experimentation in North-America and the involvement of the CIA into this research. The starting point of this research was already before the Korean war, but it became linked to this war in the sense that the American public was confronted with confesions of thousands of American prisoners of war in the hand of the communist governments in China and North-Korea. As these confessions were false, it was natural to ask how they were obtained. The search for methods to control the mind and to extract the truth from prisoners were justified with these incidents and concerntrated on hypnosis, drugs (in particular LSD) and to a minor degree also implants in or near to the brain. Although a careful questioning of the returned prisoners of war and defected communist interrogators showed that these advanced methods had not been behind the mass confessions, the research continued and many people were harmed within the framework of this research. The Canadian researcher Cameron imposed on his patients the most radical methods through isolation and heavy medication for months and with the result that the patients losts decades of their long term memory and often had to relearn merely everything they had learnt before in life. The wide spread experimentation with LSD at leading US-American universities might have popularized this drug into the academic world and might be one of the causes for its abuse in the decades to come. Also the case of CIA-researcher Frank Olson is discussed, but the information in this book might be outdated as contemporary publications based on an autopsy indicate that he was actually directly murdered by the CIA and that the publically admitted LSD-explantations were only a part of the cover-up of this case. The book is based on documents declassified by the CIA and the author has done a great job in making this knowlege accessible to the general public. It is certainly worth to read about this subject beyond the here given short summary. To a certain degree, the findings of the author are parallel to the setting of the book "The Manchurian Candidate": although mind control did not originate from the USA, it was used by scientists and politicians in the USA for their purposes and new victims were added to those it had inh other countries. A sad case mentioned in the book is that of the Soviet KGB-defector Yuri Nosenko who brought valuable information to the CIA but was kept three years in isolation in a CIA prison under Soviet-style reeducation-conditions as his CIA-supervisors did not trust him. But besides all criticism, it should be acknowledged that it was the tradition of an open society with its "Freedom of Information Act" which made this book possible.

John Marks has done a wonderful job of piecing together the available information on the clandestine operations done by the CIA in their attempt to accomplish mind control.He begins in the early stages of their program in the 1940's and carries it through until the last of the mind control programs allegedly was shut down in 1973.In this book the author covers topics such as brain washing, hypnosis, LSD experiments, and the very tragic death of Dr. Frank Olson (as a result of an experiment gone bad). I highly recommend this book if you are interested in what occurred during the CIA's secret attempt at creating "Manchurian Candidate's"

I read this book when I was in high school playing hookey in the public libraries of Manhattan, NY. My public high school was That bad! At the time I knew nothing about the Korean War or the extremely brilliant Manchurian Candidate movie starring Frank Sinatra but I knew I was interested in governmental mind control plots and the CIA. I think this book was the first to show me that all fiction, no matter how FANTAStic is but a shadow of reality.

That concept really explodes when as the previous reviewer points out, we consider, that the book's author focuses on the CIA's involvement with MK Ultra neglecting that of the U.S. Navy, Army, Air Force, etc. etc. Its the etc.s that really count!! Most of us have such a vague understanding of what the CIA actually does much less that there are scores of such publically and privately funded "Intelligence" organizations. Readers of this book would probably also enjoy the book The Control of Candy Jones.

I think I learned about the Candy Jones book from this book and its certainly as weird, if not weirder, than any Philip K. Dick sci fi movie/book (Bladerunner "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"). Scary, chilling, true, tip of the iceberg and relegated to fiction. Stealth is important and we probably can't do without military, no less the Intelligence component of military. It would be great, however, to see people become literate on the subject of secret government mind manipulation and how it determines government and society.

If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable - what then? - George Orwell from _1984_.

_The Search for the "Manchurian Candidate": The CIA and Mind Control_ by John Marks published in 1979 is a somewhat dated account of the CIA's experiments in mind control. Marks obtained much of his material from documents released through the Freedom of Information Act; however, he had to actively pursue these documents and was involved in a lawsuit against the CIA in order to obtain much of his material. He notes that without the release of this material his research would not have been possible.

The author begins by noting the influence of World War II and Nazi science on subsequent investigations by the CIA, formerly the OSS. In particular, the discovery of the hallucinogenic (psychedelic) drug LSD by Albert Hofman of the Sandoz drug company in Basle, Switzerland was to play a central role in the coming experimental "science" of mind manipulation. The author outlines various sadistic experiments performed by the Nazi scientists and doctors on unwitting prisoners and explains how the Nuremburg Code developed. The author also explains the role of the intelligence operatives in the Second World War, including experiments with marijuana as a supposed truth drug, a whole arsenal of dirty tricks and assassination projects, and the attempt to psychoanalyse Adolf Hitler. Indeed, after the war, the intelligence community captured the surviving research by the Nazi scientists and attempted to sort through it for any scientific value it might have had. Next, the author turns his attention to the development of the Cold War, the subsequent paranoia that ensued over such alleged brainwashing as the case of Cardinal Mindszenty and the Moscow Show Trials, and the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency. The author shows how various projects including Projects BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE came to include mind manipulation technology, emphasizing the polygraph machine and hypnosis. The author next turns his attention to the experiments of G. Richard Wendt, who attempted to devise a truth serum as part of his "A" (for ARTICHOKE) treatment. The author also discusses the role of LSD, often given to unwitting experimental subjects as part of Project MK-ULTRA by the CIA and its role in the death of the scientist Dr. Frank Olson. As part of the CIA's experiments with LSD, Dr. Sid Gottlieb tested the drug on unknowing subjects including Olson. Later Olson was to develop signs of paranoia and depression, eventually leading him to jump to his death from a New York building. Olson's death was covered up by the CIA; however, it was later revealed that an allergist (who also experimented with LSD) had been treating him for depression (ironically!). The author next turns his attention to the development of various "safe houses" in San Francisco, run by the narcotics officer George White. White tried to develop techniques for turning enemy agents by using prostitutes. White also experimented heavily with LSD, marijuana, and other drugs on unknowing subjects. He frequently held lavish parties and then would spray LSD into the room through an aerosol spray and watch the effects of the drug from a post outside the room. Needless to say, White's experiments represent the ultimate in unethical experimentation with drugs as well as hypocrisy because White would frequently turn in common citizens to the police for possession of drugs. The author next turns his attention to the Mexican hallucinogenic mushroom and its role in the development of the 1960s counter-culture. Here, the author explains the theories of R. Gordon Wasson, an investment banker, who co-authored the book _Mushrooms, Russia and History_ with his wife Valentina Wasson about the role of the hallucinogenic mushroom in culture and religion. The author next turns his attention to brainwashing. Here, the author notes the role of the CIA in promulgating the theory of brainwashing, but also in attempting to create brainwashed subjects. The author also devotes his attention to "human ecology". Here, the author notes the unethical nature of various experiments on sensory deprivation in the CIA's efforts to depattern a subject. The author shows how the notion of a "terminal experiment" (i.e. an experiment that pushed a human being to their outer limits with no ethical strings attached) was developed by the CIA and was used to justify extreme experiments in sensory deprivation. The author also discusses the role of personality research including the Gittinger Assessment System of John Gittinger. Here, the author shows how Gittinger used his research in an attempt to control subjects based on their personality type as determined by his system. Finally, the author turns his attention to hypnosis. Hypnosis was used in the hope of creating the "Manchurian candidate", a perfect mind control assassin. This concept had developed out of a novel by Richard Condon where the Chinese communists had brainwashed an American soldier. It was believed that soldiers returning from a certain area in Manchuria had no memory of what had happened there, leading to the idea that the Chinese were brainwashing Americans. It should be noted that not all people are equally hypnotizable; however, the CIA believed that by developing the personality of a childhood playmate they could induce multiple personalities in an agent, thereby creating an effective mind control assassin. The author ends this book by noting the importance of the search for truth, particularly as it involves unethical experimentation on United States citizens by its own government.

This book offers compelling evidence regarding the CIA's role in mind manipulation. For all those who care about the future freedom of the human mind it is important to understand what has been done in the past and continues to be done in the name of research to justify covert operations.

I'd recommend Search for the Manchurian Candidate to every American over high school age so that they may learn from these abuses. While John Marks bases his book on declassified documents that cannot be challenged, few if anyone in the mainstream media ever discuss these things. This fact clearly illustrates the degree of political corruption and major coverups that take place in our so called 'free press'.

Manchurian Candidate lists the CIA's use of prostitutes in luring unsuspecting 'johns' to CIA run brothels so that our intelligence community may monitor the affects of large doses of LSD given to these men without their knowledge. The CIA would also routinely give LSD to one another in order to monitor it's affects. Unfortunately this resulted in the death of CIA agent Frank Olsen who reportedly committed suicide after having an unexpected 'bad trip'. In classic CIA fashion, they tried to cover up his death and denied all wrongdoing.

While the book is highly detailed and well documented, it only scratches the surface as to how far our intelligence community will go in engaging in illegal activities. Overall it's a great book and I'd recommend it as a starting point for those who are unfamiliar with our government's ongoing MK-ULTRA program.

As luck would have it, I was in Berlin at Andrews Barracks at the same time as Don Cooper. Although I did not know him personally, I was familiar with his work and his unit. I was in what would be called a "black" unit, meaning a unit so deeply secure it had no real deisgnation except for Detachment a, Berlin Brigade. I worked out of the EOC )Emergency Operations Center) in the Intelligence Section of the US Consulate on Clay Allee, and was simultaneously attached to the 78th USASA SOU (which later became the 54th USASA SOC), and attached to the 287th MP CO SOU working border patrol, Check Point Charlie, etc. I was often at the Hill, often along the border, involved with the US Mission and the Soveit Potsdam Mission, we oversaw the work of the ASA and coordinated it with border security issues and other factors. I was a Captain at the time, but often in civilian attire posing as an American or Canadian university student with all the supporting documents, etc., when I needed to work while not in uniform. I found the Cooper book on C trick like a literal step back into the mileua of Berlin, it's descriptions of the 78th ASA workings, the people, their quirks, and their adventures like a trip home to Berlin after being gone many years. After I left the intel service for the US Army in Belrin I remained there to attend the Free University School of Medicine - I loved Berlin and wanted to spend much more time there as a real civilian and student. I have since returned to the US to practice as a doctor, but hold my time and my experiences with the ASA there among my dearest and fondest times of my life ever. I would love to read more from Don Cooper and would love to sit down and have a great chat with him about everything we did and had in common.
Respectfully yours,
James R. Bowman

By the time I got to page 36, I was sitting in my chair ,which was tilted back as far as it would go, when I began laughing so hard I fell out and hurt my leg.While the blue smoke no longer circle me, I am still a deranged Budda, albeit balder and with a beard. Thanks for the cleaned up good work.
Glenn Allen Cheek, Jr.
(The Pipe)

Don Cooper gives a vivid view about the soldier's life in Westberlin during the late 60's.
Don't expect to gain secret information about the famous Field Station on the Teufelsberg but enjoy reading something about the life in the divided city.
It's a treat for anyone knowing the mentioned places be it native Berliners or Berlin Veterans - you will be taken back to the time when Westberlin was an isle in the middle of the communist ocean.
He really caught the Zeitgeist in this book.

I thought it was greatly amusing. For those of us that were in the Army and worked Field Station,it will bring back alot of memories. Even though this was before I served in Berlin,alot of the places mentioned I knew. The things that happened will make you look back on your time there and remember some of the crazy things that went on.
I definately thought it was a good read. Well worth the money.

It is now July, 2004, and in reading this book, I was taken back some 36 and 37 years to my tour as an Army spook, stationed in Alaska.

Don Cooper has given life to so many of my memories of the men, the goofiness of the lifers, the dullness that was broken now and then by really strange things that the Soviets would do, and, most prominently, of the instinct to question authority.

While Mr. Cooper did not delve into the technical details of what he did nor how he did "it", he really didn't need to for those of us who were in the same boat. The entire experience was about the men we worked and lived with and the very strange things that we would do either for entertainment or to screw with the minds of the lifers.

The final chapter in the book was perhaps the most powerful one for me simply because it brought back memories of the dismantling of an institution that flourished despite the management. And, the very same mindset can be applied to my civilian life and retirement from a career of 35 years in the railroad business.

This is a book that I am going to treasure and place in a very safe and secure location for future re-readings.

Don't believe the reviews here, if you have any interest in character or plot don't waste your money. The characters are caricatures, the plot is "high-flying telecom company dies on the vine when the Internet bubble bursts" coupled with repetitive accounts of people engaging in debauchery (which I guess is supposed to be shocking). It seems like half the book is people laughing about how drunk and incompetent they are and the other half is the author crafting painfully elaborate circus metaphors to describe how the company is deceiving investors. The only interesting bits are some random conversations about US black ops and subterfuge. You'd be much better off buying a non-fiction book on the subject and giving this a miss.

I came accross Seven Floors High while surfing around Amazon and I don't ever recall reading something like this before. It is unquestionably a highly political book which captures the essence of greed and political hubris that are alive and well in modern day society. I won't spoil anything by giving the entire plot away, but there is a formidable story within a story here, and just how the author manages to embed the CIA-NSA theme into the plot, without ever losing the iaxis focus, is first class writing. This book gives you a unique perspective into the clandestine rise of America's covert war machine and names the names of our former statesman who have a dark past from their tainted roles in Operation Condor and the covert push behind the Gulf War in 1990-91. I highly recommend that you READ THIS BOOK and do not stop until you finish the last page.

I actually worked in London on a year long placement and I was totally fascinated with this book. I even checked old wire reports and iaxis did infact exist, which for me made 7FH even more vivid and entertaining. The characters, dialogue and the way Goddard has structured his story is outstanding and it kept me engrossed for an entire day. The depiction of the firm's CFO or 'Chief Fire Officer' following the NASDAQ crash is priceless reading and is an experience in itself. The political side with all the secret spy stuff is unlike anything I've ever read before and it totally blew my mind. No detail seems to be spared. This is a smart book and a great investment for all venture capitalists!

A perfect exposure to greed, politics and British humor. I purchased this book nearly a year ago and I only got round to reading it very recently. If you are American and want to experience British humor in full office mode, then check out this book. The story of Goddard's time in iaxis is one of the funniest accounts of office interactions I've read in years and I laughed many times. It's true that the Brits have their own style and sense of humor, but if you deal with them through your work, you'll love this book! The writing style is very engaging and the author manages to keep the reader glued to the pages as we experience the greed that was in full swing during the telecoms bandwagon. I am not as up to speed on my foreign politics as I once was, so the shock factor for me was our Government in Washington running out of control with black ops and foreign policy merging in to one beast. This is probably one of the most politically informative books I can remember reading and I would say it is worth buying just to read about the politics alone. It has certainly triggered my interested in global politics once again and I now intend to purchase a copy of the DVD "Uncovered" which looks in to the recent invasion of Iraq.

One of the best books I've ever taken on a vacation. If you are looking for a charming and light-hearted read before bedtime, this is not the book for you. This book deals with some controversial issues and provides many unpleasant political truths mixed in with a very entertaining and witty narrative. It is original and unconventional and, as the cover says, it is a journey of greed, espionage and deceit; the greed is supplied by a start-up telco called iaxis floating high with the dotcom bubble, while the espionage comes from a very sharp political awareness of America's covert strategies in Saudi Arabia, Argentina and China. And there's plenty of political deceit in these pages to make the average American go red with fury and cry with shame.

Seven Floors High begins in oil shipping as we follow the author changing career from his old-style shipping outfit and entering the wild west atmosphere of iaxis, which we soon learn is on the verge of floating on the NASDAQ and the staff walking off into the sunset with their millions. Working in a parallel to the author's story of greed and ambition, we learn some political disclosures about the military origins of the World Wide Web, NSA SIGINT details and the inside track on a Middle East covert strategy in the late 1980's. Although I occassionally found some intelligence details overwhelming, the story ties up remarkably well and my eyes never glazed over once. From beginning to end the story is told in a fast moving and very funny narrative with terrific attention to detail (I never noticed a single typo), which all makes the characters and events come to life. I greatly enjoyed reading this book and I intend to read it again. I would highly recommend Seven Floors High to anyone who wants a read that stays with them long afterwards as it certainly made me think about politics, life and the lure of money. A heavy cocktail of ingredients, this book is a political flamethrower and a very rewarding read.

While some of the material is fiction, he has in fact got an overall grasp on much of the culture of the USMS. I know because I have been there/done that.

Deadly Force was a great book. It takes you through what a United States Marshal goes through everyday. You get to read about the stakeouts, arrests, raids, etc. It is a good book if you are looking for something a little suspenseful and fun to read.

But it's not. Fascinating look at the system's hunters. The only drawback is that the author sometimes leads you to action, only to cut away and never fully answers your questions. A good read.

Carsten Stroud has never been a historian or a documentarian, but he admits this. His objective is to capture the sights and sounds of an area, event, profession. His writing style is very dramatic but readable. There is nothing melodramatic or corny about his works. Somehow he always manages to hit the nail on the head. The reader is left thinking, "Yeah, that's right. That's what it's like." or, "Damm that's the truth. That's why I'm a cop or a soldier". So to use the overworked phrase - Stroud's books are very truthful. Deadly Force takes you into not only the world of the Marshals, but the world of the fugitive. And the end result is that you're glad those fellas are out there doing the job. I recommend all of Stroud's books. Deadly Force isn't his best work, but it's still right up there.He lacks Clancey's verbosity which I find to be a relief. It keeps your attention and it has some very suspenseful moments. Some nice attention to details as well, though there are some technical errors I found them to be forgiveable. Good book. Give it a chance.

After a promising start this book gets boring and confusing fast. Every chapter you have to figure out where you are, what year it is and who is in the scene. The reference at the beginning of each chapter is helpful but with the constant jumping around there is no continuity and you get lost too easily. If you can get past the first 3/4 of the book the last 1/4 is fairly good.