No Backup: My Life as a Female FBI Special Agent

by Rosemary Dew, Pat Pape

In her thirteen years as special agent for the FBI, Rosemary Dew worked undercover against criminals, spies, and terrorists, earning eight commendations for her service. Despite her achievements, for her entire tenure she remained the subject of severe discrimination and even sexual harassment that the bureau seemed to condone rather than condemn. In elegant and deeply felt prose, Dew argues that this climate of corruption and duplicity not only taints the experience of the FBI's few female agents but also leads directly to some of the bureau's most harmful failures, such as the remarkable intelligence breakdown that allowed spy Robert Hanssen to operate undetected for more than two decades. Narrated by one of the most successful— and one of the only—women in the bureau's history, No Backup is a startling look at the destructive and discriminatory culture that dominates one of America's most powerful agencies, as well as an impassioned plea to an organization that must reform itself.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir

320 pages, Paperback

First published December 14, 2003

Reviews

[Tbone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really Good Book. Some good cop stories and cases. I would say about half the book is about the macho attitude that existed and may still exist in the FBI towards female agents and how she was discriminated against by many of the males (in about every way you could imagine including one of her supervisors coming over drunk uninvited and getting naked in her living room)

I enjoyed the book though, It was interesting and well written and she brought up some good points in the book.

[Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

If half the stuff Dew says in the book is true, we're all in big trouble. Pretty shocking conditions, even for a government agency.

[Hope · Rating 2 out of 5]

An important topic, but unfortunately not well written or particularly interesting.

[Nancy O'Toole · Rating 3 out of 5]

No Backup is the autobiography of Rosemary Dew, one of the first female FBI special agents. During her thirteen year career, she spent time in counterintelligence and counterterrorism. She spent time undercover, and worked against hate crimes, gangs, and crimes against the environmental. No Backup also builds a compelling case against the FBI, pointing out how it's inability to adapt has resulted in some of it's most highly publicized blunders. During the biography section, she focuses on her personal experiences with the FBI's inability to adjust with the times, mainly through the form of sexism. The book then splits up to a second section where she looks at the FBI's inefficiency at large, and how it has impacted recent history.

I found the biography section absolutely fascinating. I came into the book with little knowledge of the FBI beyond what's presented by Hollywood, so it was a real eye opening experience to me. I was also shocked by the sexism she faced. Although she had colleagues, and instructors that treated her with respect, it seemed like a large amount of her fellow agents and supervisors either treated her inappropriately, or ignored what was going on. Early on in her career she was encouraged to stay away from other female FBI agents for her own protection, isolating her from a possible support group. She was harassed verbally, emotionally, and even sexually. I shared in her frustration as she was pushed down by colleagues and supervisors constantly, many who were not only never reprimanded for their attitudes, but later rewarded with promotions and honors.

The second section gave us a history lesson of the FBI and analyzed well known events such as Waco, 9/11, and the unveiling of FBI agent Robert Hanssen as a spy. Dew argued that if the FBI was run more efficiently, that tragedies could have been prevented, and scandals avoided. She criticizes the FBI for it's poor communication, poor security, inability to change with the time, inability to work well with others, and how the pressure to appear has perfect has resulted in people ignoring blatant mistakes and refusing to learn from them. I found this section to also be very interesting, but I missed the personal touch found in the earlier section of the book. Here we get to hear very little about her personal experiences, and more about her opinions. She does a great job of pointing out the FBIs faults, and ways where they could improve, but I missed the biography aspect found in the first section of the book. I also felt that it took the book away from it's focal point of life as a female FBI agent.

No Backup is a interesting peak into the life or Rosemary Dew, and her thirteen year career as an FBI agent. This was a very different type of book for me, but I'm glad I picked it up, as it gave me a lot to think about.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting autobiographical book about a woman's experiences in the FBI. Unfortunately not as satisfying as I had hoped. The book was something of an exposé, focusing on the institutional sexism, and the incompetence and inflexibility that leads to it, but the anecdotes tend to peter out, leaving little by way of a narrative arc. I suspect part of this is due to how much she is allowed to reveal about actual cases, it did mean that the book never really got going. While it was interesting, particularly about the history and culture of the FBI, it never became compelling. I think it really needed some better editing (or ghost writer). All that said, I have a lot of respect for Rosemary Dew - I just wish that there was a better book recounting her impressive and difficult career in the FBI.

[Wayland Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting, and in some way terrifying, look at the inner workings of the FBI. Agent Rosemary Dew dealt with sexism, incompetence, and cover ups in her career, and was consistently told that no one could help her and that she should shut up about such things. It really makes one question the institutional culture at the FBI.

It's a good read, if scary. I recommend it to anyone interested in law enforcement or the unfair treatment of, well, anyone. While she relates her own experiences, the book certainly deals with more than just sexual discrimination.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rosemary Dew was one of the earlier female FBI agents. It's women like her who paved the way for my generation to be able to choose whatever career they want. My glass is forever raised to Ms Dew for that. She tells of her life in the FBI, the harassment she suffered and then points out all the things wrong with the organisation. While I do applaud her, the axe grinding got a little too much towards the end.

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this book. I thought that there would be some good information about big FBI operations, but it was just dissing the FBI. There was a little bit of history about the FBI, but nothing that you couldn't find in a general history of the FBI.

[Rdew1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first book that I wrote.