DeForest, Orrin, and
David Chanoff. Slow Burn: The Rise and Bitter Fall of American Intelligence
in Vietnam. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990. DeForest, Orrin, and
David Chanoff. Slow Burn: The Rise and Bitter Fall of American Intelligence
in Vietnam. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990.
According to Surveillant 1.1, Slow Burn tells the story of a "CIA officer's creation of a spy network in Vietnam.... [He] describes the anxieties and frustrations of the final days of U.S. involvement." Petersen identifies the author as "a disillusioned CIA regional officer who personally handled defectors and agents."
Wirtz, IJI&C 4.2, notes that from November 1968 to Spring 1975, DeForest was a "CIA operations officer in the city of Bien Hoa.... [His] reminiscences are informative.... He provides a compelling description of a single CIA success amidst the general disaster that engulfed much of American intelligence during the war." This is a "useful contribution to the literature on the Vietnam war."
De Silva, Peer. Sub
Rosa: The CIA and the Uses of Intelligence. New York: New York Times
Books, 1978.
Clark comment: This is De Silva's memoir of his intelligence career from 1945 to 1973. He was the CIA Chief of Station in Vietnam 1964-1965, where he was injured by a terrorist bomb.
For Constantinides, much of what De Silva recounts about the Vietnam War "does not enlighten us about the intelligence effort and operations that provided the basis of his ... opinions." Pforzheimer finds that De Silva's presentation "suffers from the author's garrulous details of his personal life"; however, the book "brings out the flavor of an intelligence career."
Devlin, Larry. Chief of Station, Congo: Fighting the Cold War in a Hot Zone. New York: Public Affairs, 2007.
Clark comment: This is an invigorating read about a curious corner in the Cold War, written by a man who lived it closely. There is certainly plenty of Devlin's opinion on U.S. foreign policy of the era spread about in his memoir, but such does not represent more than momentary pauses in the narrative of the story he unfolds. This was neither the first nor the last time that officers (whether CIA or State Department) in the field and Washington had different views of developing situations. Devlin writes an easily read brand of English, introduces his colleagues and the Congolese leaders with both candor and sensitivity, and seeks to put to rest canards directed at the CIA institutionally and him personally for such actions as Lumumba's death and Mobutu's coup. It is, perhaps, easy at this late date to wonder "who cares" about these actions of long ago; it is, however, even easier to agree with Devlin's deepseated belief that it really did matter at the time. I am grateful that fate placed Larry Devlin in the Congo at this juncture as Africa began to move beyond its previous colonial existence.
EAB, AFIO WIN 06-07 (12 Feb. 2007), notes that when the author arrived in the Congo in 1960, there was "no central authority ... and local strongmen were struggling for power.... Devlin devotes a large portion of the book refuting his or the agency's part in Lumumba's death." Similarly, a Publisher's Weekly reviewer (via Amazon.com) finds that the author uses his last chapter for "a point-by-point refutation of his or the agency's involvement in Lumumba's death.... Devlin's straightforward, plainly written approach ... lends credence to his assertion of innocence."
For Cassilly, IJI&C 21.1 (Spring 2008), "this is the first report written exclusively from the CIA's point of view and, as such, a valuable contribution to the history of the time.... [A]s the Cold War recedes further, the time may soon arrive for a reexamination of the situation in a less emotional context. When doing so, Devlin's book will be required reading, if perhaps not the final word."
Rogers, CIRA Newsletter 32.1 (Spring 2007) and Intelligencer 15.2 (Fall/Winter 2006-2007), calls Chief of Station, Congo "an important piece of history about the United States' skirmishes with the Soviet Union and other Communist countries during the Cold War as specifically played out in the Congo.... The Congo experience is a textbook lesson on how CIA can and should work with the Department of State, and how Department of State diplomats can use effectively intelligence resources."
See Scott Shane, "Memories of a C.I.A. Officer Resonate in a New Era," New York Times, 24 Feb. 2008, for the journalist's interview of the 85-year-old Devlin at his home in Virginia.
Doyle, David W. True
Men and Traitors: From the OSS to the CIA. New York: Wiley, 2001.
Jonkers, AFIO WIN 12.2 (25 Mar. 2002), highly recommends this book as "a great starting point for both outsiders and insiders who want to know more about clandestine operations." As the title indicates, the author served with OSS in World War II and, later, with the CIA.... Doyle provides a window on how CIA operated..., including agent recruitment, tradecraft in operations and successes as well as various inevitable snafus.... This is a positive, constructive, interesting book, easy to read, a straightforward account that is a credit to the author."
The reviewer in CIRA Newsletter, Spring 2002, believes that former CIA Africa-hand Doyle provides "real insight into the business of espionage.... [T]he book examines the daily grind and drudgery of the espionage business as well as the great personal satisfaction that comes from winkling out vital information from sometimes unlikely and unlikeable sources."
Bath, NIPQ 18.2/3, sees the author introducing the reader "to the problems and perils of agent running in the Third World in the 1960s" and offering "interesting insights into tradecraft." In the "Traitors" part of the book, "there is little new for the student of intelligence."
Garbler, Florence Fitzsimmons.
CIA Wife: One Woman's Life Inside the CIA. Santa Barbara, CA: Fithian
Press, 1994.
Clark comment: The CIA career of Garbler's husband was derailed around 1964 when he came under investigation by James Angleton as a Soviet mole. Paul Garbler's obituary appears in Adam Bernstein, "CIA Cold Warrior Paul Garbler; Won Payment Over Loyalty Slur," Washington Post, 6 Apr. 2006, B6 [http://www. washingtonpost.com].
Surveillant 3.6 notes that Garbler's husband spent thirty-six years (1942-1978) in the intelligence business and was the first chief of station in Moscow (1962-1964). Garbler blames Richard Helms "as weak for refusing to step in and curtail an out-of-control Angleton who was engaged in a character and career assassination campaign of her husband and others."
According to S.E., CIRA Newsletter 20.2, the "first portion of this book relates a wonderful love story.... Then, despite its title, it begins to represent the memoirs of both husband and wife chronicling their more than 25 years with the Agency.... [I]f the couple were fond of a CIA or cover colleague they usually do not name that person.... Former Director Richard Helms and DDO Tom Karramessines, Foreign Service officers Malcolm Toon and Walter Stoessel, along with others, each come in for their own harsh treatment."
Gates,
Robert M. From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents
and How They Won the Cold War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.
Selected quotes from the numerous reviews of this important and very readable book are available at REVIEWS of From the Shadows.
Gilligan, Tom. CIA
Life: 10,000 Days with the Agency. Guilford, CT: Foreign Intelligence Press, 1991. 2d ed. Boston, MA: IEP, 2003.
Surveillant 1.1 says that this is an "account of the life of a loyal Agency employee who sees warts but understands and accepts the realities of the business." An entry on the CIA Website (https://www.cia.gov) notes that "[t]https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/intellit/index.htmlhe author covers his 28-year career from his recruitment through his training as a CIA operations officer, culminating with his assignment as chief of applicant recruitment in New England."
From advertisement: "In this Second Edition, Tom Gilligan shows how U.S. Congress's success in destroying CIA Covert Action capabilities has made the President and the country reliant exclusively in the 21st century on overt military response to international threats such as Terrorism."
Goodall, Harold Lloyd, Jr. The Need to Know: The Clandestine History of a CIA Family. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2006.
Peake, Studies 51.1 (Mar. 2007), advises that this is the story of the author's efforts to fill in the gaps about his father's life. Along the way, there are "chapters with irrelevant [and inaccurate] detail" and "excessive comparisons with the life of Gatsby, that confuse rather than elucidate." The reviewer concludes that the work "is inaccurate, speculative, and dull."
Goodrich, Austin. Born to Spy: Recollections of a CIA Case Officer. Berkeley, CA: Creative Arts Book Co., 2003.
Boyd, CIRA Newsletter 28.3, says that "Goodrich has written a cross between personal memoir and an instruction manual. Reading the book from either perspective is enjoyable, thanks to Goodrich's highly anecdotal manner of writing and the clarity of his views on recruiting/agent handling."
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