Overview

A no-holds-barred examination of America's National Security Agency - packed with startling secrets about its past, news-breaking revelations about its present-day activities, and chilling predictions about its future powers and reach. The NSA is the largest, most secretive and most powerful intelligence agency in the world. With a staff of 38,000 people, it dwarfs the CIA in budget, manpower and influence. Recent headlines have linked it to economic espionage throughout Europe and to the ongoing hunt for the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. James Bamford first penetrated the wall of silence surrounding the NSA in 1982, with the much-talked-about US bestseller THE PUZZLE PALACE. In BODY OF SECRETS he offers shocking new details about the inner workings of the agency, gathered through unique access to thousands of internal documents and interviews with current and former officials. Unveiling extremely sensitive information for the first time, Bamford exposes the role the NSA played in numerous Soviet bloc Cold War conflicts and discusses its undercover involvement in the Vietnam War. His investigation into the NSA's technological advances during the last 15 years brings to light a network of global surveillance ranging from on-line listening posts to sophisticated intelligence-gathering satellites. In a hard-hitting conclusion, he warns the NSA is a double-edged sword- while its worldwide eavesdropping activities offer the potential for tracking down terrorists and uncovering nuclear weapons deals, it also has the capacity to listen in on global personal communications.

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9780099427742

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Reviews

“A magnificent achievement and a compelling read for anyone interested in espionage.” — The Baltimore Sun “Extraordinary. . . . A galvanizing narrative brimming with heretofore undisclosed details.” — The New York Times Book Review “Crisply written and prodigiously researched, Body of Secrets . . . is the most detailed picture yet of the activities of the world’s largest intelligence-gathering operation.” — The Washington Post Book World “Part history, part expose, the book offers an ‘anatomy’ of the NSA, seeking to strip away the myth surrounding it. . . . [An] authoritative and engaging book.” – The Wall Street Journal “ Body of Secrets is one fascinating book…chock-full of juicy stuff…. Interesting to read, well-written and scrupulously documented.”– Salon “An engaging and informed history…. Bamford weaves a narrative about

A magnificent achievement and a compelling read for anyone interested in espionage. - The Baltimore Sun Extraordinary. . . . A galvanizing narrative brimming with heretofore undisclosed details. - The New York Times Book Review Crisply written and prodigiously researched, Body of Secrets . . . is the most detailed picture yet of the activities of the world's largest intelligence-gathering operation. - The Washington Post Book World Part history, part expose, the book offers an 'anatomy' of the NSA, seeking to strip away the myth surrounding it. . . . [An] authoritative and engaging book. - The Wall Street Journal Body of Secrets is one fascinating book...chock-full of juicy stuff.... Interesting to read, well-written and scrupulously documented. - Salon An engaging and informed history.... Bamford weaves a narrative about

&#8220;A magnificent achievement and a compelling read for anyone interested in espionage.&#8221; &#8212; The Baltimore Sun <br> &#8220;Extraordinary. . . . A galvanizing narrative brimming with heretofore undisclosed details.&#8221; &#8212; The New York Times Book Review <br> &#8220;Crisply written and prodigiously researched, Body of Secrets . . . is the most detailed picture yet of the activities of the world&#8217;s largest intelligence-gathering operation.&#8221; &#8212; The Washington Post Book World <br>&#8220;Part history, part expose, the book offers an &#8216;anatomy&#8217; of the NSA, seeking to strip away the myth surrounding it. . . . [An] authoritative and engaging book.&#8221; &#8211; The Wall Street Journal <br>&#8220; Body of Secrets is one fascinating book&#8230;chock-full of juicy stuff&#8230;. Interesting to read, well-written and scrupulously documented.&#8221;&#8211; Salon <br>&#8220;An engaging and informed history&#8230;. Bamford weaves a narrative about

A magnificent achievement and a compelling read for anyone interested in espionage. - The Baltimore Sun Extraordinary. . . . A galvanizing narrative brimming with heretofore undisclosed details. - The New York Times Book Review Crisply written and prodigiously researched, Body of Secrets . . . is the most detailed picture yet of the activities of the world's largest intelligence-gathering operation. - The Washington Post Book World Part history, part expose, the book offers an 'anatomy' of the NSA, seeking to strip away the myth surrounding it. . . . [An] authoritative and engaging book. - The Wall Street Journal Body of Secrets is one fascinating book...chock-full of juicy stuff.... Interesting to read, well-written and scrupulously documented. - Salon An engaging and informed history.... Bamford weaves a narrative about A magnificent achievement and a compelling read for anyone interested in espionage. -- The Baltimore Sun Extraordinary. . . . A galvanizing narrative brimming with heretofore undisclosed details. -- The New York Times Book Review Crisply written and prodigiously researched, Body of Secrets . . . is the most detailed picture yet of the activities of the world's largest intelligence-gathering operation. -- The Washington Post Book World Part history, part expose, the book offers an 'anatomy' of the NSA, seeking to strip away the myth surrounding it. . . . [An] authoritative and engaging book. - The Wall Street Journal Body of Secrets is one fascinating book...chock-full of juicy stuff.... Interesting to read, well-written and scrupulously documented. - Salon An engaging and informed history.... Bamford weaves a narrative about the NSA that includes...many heretofore undisclosed tidbits of information. - The Nation James Bamford, who wrote one of the really good books about American intelligence twenty years ago...has now done it again.... Body of Secrets has something interesting and important to add to many episodes of cold war history...[and] has much to say about recent events. - The New York Review of Books At times surprising, often quite troubling but always fascinating.... Writing with a flair and clarity that rivals those of the best spy novelists, Bamford has created a masterpiece of investigative reporting. - Publishers Weekly (starred review) Body of Secrets adds fresh material about the world's nosiest and most secret body.... Will fascinate anyone interested in the shadow war. - The Economist

Author Information

James Bamford is the author of The Puzzle Palace, a bestseller in the US when it was first published, and now regarded as a classic. Formerly Washington Investigative Producer for ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, he has written investigative cover stories for The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine and The Los Angeles Time Magazine, and won the National Magazine Award in 2006 for his piece 'The Man Who Sold The War', published in Rolling Stone.

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