See No Evil by Robert Baer (2005, Unabridged, Compact Disc)

Who better to bring to light the fall of the intelligence gathering capabilities of the United States better than an ex-CIA agent? With very specific example from Beirut to Tajikistan Robert Baer details the slow decay of America's surreptitious intelligence agency.

With almost total disregard to respecting the establishment Baer is honest and upfront about the decline of an agency once committed to men on the ground. The agency, like the society that funds it, relies too heavily on technology and an almost ignorance of the human experience. Baer's front-row seat to some of histories most intriquing and shocking terrorist acts provides his readers with the perfect case for massive overhaul of our intelligence apparatus.

For any activist this diatribe is one more convincing piece that with regard to intelligence our government should be regarded with increasing suspicion. Regardless of your political leanings never again can you blame the other party for failures of intelligence. Baer lays out the slow decline of Langley dating beyond Nixon up to the tragic betrayals by the first Bush administration (H.W. was CIA Director) as well as the treasonous omissions of the Clinton Administration.

The author lays out an almost cronological softening of the CIA from a once effective men on the ground operation to a cowardly organization more satisfied using satellite imagery and paranoid about offending the NSA and FBI, organizations that should be working together!

For those with casual interest or seasoned students of counter-terrorism this book is a must read. The author plays out the slow process that led to such tragic lapses on intelligence with regard to Beirut, American Embassy bombings, Gulf War I, 9/11 and the flawed intelligence used as evidence for war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Baer sheds light on an organization that operates in the shadows and how that agency became the scapegoat for elected officials, persons wanting to be elected, and any pro/anti-(insert cause) group on the face of the earth.

However, he does not claim that all is lost, hope is given to the reader that this once effective organization can again become an agency we can trust to bring the right intelligence to those who are charged with the protection of the most powerful nation in modern history.