The Complete Idiot's Guide to the CIA

by Allan Swenson, Michael Benson

-- Co-author Allan Swenson is a veteran CIA operative; he was active in the 1960s and 1970s -- considered by experts to be the heyday of the Agency.

-- The inner workings of the Central Intelligence Agency are the stuff of legend, and have formed the basis for scores of successful movies, books, and TV shows.

-- Since the horrific events of 9/11, Washington has given the CIA a virtual blank check to improve their intelligence gathering capabilities. The public's awareness of CIA activities is at an all-time high; people want to know how their government is working to protect them-and the CIA is at the forefront.

It's been said that spying is the world's second oldest profession. The Central Intelligence Agency is without a doubt the most mysterious of all US law enforcement agencies. The CIA's primary mission is to collect, evaluate, and disseminate foreign intelligence to assist the President and senior U.S. governmental policymakers in making decisions relating to national security. To this end, the Agency recruits the finest minds in the fields of science, engineering, economics, linguistics, mathematics, and computer science. The Complete Idiot's Guide "RM" to the CIA will also detail the origins of the agency, its often colorful and sometimes even comical missions (.i.e., poisoning Fidel Castro's beard); its evolution from the O.S.S.; its failures and successes, the key players past, present, and future; the CIA's role in wartime and in peacetime; and where the rapidly unfolding events of a very unstable world will take the Agency in the 21st century.

Genres: History

336 pages, Paperback

First published August 16, 2002

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

For an organization that prides itself on keeping secrets, and has to to keep it's employees alive, I wasn't expecting too much detail. This book surprised me by sharing a lot more about what the CIA has done in the past then I though I would get to see. It also explains how to apply for a job, and what types of candidates the CIA is looking for.