Sabotage: America's Enemies within the CIA

by Rowan Scarborough

How Bush-hating CIA Bureaucrats Are Sabotaging the War on Terror
Since the attacks on September 11, 2001, intelligence collection has become the number-one weapon in the effort to defeat al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden. A plot penetrated is an attack stopped. And to the outside observer, the CIA has performed well as a key partner in the Bush administration's War on Terror. But as Rowan Scarborough reveals in this groundbreaking new book, significant elements within the CIA are undermining both the president and national security through leaks, false allegations, and outright sabotage.

Using his first-rate sources in all levels of national security--from field officers to high-ranking analysts to former intelligence heads--Scarborough paints a disturbing picture of partisan politics endangering the success of our campaigns abroad and the very lives of our soldiers and agents.

In Sabotage, you'll

* How CIA analysts repeatedly leak details about classified intelligence programs with the dual intent of ending them and damaging the president
* How, on at least eight occasions, intelligence officials have made serious allegations of wrongdoing against the president's men--which turned out to be false
* Why, contrary to popular belief, the CIA has become predominantly liberal
* How a CIA turf battle prevented special operators from pursuing and capturing a notorious Taliban leader
* How current and former CIA officers fueled conspiracy theories that President Bush orchestrated the 9/11 attacks on America
* How a CIA leak to the New York Times deprived the U.S. of critical information in the War on Terror
* How press leaks by the CIA have damaged relations with our foreign allies in the War on Terror
* How a CIA analyst worked with Democrats to sabotage the nomination of John Bolton to the UN
* How Clinton's downsizing of the CIA led to the closing of stations in scores of jihadist breeding grounds--including Hamburg, Germany, where the 9/11 plot was hatched

The CIA's job is to collect facts and let the White House, the Pentagon, and the State Department make national security policy. But, as Scarborough conclusively demonstrates, an agency that is supposed to be scrupulously nonpartisan has become increasingly political--during a time of war--against America's elected commander in chief.

Genres: Nonfiction

229 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Nathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you love partisan, agenda-driven attack-manifestos that lack any hint of intellectual curiosity, then you'll probably love Sabotage by Rowan Scarborough. The book's central premise is that the CIA, controlled by liberal Democrats, is subverting George W. Bush's leadership. Scarborough bemoans the politicization of the CIA. His thesis makes me think he knows little of CIA history. His hypocrisy is also startling. He begins the book with quotes from 1947 when the CIA was created, stating that the agency should be free of partisan politics. He then goes on to say that the CIA is full of partisans because they have disagreed with President Bush, yet fails to mention how many times the CIA has been used as a political tool by administrations since the Truman administration. The real politicization of the CIA lies not with its agents, conservative or liberal, but with the short-sighted administrations who have used the CIA. Scarborough's love for his country is not in doubt, but his love for his political party is just as, if not more, pronounced. His own choice of words betrays this, describing a White House at "war" with "terrorists, Democrats and the CIA." How is lumping democrats and the CIA in with terrorists even supposed to give the appearance of non-partisan concern for our country or our intelligence community? He claims that the CIA deliberately leaks information to embarrass the President and calls that treacherous, but Scarborough has nothing to say about the political leaks of the White House designed to embarrass others. He assaults the CIA over a leak that revealed the government's legally-questionable wiretap program as a politically motivated move, claiming it undermined the ability of law enforcement to wage the war on terror. The reader is supposed to take it for granted that spying on American citizens is not at all out-of-bounds. Basically, "dirty tricks" and political lies are unpatriotic and morally wrong, unless they benefit George W. Bush, according to Scarborough. What's more frightening, and ultimately intellectually dangerous to both the CIA and our security, is Scarborough's rather vicious attempt to blame structural and performance problems in the CIA exclusively on liberals in the organization, and Bill Clinton's presidency. If one is really interested in seeing how valid this complaint is, genuinely interested, there are scores of non-partisan books about the history of the CIA that are worth reading. The unavoidable conclusion of all of them is that the CIA has had these problems since its inception. These problems are not now and have never been the result of CIA agents or analysts being "too liberal" or "too conservative". There's no liberal conspiracy to keep captured Arabic documents from being translated, as Scarborough coyly asserts in his book. There's no liberal CIA conspiracy to play games with our intelligence and screw up a war. And considering that many of these structural problems in the CIA have been there for six decades, it is preposterous to blame it all on Bill Clinton, assuming the former president doesn't know how to time travel. His arguments about Clinton's downsizing agency stations in Muslin nations like Indonesia, for example, hold water only if one doesn't know how many stations were understaffed in cold war hot spots throughout the height of that abstract conflict. Conversely, the "war on terror" - the current war on an abstract idea - hadn't even "officially" started when Bill Clinton was president. Sabotage is patently partisan, an irony given Scarborough's "point". Ultimately this book is not at all about the CIA; it's about how much Rowan Scarborough hates Democrats.

NC

[Clare · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book taught me that, "Bush-hating CIA Bureaucrats are SABOTAGING the War on Terror."

[Natalie K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty sobering look overall at the CIA and how it does not always act in America's best interest. It also isn't the most competent agency—a very surprising realization, as there's definitely an idea in our collective consciousness that the employees are, at a bare minimum, actually competent.

And yes, I do understand what some other reviewers have pointed out, in that the CIA was understaffed and stretched thin in the Cold War era as well. But reading this book, I don't see how you can't also believe that 1) the CIA has become increasingly politicized, and 2) it was definitely against Bush and everything he did back when he was in office.

[Ernie Dawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although outdated by 4 years the information is relatively timely. Let's you know why the intelligence community is failing and what to do about it. I was in intelligence from 1972 to 1988. Things have changed and technology has increased tremendously. Some of his material I think should have been classified. I wouldn't want the enemy to get a hold of his disclosures on our capabilities. We just plain need to keep things secret. If I was to tell classified material while in the military I would have gone to prison. Nowadays people get away with just about everything.

Today is Samuel's birthday. We had an awesome fast an testimony meeting for the first time meeting of the Far West War. We really have an special ward. Big things are going to happen.

[Hal Shipman · Rating 1 out of 5]

I expected the partisanship, but Jesus, this is horribly written.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

disturbing politics played at agency tasked with our safety and security, 60M revs Iran.