Overview

Based on hundreds of interviews with CIA officials, national security experts, and legislators, as well as a thorough culling of the archival record, America's Secret Power offers an illuminating and up-to-date picture of the CIA, stressing the difficult balance between the genuine needs of national security and the protection of individual liberties. Loch Johnson, who has studied the workings of the CIA at first hand as a legislative overseer, presents a comprehensive examination of the Agency and its relations with other American institutions, including Congress and the White House, and looks closely at how it pursues its three major missions--intelligence analysis, counterintelligence, and covert action. At once fascinating and sobering, Johnson's book reveals how the best intelligence reports can be distorted or ignored; how covert actions can spin out of control despite extensive safeguards, as in the Iran-Contra scandal; and how the CIA has spied on American citizens in clear violation of its charter. Further, he provides a thorough review of legislative efforts to curb these abuses, and suggests several important ways to achieve the delicate balance between national security and democratic ideals.

Full Product Details

9780195069440

Table of Contents

Reviews

It brings the thoroughness and grasp of detail we have come to expect of the author ... he shows a scholarly and straightforward approach. * William H. Jackson, Jr., Intelligence and National Security * A magisterial study of the CIA that will have wide appeal to both practitioners and students of this subject. As the author of the highly regarded Season of Inquiry and a former staff aide to Senator Frank Church, Johnson has impressive credentials as an academic theorist and governmental analyst. * Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence *

...a fine overview....a refreshing approach. --James J. Wirtz, Defense Analysis [Johnson] writes in clean, easy prose about the covert actions that grab the headlines but, happily, his book ranges across the agency's functions. It is imbued throughout with good sense about how secret intelligence and democratic society can be made to coexist. --Foreign Affairs Breaks new theoretical ground...and adds important data about many contemporary intelligence activities....the importance of Johnson's contribution to the debate about he future of U.S. intelligence agencies cannot be stressed enough. --American Political Science Review Johnson's experience as a staffer on various Congressional intelligence oversight committees is evident throughout, both in his impressive command of detail and in his general 'Capitol Hill' orientation. --American Politics Review A meticulous study of increasing congressional assertiveness and distrust....The book is also prescriptive and, as such, written for a wider audience in Washington....The book then is aimed at two audiences: those interested in the role of the CIA; and those interested in congressional oversight. Both audiences will find this book excellent. --Political Studies A magiserial study....A fair-minded and balanced critique of the CIA and intelligence policy....Must now be considered the standard work on the Central Intelligence Agency. --International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence Solid work. Readable. --Dan Struble, Occidental College

"""...a fine overview....a refreshing approach.""--James J. Wirtz, Defense Analysis ""[Johnson] writes in clean, easy prose about the covert actions that grab the headlines but, happily, his book ranges across the agency's functions. It is imbued throughout with good sense about how secret intelligence and democratic society can be made to coexist.""--Foreign Affairs ""Breaks new theoretical ground...and adds important data about many contemporary intelligence activities....the importance of Johnson's contribution to the debate about he future of U.S. intelligence agencies cannot be stressed enough.""--American Political Science Review ""Johnson's experience as a staffer on various Congressional intelligence oversight committees is evident throughout, both in his impressive command of detail and in his general 'Capitol Hill' orientation.""--American Politics Review ""A meticulous study of increasing congressional assertiveness and distrust....The book is also prescriptive and, as such, written for a wider audience in Washington....The book then is aimed at two audiences: those interested in the role of the CIA; and those interested in congressional oversight. Both audiences will find this book excellent.""--Political Studies ""A magiserial study....A fair-minded and balanced critique of the CIA and intelligence policy....Must now be considered the standard work on the Central Intelligence Agency.""--International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence ""Solid work. Readable.""--Dan Struble, Occidental College"

Author Information

Loch K. Johnson is Regents Professor of Political Science at the University of Georgia, and was recently named a Meigs Professor, the University of Georgia's highest teaching honor. He has served on the Senate and House committees on intelligence and on foreign affairs and has been a consultant to the National Security Council, the U.S. State Department, and the Senate Subcommittee on Separation of Powers. He is the author of A Season of Inquiry, the winner of the 1986 Certificate of Distinction of the National Intelligence Study Center, and America As a World Power (1991).

Tab Content 6

Countries Available