Spying for America: The Hidden History of U.S. Intelligence - Hardcover

Miller, Nathan

3.19

16 ratings by Goodreads

9781557781864: Spying for America: The Hidden History of U.S. Intelligence

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1557781869 ISBN 13: 9781557781864

Publisher: Paragon House, 1989

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Shocking details of Gulf War espionage and the treachery of CIA officer Aldrich Ames update this in-depth history of U.S. intelligence operations
-- Reveals that U.S. intelligence did not begin in World War II, but has been a major activity of the U.S. government since the Revolutionary War
-- This edition includes new material on the role of the CIA after the end of the Cold War

People who were shocked a decade ago by Oliver North's testimony on "shredding parties" and shady arms deals will be electrified by details from the case of Aldrich Ames, the counterintelligence officer who betrayed CIA operatives in Russia and spied for the KGB (and its post-Cold War successor, the Russian SVR) for nine years before his arrest in 1994. With its new information on recent episodes in the U.S, Spying for America is a complete history of the nation's espionage. Author Nathan Miller tells the true stories of agents like John Honeyman, George Washington's Tory agent who gathered enemy intelligence along the backroads of New Jersey; and of Elizabeth Van Lew and Rose Greenhow, belles who spied during the Civil War.

Sometimes humorous, often disturbing, and always dramatic, Miller's history of American spying traces the growth of intelligence organizations, and the unfortunate pattern of officials all too tempted to use covert operations as shortcuts in resolving domestic and international problems.

"(A) fact-filled study of the people behind the 200-year-old American intelligence community.... A solid primer". -- Kirkus Reviews

"A stunning narrative that reads better than a novel". -- Charles W. Corddry, Baltimore Sun writer and panelist for Washington Week in Review

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From Publishers Weekly:

Miller seeks to correct the common wisdom that U.S. military intelligence didn't amount to much until WW II. His chronicle begins with an account of George Washington as spymaster during the Revolutionary War. Although he demythologizes such supposed paragons as Nathan Hale and Belle Boyd, Miller takes an admiring look at some of the men and women who performed valuable service with a minimum of government support. After reaching its low point during the Mexican-American War (the War Department sent the campaigners a map of Mexico torn from an atlas), U.S. military intelligence entered its professional era during the Spanish-American War with Ralph Van Deman's intelligence bureau. Calling him the father of modern intelligence, Miller points out in passing that Van Deman also initiated the kind of domestic snooping that has led to civil-rights infringements ever since. Other pre-WW II figures include Herbert O. Yardley, whose code-breaking service during the 1920s was abruptly shut down by Secretary of State Henry Stimson with the immortal comment that gentlemen do not read each other's mail. The book's take on U.S. intelligence activities through WW II to the Iran- contra affair is adequate but undistinguished. Photos.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

A very readable and comprehensive overview of the use of intelligence since the American Revolution, written by a former reporter for the Baltimore Sun . Beginning with the well-known tale of John Honeyman and ending with Oliver North, the narrative is straightforward, and the coverage is comprehensive and well focused. While no new ground is broken, it provides an excellent starting point for the neophyte and is sufficiently annotated to provide access to more detailed studies. The first half of the book treats the use of intelligence to support military operations. The second half looks at intelligence in the postwar period with the major emphasis on covert operations. An excellent history.
- George W. Price, Defense Intelligence Agency, Washington , D.C.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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