The Night Watch: 25 Years of Peculiar Service

by David Atlee Phillips

For 25 years David Atlee Phillips stood "the night watch" for the CIA. He directed Western Hemisphere Operations when the Chilean government was overthrown (with CIA help) in 1973.

Phillips details his experiences in 18 countries. Along the way, we learn much about "the company," certainly one of the least understood and most controversial pillars of our defense ever to have been invented.

"Phillips is as skilled a writer as he was a spook, and his astonishingly readable book makes a convincing case for the necessity of an intelligence service such as the CIA." --Joseph C. Goulden.

Genres: Espionage, History, Nonfiction

309 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insider account from a self-proclaimed proponent and master of “dirty tricks”, also known as covert action. Phillips’s account of clandestine radio broadcasting used during the overthrow of the Arbenz government is particularly fascinating. His justification for the necessity of the CIA’s existence and operations falls flat.

[Sherri · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ordered a copy of this book off of eBay because of its coverage in the Kennedy papers. Read this book for what it is — written by the guy who ran the propaganda wing of the CIA in Cuba and other Latin American countries in the late 1950s and 60s, who wrote this book and went on a speaker tour to try to salvage the CIA’s reputation in the late 70s. The Kennedy Papers show how thoroughly vetted and edited this book was by CIA leadership. There are some interesting anecdotes and some uncomfortable truths, but probably no whole truths and a lot of plot holes.

[Chris Flick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very difficult to tell what is fiction and what is fact.