Black Ops: The Rise of Special Forces in the C.I.A., the S.A.S., and Mossad

by Tony Geraghty

A hard-hitting history of special-forces operations over the past fifty years in the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel. After eight challenging years in Afghanistan, the new U.S. strategy, aimed at winning hearts and minds rather than search-and-destroy, refocuses the conflict on Special unorthodox soldiers who work outside of traditional military forces to combine secret military operations with nation building. Tony Geraghty, an expert author in this field for almost thirty years, unveils the extraordinary evolution of this refined style of war-making from its roots in anti-guerrilla warfare in Ireland and Palestine, by way of the creation of the C.I.A., the S.A.S., the Green Berets, and America Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.), and many others. Israel's Special Forces, including Mossad, are an organic part of the same coherent history, and their story is narrated here for the first time.

This history is more than a tale of derring-do, although James Bond-like characters stalk every page. it is a sweeping examination of Black Ops at a time when they represent the future of an open-ended global war against terrorism.

Genres: History, Military Fiction, Nonfiction, Military History, War, Audiobook, Politics

496 pages, Hardcover

First published June 19, 2010

About the author

Tony Geraghty is a British-Irish writer and journalist. He served in the Parachute Regiment, and was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal for his work as a military liaison officer with U.S. forces during the Gulf War (1991). He has been a journalist for The Boston Globe and was the Sunday Times Defence Correspondent in the 1970s.

Reviews

[Adil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Black Ops by Tony Geraghty is a narrative about Special Forces in three Allied countries and their growing influence since the end of World War II and the Cold War. "Black Ops" represent secret government operations hidden from the public. During the Cold War there was an big increase in Black Ops due to the growing threat of a third World War and conflict between communist East and Democratic West. The United Staes, the United Kingdom, and Israel are three countries which are well known for their special forces and black ops operations. Currently all three are working together to combat terrorism at home and in the middle east. Tony Geraghty focuses on the need for special forces and its history through his knowledge of it. Geragthy explains that special forces are formed because of a changing world and new threats. Countries like the US, UK, and Israel need Black Ops in order to protect themsleves and avoid widespread panic in the public. Israel more than other country has been authorizing domestic black ops because of its fragility in the Middle East and attempts by terrorist groups from Gaza Strip and other parts of Palestine to destroy it. Israel's special forces are very efficient because of their experience with fighting terrorism and insurgencies. The CIA like Israel's special forces was created to contain the communist threat globally and gather intel on communist activities at home. The CIA has now grown to a point where it is America's top intel gathering and counter-terrorism agency. SAS like the CIA and Israel's speical forces also has similar goals to combat terrorism and protect their country's interests. After reading this book I now know of my country's secret operations in Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East the past half century.

[ManOfLaBook.com · Rating 3 out of 5]

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Black Ops: The Rise of Special Forces in the CIA, the SAS, and Mossad by Tony Geraghty goes through the history of those clandestine services, from a bird’s eye view. Mr. Geraghty is a journalist and ex-English soldier.

This book is about special forces and intelligence agencies, and their operations. The narrative of Black Ops: The Rise of Special Forces in the CIA, the SAS, and Mossad by Tony Geraghty concentrates on the services of four countries: The United States, England, and Israel.

For such a relatively short book, about a wide subject, it contains a wealth of knowledge. There is a lot of insight, accurate research, and certain knowledge of the subject. The text contains many interesting anecdotes, as well as some interesting insights which make the reading fascinating.

It was difficult to discern any types of conclusions or takeaways, which, I would imagine, are only appropriate concerning the subject matter. I also found it unusual that the author goes from a very coherent narrative to editorials, to opinion pieces. For me, it was very distracting going from historical anecdotes to an opinion that had no place in this book. These were no analyses or takeaways, but flat-out opinions.
Whether I agree or disagree with them is irrelevant, for me at least.

The narrator kept mispronouncing words, unit names, and places (calling the Medellin cartel the “medallion” cartel was especially jarring). I hated that he kept reading the abbreviations of military ranks (G-E-N instead of just saying “general”), it was annoying as well as distracting. It was as if an artificial intelligence robot would have read in a mechanical, rhythmless voice.

I wish I would have read this book instead of listening to it. The subject matter is interesting, and the epilogue was fascinating with its conclusions

[JustEvan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad book overall. Though it suffers from one of the main issues that I see repeated in many books about the darker sides of geopolitical use of covert action. The book is great when going over the history of Spec Ops in all its modern incarnations. It's when he starts throwing in editorial assides it goes from a history to an opinion piece.

I listened to the audiobook. Don't. The reader is one of the worst I have ever heard. He mangles even normal English words. I won't even talk about his Hebrew pronunciation.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed feelings in this book. Expectation led me to believe this would be a history of how special forces (capitalization purposefully omitted) came into being. What I found was a more a mixed collection of vignettes notable through history for employment of and ultimately the success and failures of special forces. The book covers the entire world and has some great stories in it as well and multiple laughs and smirks generated by snarky inputs from the author but content wise I was ultimately let down. Still worth a read.

[Ajay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A difficult and complex read, this book is a wealth of insight, knowledge, and painstaking research into the opaque world of covert operations. I couldn't discerne too many concrete takeways, conclusions, or even a coherent historical narrative from Tony's writings, but there are more than enough interesting anecdotes and insights into this lesser covered topic to make this an interesting read.

[Ron Willoughby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Old sources. Unreliable experts. Anti-Semitic slant. And notable missing voices.

Also, Amazon/Kindle pulled a fast one. Told me this book had 4.5 stars from 33 reviewers. It was more like 2.5 stars from 10 reviewers.

[Liam Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really interesting stories. I was expecting a chronological history of special forces, which this is not, but it provides some great insight into historical special forces involvement/lack of involvement.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good brief history of special ops forces. Just enough info to make you want to learn more, which is the point of some books. I found the SAS info the most interesting, probably because I don’t know much about it.

[Jcoug25 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but not great. It was interesting and thought provoking at times but seemed to struggle to give a clear picture. I enjoyed it but didn’t love it.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow start. Gets better.

[Quanita · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this more in depth than I expected.

[Kevin Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly interesting book on the history of special forces through the ears. It was really interesting hearing how much of the special forces history was viewed as coming from the british special forces history, and especially around the uk's experience and failures in northern Ireland during the time of troubles. It also gave a good history of the American versions from the end of ww2 up to the present day issues in Afghanistan and Iraq. The book is pretty matter of fact on the things that happen, showing many of the successes and failures, and painting a lot of details into major history encounters like the Gulf incident before Vietnam, the iran hostage crisis, the war behind the iron curtain, and the Desert Storm and Shield campaigns. It's also a pretty good book on painting the issues between the growing special forces system for the military and the more traditional military, and the grey area that seems to be growing. This book is a good read for anyone that wants to know the military's side of history especially how much of it has had to change in the last 100 or so years.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a rather chatty overview of the use of Special Forces, primarily by the U.S.A., the U.K. and Israel, since WWII. Most of the text consists of stories describing particular operations with especial emphasis on the U.S./U.K. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. If intended as a policy guide, which it appears to be, the advice is unclear beyond the British author's belief that often black operations can obviate the need for more drastic conventional means of violence.

Author Geraghty is not a right-wing zealot, but he does have affection for and some experience with black operations, the text occasionally going into first person. A writer for The Guardian, but critical of British Labour governments, I presume he's a Liberal Social Democrat. In any case, he writes like an insider, like someone who expects to be listened to by governments, their military and espionage aparati.

While a page-turner, this edition of the book would have benefited by better editing. There are too many unnecessary repetitions.

[Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for more history of Mossad. Mossad's history was merely a glance. The author championed mostly the SAS (naturally, I suppose, since the author I think is British). As well, I was confused often with the change in timelines. I preferred Eric Haney's book "Inside Delta Force".

However, attempting to write at history of the world's sf's is an unwieldy task and the effort us commendable.

[Frank Pinelander · Rating 2 out of 5]

I aquired this via kindle, and I'm glad I did.

A friend brought it to my attention, as he felt it it discussed some, uh, "programs" that a mutual acquaintance was involved in.

It did, rather poorly.

The author, seems to feel he has his finger on the pulse of Special Ops. He doesn't. He is a tool.

Save your money, this tome breaks no new ground

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read with constant detailed references. Got a bit lost at time with timeline changes. Also surprise at three typos!

[Long Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good insight into a very secret world. Can't help when reading these types of books that we are just seeing the tips of the iceberg. Concentrates on US Ops mainly.

[Riccardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

very interesting, full of deep explanation how special forces operatates during war and diplomatic crisis. Suggested

[Siddhesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I WANT TO READ FULL BOOK

[Vincent Andersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting.....there's plenty of great info here and it's well written, but if you're looking for a story-like narrative, look elsewhere.