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The Agency: a history of the CIA
Since the eve of the Cold War, the Central Intelligence Agency has been tasked by the U.S. government with keeping watch on an increasingly dangerous and unstable world. Few organizations are as fascinating, as mysterious—and as controversial.
Also known as “the Agency” or “the Company,” the CIA has a dual mission: to gather critical intelligence and analysis and to conduct covert operations aimed at safeguarding U.S. security interests. To do this, its officers work primarily in the shadows, dealing in spies and secrecy, which has led to questions about the organization's geopolitical role, and the tradeoffs between intelligence work and democratic transparency:
Is the CIA operating as it was intended to, or is it in desperate need of repair?
What lessons has the CIA learned from its greatest successes and its worst failures?
How does intelligence gathering actually work, both for and against U.S. interests?
Has the CIA fulfilled its difficult mission for the world's largest democracy thus far?
According to CIA expert Hugh Wilford, there's a fundamental tension buried within the heart of the CIA's mission to protect the American government and people: a tension between democratic accountability and the inherent need for secret government power. Throughout its epic (and surprisingly recent) history, the CIA has swung back and forth between these principles.
What many don't realize is that it's U.S. citizens who check the CIA's power, and who bear the responsibility of staying informed about what the CIA has done and continues to do at home and abroad in their name. In The Agency: A History of the CIA, Professor Wilford of California State University transforms decades of academic research into an engrossing 24-lecture course that helps you better understand the roles the CIA has played in recent American history, from the eve of the Cold War against communism to the 21st-century War on Terror. With his outsider's objective perspective, Professor Wilford offers an unbiased exploration of the CIA's inner workings, its successful—and disastrous—operations, its innovations in technology and espionage, and its complex relationship with U.S. presidents and popular culture. In this course, you will find all the information you need to be able to make your own conclusions about what the CIA might have done right, what it might have done wrong, and what it should do in the future.
Investigate the CIA's Great Successes…
Prior to the birth of the CIA in 1947, Americans entertained strong suspicions of international involvement and excessive government power. That changed, however, with the onset of World War II and the subsequent Cold War against communism—both of which paved the way for advocates of intelligence and international intervention to overcome the nation's “anti-spy” tradition.
So, what can we make of the CIA's record in espionage and intelligence? Does it all add up to a failure or to a success?
To answer this complicated question, The Agency guides you through decades of espionage and covert operations. After a look at the CIA's origins—including the agency's most obvious predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services, or OSS—and the organization's evolution from a strict intelligence agency to the United States's premier covert-action unit, you'll delve into some of the most remarkable and fascinating successes, including:
The sound intelligence the CIA's U-2 spy plane program provided to President John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which highlights the agency's prowess in using technological innovations to fulfill its mission;
The admirable performance of the CIA throughout much of the Vietnam War during the 1960s and 1970s, during which it provided solid battlefield intel and sensible strategic assessments about the negative long-term prospects of U.S. involvement; and
The recent successful disruptions of terrorist plots in the ongoing War on Terror, including the foiling of a June 2018 plot (involving the deadly toxin ricin) by a suspected Islamist extremist in Cologne, Germany.
…and Its Stunning Failures
A balanced exploration of the CIA should also take into account the CIA's many controversial intelligence errors, and Professor Wilford devotes equal time to these historic failures.
You'll learn how these—sometimes catastrophic—moments came about as the result of everything from bureaucratic knots to the Agency's surprising lack of human intelligence about volatile regions around the world, including the former communist bloc in Eastern Europe and the Muslim world.
Throughout The Agency, you'll consider how the CIA often failed or fell short concerning:
The Soviet Union's acquisition of the atomic bomb,
The fall of China to the forces of communism,
North Korea's invasion of South Korea,
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and
How long it took to notice the rise of radical Islamism (including the September 11 attacks).
Meet t...
Also known as “the Agency” or “the Company,” the CIA has a dual mission: to gather critical intelligence and analysis and to conduct covert operations aimed at safeguarding U.S. security interests. To do this, its officers work primarily in the shadows, dealing in spies and secrecy, which has led to questions about the organization's geopolitical role, and the tradeoffs between intelligence work and democratic transparency:
Is the CIA operating as it was intended to, or is it in desperate need of repair?
What lessons has the CIA learned from its greatest successes and its worst failures?
How does intelligence gathering actually work, both for and against U.S. interests?
Has the CIA fulfilled its difficult mission for the world's largest democracy thus far?
According to CIA expert Hugh Wilford, there's a fundamental tension buried within the heart of the CIA's mission to protect the American government and people: a tension between democratic accountability and the inherent need for secret government power. Throughout its epic (and surprisingly recent) history, the CIA has swung back and forth between these principles.
What many don't realize is that it's U.S. citizens who check the CIA's power, and who bear the responsibility of staying informed about what the CIA has done and continues to do at home and abroad in their name. In The Agency: A History of the CIA, Professor Wilford of California State University transforms decades of academic research into an engrossing 24-lecture course that helps you better understand the roles the CIA has played in recent American history, from the eve of the Cold War against communism to the 21st-century War on Terror. With his outsider's objective perspective, Professor Wilford offers an unbiased exploration of the CIA's inner workings, its successful—and disastrous—operations, its innovations in technology and espionage, and its complex relationship with U.S. presidents and popular culture. In this course, you will find all the information you need to be able to make your own conclusions about what the CIA might have done right, what it might have done wrong, and what it should do in the future.
Investigate the CIA's Great Successes…
Prior to the birth of the CIA in 1947, Americans entertained strong suspicions of international involvement and excessive government power. That changed, however, with the onset of World War II and the subsequent Cold War against communism—both of which paved the way for advocates of intelligence and international intervention to overcome the nation's “anti-spy” tradition.
So, what can we make of the CIA's record in espionage and intelligence? Does it all add up to a failure or to a success?
To answer this complicated question, The Agency guides you through decades of espionage and covert operations. After a look at the CIA's origins—including the agency's most obvious predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services, or OSS—and the organization's evolution from a strict intelligence agency to the United States's premier covert-action unit, you'll delve into some of the most remarkable and fascinating successes, including:
The sound intelligence the CIA's U-2 spy plane program provided to President John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which highlights the agency's prowess in using technological innovations to fulfill its mission;
The admirable performance of the CIA throughout much of the Vietnam War during the 1960s and 1970s, during which it provided solid battlefield intel and sensible strategic assessments about the negative long-term prospects of U.S. involvement; and
The recent successful disruptions of terrorist plots in the ongoing War on Terror, including the foiling of a June 2018 plot (involving the deadly toxin ricin) by a suspected Islamist extremist in Cologne, Germany.
…and Its Stunning Failures
A balanced exploration of the CIA should also take into account the CIA's many controversial intelligence errors, and Professor Wilford devotes equal time to these historic failures.
You'll learn how these—sometimes catastrophic—moments came about as the result of everything from bureaucratic knots to the Agency's surprising lack of human intelligence about volatile regions around the world, including the former communist bloc in Eastern Europe and the Muslim world.
Throughout The Agency, you'll consider how the CIA often failed or fell short concerning:
The Soviet Union's acquisition of the atomic bomb,
The fall of China to the forces of communism,
North Korea's invasion of South Korea,
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and
How long it took to notice the rise of radical Islamism (including the September 11 attacks).
Meet t...
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Published March 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
May 11, 2021
Not my favorite Great Course.
The author expresses his anti-Trump opinions, he also throws in the whole no Weapons of Mass Destruction/911 type conspiracy theories into the mix, and honestly I felt it leaned towards the angle of the CIA are shadow agents that meddle in other countries business and portays a negative tone to the agency throughout most of the book.
First off, he's not even American... which I find pretty interesting. Imagine if I dedicated my time, energy, and academic pursuits in the Special Air Service (SAS) and then wrote a book about how shady they are. Or even better... how about the KGB, or whatever the Chinese equivalent is to these types of agencies. This is just of odd to me. I'll leave it at that with this part of the review.
I also really just lack confidence in alot of the information presented, especially the first half of the book.
Once he gets into the Obama era I started to enjoy it more. Drones, waterboarding, torture, G Bay, GWOT, etc.
The 007/Hollywood section was pleasant as well and I can honestly say it was fun.
My biggest disappointments were the authors personal injections, lack of the confidence in the early era CIA information provided, my disagreement with his negative angle, and his political vomit as well.
He makes me want to read a Pro-CIA book, with a more positive focus on the good that the agency has done over the years. Lives saved, terrorist plots foiled, so on and so forth.
I honestly probably wouldn't recommend this. I'll have to hunt for a different resource on this subject.
Writing this review from my phone, so please disregard/understand any possible errors or auto-corrects.
The author expresses his anti-Trump opinions, he also throws in the whole no Weapons of Mass Destruction/911 type conspiracy theories into the mix, and honestly I felt it leaned towards the angle of the CIA are shadow agents that meddle in other countries business and portays a negative tone to the agency throughout most of the book.
First off, he's not even American... which I find pretty interesting. Imagine if I dedicated my time, energy, and academic pursuits in the Special Air Service (SAS) and then wrote a book about how shady they are. Or even better... how about the KGB, or whatever the Chinese equivalent is to these types of agencies. This is just of odd to me. I'll leave it at that with this part of the review.
I also really just lack confidence in alot of the information presented, especially the first half of the book.
Once he gets into the Obama era I started to enjoy it more. Drones, waterboarding, torture, G Bay, GWOT, etc.
The 007/Hollywood section was pleasant as well and I can honestly say it was fun.
My biggest disappointments were the authors personal injections, lack of the confidence in the early era CIA information provided, my disagreement with his negative angle, and his political vomit as well.
He makes me want to read a Pro-CIA book, with a more positive focus on the good that the agency has done over the years. Lives saved, terrorist plots foiled, so on and so forth.
I honestly probably wouldn't recommend this. I'll have to hunt for a different resource on this subject.
Writing this review from my phone, so please disregard/understand any possible errors or auto-corrects.
March 25, 2021
A rather enjoyable look at the CIA from as unbiased perspective as you could hope for. It tells both the successes and failures as well as the pro's and cons of the methods used. That with a thorough history of the agency makes this an A+ course for me.
May 18, 2023
Solid overview over the history of the CIA from its inception until the present day, its achievements and the various scandals surrounding it, that strives for neutrality and largely succeeds in that.
June 26, 2019
Interesting topic and very well researched and presented. I felt like I learnt a lot about the history of this organisation - from its inception to more modern times.
January 22, 2024
Hugh's a solid neoliberal English conservative, or at least that's how he continuously interprets the actions and consequences of CIA behavior. His final statement that the CIA is often blamed for presidential behaviors or powers beyond what should be expected of an intelligence agency, and that they've often succeeded in their mission comes across as something of an endorsement.
I feel confident in calling Wilford a neoliberal because he's not offended by a Western intelligence agency routinely overturning democratic elections in order to appease their corporate overlords.
That the OSS was originally established by Hardvard/Yale Wall Street types is evident in the decisions that it and its successor the CIA have been a part of. The Neoliberal and Conservative perspective is that American businesses have a right to buy up the resources of foreign nations in unsustainable ways that don't benefit the exporting nation. Any time a people comes to a collective decision to do something about it, the bastion of Democracy in the world sends drug money and old weapons across the border to install an authoritarian who will only increase the poverty of the situation for the local people.
That this isn't abhorrent to all is... Bizarre to me. Was the Communist threat so deadly that we had to corrupt our ideals to combat it? The answer is no, we did it in the Middle East too where communism never took hold. No. America following its industrial age has always been a whore for business, and our actions on the global stage following WW2 are mostly inexcusable from any perspective that isn't "Money Makes Right".
I feel confident in calling Wilford a neoliberal because he's not offended by a Western intelligence agency routinely overturning democratic elections in order to appease their corporate overlords.
That the OSS was originally established by Hardvard/Yale Wall Street types is evident in the decisions that it and its successor the CIA have been a part of. The Neoliberal and Conservative perspective is that American businesses have a right to buy up the resources of foreign nations in unsustainable ways that don't benefit the exporting nation. Any time a people comes to a collective decision to do something about it, the bastion of Democracy in the world sends drug money and old weapons across the border to install an authoritarian who will only increase the poverty of the situation for the local people.
That this isn't abhorrent to all is... Bizarre to me. Was the Communist threat so deadly that we had to corrupt our ideals to combat it? The answer is no, we did it in the Middle East too where communism never took hold. No. America following its industrial age has always been a whore for business, and our actions on the global stage following WW2 are mostly inexcusable from any perspective that isn't "Money Makes Right".
August 19, 2019
The Agency: a history of the CIA is a very interesting listen. Professor and lecturer Hugh Wilford explains the history of the CIA from it's early predecessor the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) during WWII, to the modern day. He covers the agency's major known operations, as well as many of the minor one, and plans that were never acted on.
Some things you might not have known about the CIA:
If you are interested in spies and the US intelligence agency, then The Agency: a history of the CIA is definitely worth a listen.
Some things you might not have known about the CIA:
1. Orchestrating multiple foreign coups.
2. Attempting mind control experiments.
3. Funding and promoting American artists, musicians, and authors
4. Concocting elaborate assassination plots that Wile E. Coyote would have found impossible (exploding sea shells, alopecia inducing cigars etc.)
5. Engineering several devices because they read about them in James Bond novels
6. Conceiving operations that could have been dreamed up by frat boys (labeling extra-large american made condoms as medium, and send them overseas to the USSR to make them feel inadequate. This never made it past the planning stage.)
7. Working with Hollywood to promote the agency and obscure classified information. (This is called the Entertainment Industry Liaison, and is actually listed on their website.)
If you are interested in spies and the US intelligence agency, then The Agency: a history of the CIA is definitely worth a listen.
March 18, 2022
This Great Courses book provides an overview of the CIA and manages to strike a fairly neutral tone. It recognizes both its failures and its successes, and its successes that later turned into failures. It also is very good at getting into the basic contradiction of a government agency that needs to be covert in much of its activities in a democracy that needs the government to be transparent in order to maintain itself. Perhaps its best contribution is getting into the context of the CIA’s actions and understanding why they took the steps they took before they get into judgements on whether or not in the long term these actions benefitted the U.S. Overall, it’s a very interesting read.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
June 30, 2024
Interesting, it was also well ordered.
December 24, 2025
A decent history of the CIA, but I think marred by the presenter's bias. While he claims at the beginning that he'll be telling the history and letting his audience decide, he constantly has his thumb on the scale with negative adjectives and skewed representations.
It's obvious from the start when his first words are about the confirmation hearing of the first female director of the CIA, Gina Haspel, a respected career intelligence officer who was grilled about her involvement with the rendition and interrogation program instituted after the 9/11 attacks. That's a highly prejudicial topic.
Throughout the lectures he focuses mostly on CIA failures. In one lecture during the cold war, he actually says not everything was a failure but doesn't give any examples of successes. When describing the first director of the OSS, he says he was a lousy administrator, but that has no bearing on the history. When describing a later director, he says he was a womanizer, which is reprehensible, but also has nothing to do with the CIA.
When he describes the success of Afghan rebels shooting down Soviet helicopters for the first time due to CIA provided weapons in the 1980s, he immediately mentions that a couple of months later a CIA plane would be shot down in Central America, leading to the exposure of the Iran Contra affair, which had already been covered in the previous lecture.
He obviously believes that the CIA should focus on gathering and analyzing intelligence and not be involved in covert operations, especially ones that include killing or meddling with foreign governments. He continually references how America is the largest democracy in the world and chides the secrecy and immoral acts of the CIA. As an aside, that really bugged me - the USA isn't the largest democracy by land or population. Canada and India are larger respectively.
That's not to say these lectures are a hit job. He does describe CIA successes and he refutes conspiracy theories like the CIA being responsible for Watergate, while still putting them in their historical context. The CIA's success in toppling the government of Iran later led to the Islamic revolution there. Suspicions about CIA involvement in the Kennedy assassination or Watergate by later presidents made it difficult for them to serve those presidents.
While obviously deploring the interrogation program of the early 2000s, he also explains why people in government went in that direction. I just feel he could have either had some editor point out his obvious bias or, like the philosophy lectures I listened to, present his opinion as such while describing the other side. He does describe other opinions, he's just obviously biased and that bugged me. All his opinions may be right, I just felt the presentation was disingenuous.
However, I did learn a lot about CIA history which is why I pressed through and finished the lectures. As someone who is opposed to the idea of the ends justifying the means, the murky moral gray area of a lot of past CIA activities gives a lot of food for thought, and I think that's a result the lecturer hoped would happen.
It's obvious from the start when his first words are about the confirmation hearing of the first female director of the CIA, Gina Haspel, a respected career intelligence officer who was grilled about her involvement with the rendition and interrogation program instituted after the 9/11 attacks. That's a highly prejudicial topic.
Throughout the lectures he focuses mostly on CIA failures. In one lecture during the cold war, he actually says not everything was a failure but doesn't give any examples of successes. When describing the first director of the OSS, he says he was a lousy administrator, but that has no bearing on the history. When describing a later director, he says he was a womanizer, which is reprehensible, but also has nothing to do with the CIA.
When he describes the success of Afghan rebels shooting down Soviet helicopters for the first time due to CIA provided weapons in the 1980s, he immediately mentions that a couple of months later a CIA plane would be shot down in Central America, leading to the exposure of the Iran Contra affair, which had already been covered in the previous lecture.
He obviously believes that the CIA should focus on gathering and analyzing intelligence and not be involved in covert operations, especially ones that include killing or meddling with foreign governments. He continually references how America is the largest democracy in the world and chides the secrecy and immoral acts of the CIA. As an aside, that really bugged me - the USA isn't the largest democracy by land or population. Canada and India are larger respectively.
That's not to say these lectures are a hit job. He does describe CIA successes and he refutes conspiracy theories like the CIA being responsible for Watergate, while still putting them in their historical context. The CIA's success in toppling the government of Iran later led to the Islamic revolution there. Suspicions about CIA involvement in the Kennedy assassination or Watergate by later presidents made it difficult for them to serve those presidents.
While obviously deploring the interrogation program of the early 2000s, he also explains why people in government went in that direction. I just feel he could have either had some editor point out his obvious bias or, like the philosophy lectures I listened to, present his opinion as such while describing the other side. He does describe other opinions, he's just obviously biased and that bugged me. All his opinions may be right, I just felt the presentation was disingenuous.
However, I did learn a lot about CIA history which is why I pressed through and finished the lectures. As someone who is opposed to the idea of the ends justifying the means, the murky moral gray area of a lot of past CIA activities gives a lot of food for thought, and I think that's a result the lecturer hoped would happen.
August 6, 2020
I don't know about you, but when I read (or listen to) a book about the history of the C.I.A., I would hope it would be full of poison-tipped umbrellas, life-like rubber masks and cassette tapes that ignited after one play.
"The Agency" lays out the C.I.A.'s greatest hits and misses in chronological order from the organization's birth as the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) in WWII until more-or-less present day. I won't lie and say that I had heard of all of these operations before, but most of the names named were ones I was familiar with, not to give my age away. (By the way, if anyone wants my age, he or she is welcome to it.) The word "statecraft" gets mentioned more than "exploding" or "garrote", which is a damn shame since you know that anyone who investigated the C.I.A. has to know who killed Biggie, even if they are sworn not to reveal who shot JFK.
Like all Teaching Company courses, you can't help but take away useful information from "The Agency." You will have a greater understanding of how the C.I.A.'s fortunes have risen and fallen depending on who was in the White House. You will see how far the C.I.A. has wandered from its initial purpose of supplying intelligence to the military and the executive branch.
This knowledge, of course, will impress no one at a party. I, for one, plan on forgetting it. The gem that I will retain from The Agency: a history of the CIA? During the Cold War there were repeated discussions about demoralizing our Communist foe by air-dropping thousands of giant made-in-America condoms on him with "medium" printed on them.
Now, that's something I can weave into a conversation. My hopes for the next edition would be fewer intelligence failures, more giant condoms.
"The Agency" lays out the C.I.A.'s greatest hits and misses in chronological order from the organization's birth as the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) in WWII until more-or-less present day. I won't lie and say that I had heard of all of these operations before, but most of the names named were ones I was familiar with, not to give my age away. (By the way, if anyone wants my age, he or she is welcome to it.) The word "statecraft" gets mentioned more than "exploding" or "garrote", which is a damn shame since you know that anyone who investigated the C.I.A. has to know who killed Biggie, even if they are sworn not to reveal who shot JFK.
Like all Teaching Company courses, you can't help but take away useful information from "The Agency." You will have a greater understanding of how the C.I.A.'s fortunes have risen and fallen depending on who was in the White House. You will see how far the C.I.A. has wandered from its initial purpose of supplying intelligence to the military and the executive branch.
This knowledge, of course, will impress no one at a party. I, for one, plan on forgetting it. The gem that I will retain from The Agency: a history of the CIA? During the Cold War there were repeated discussions about demoralizing our Communist foe by air-dropping thousands of giant made-in-America condoms on him with "medium" printed on them.
Now, that's something I can weave into a conversation. My hopes for the next edition would be fewer intelligence failures, more giant condoms.
October 5, 2025
Read it for:
- Good nuance on George P Kennan’s role
- Understand how class conflict is built into the CIA origin story: upper-crust types in the CIA treating foreign policy as their entitled domain for boys-adventure intrigues
- The fateful decision by Smith to put Alan Dulles in charge. Emphasis on operations over intelligence gathering. WWII mindset.
- How the CIA role in supporting the Shah is over-stated in lore; although the CIA (and particularly Kim Rossevelt – nephew of, yes, that one) the Shah truly did have popular support at the time.
- How Guatemala wasn’t just about the United Fruit Company, despite today’s common wisdom on this point
- Nuance on the Congo and Patrice Lumumba: the CIA didn’t kill him. They weren’t unhappy about it, though.
- CIA’s early role in Vietnam
- Edward Lansdale and operation Mongoose in Cuba
- Overthrow of Diem in Vietnam
- Eye-popping: LBJ was suspicious about possible CIA involvement in the JFK assassination. That this was so, is left unexplored.
- How in the ‘50s and ‘60s, the CIA funded a wide variety of domestic, ostensibly independent, citizen’s groups.
- The CIA’s longstanding liaison with Hollywood: they actually have a dedicated person for this.
- The politicization of intelligence
- The unshackling of the CIA under Bush and the subsequent extent to which the CIA became Obama’s killing machine
- Good nuance on George P Kennan’s role
- Understand how class conflict is built into the CIA origin story: upper-crust types in the CIA treating foreign policy as their entitled domain for boys-adventure intrigues
- The fateful decision by Smith to put Alan Dulles in charge. Emphasis on operations over intelligence gathering. WWII mindset.
- How the CIA role in supporting the Shah is over-stated in lore; although the CIA (and particularly Kim Rossevelt – nephew of, yes, that one) the Shah truly did have popular support at the time.
- How Guatemala wasn’t just about the United Fruit Company, despite today’s common wisdom on this point
- Nuance on the Congo and Patrice Lumumba: the CIA didn’t kill him. They weren’t unhappy about it, though.
- CIA’s early role in Vietnam
- Edward Lansdale and operation Mongoose in Cuba
- Overthrow of Diem in Vietnam
- Eye-popping: LBJ was suspicious about possible CIA involvement in the JFK assassination. That this was so, is left unexplored.
- How in the ‘50s and ‘60s, the CIA funded a wide variety of domestic, ostensibly independent, citizen’s groups.
- The CIA’s longstanding liaison with Hollywood: they actually have a dedicated person for this.
- The politicization of intelligence
- The unshackling of the CIA under Bush and the subsequent extent to which the CIA became Obama’s killing machine
September 22, 2022
Growing up in DC the Cold War era, I loved spy stories and actually knew people who probably worked for the CIA. I was recently given a book about a hunt for a CIA mole in that era and realized I had forgotten a lot of details. I picked this Great Course on the CIA as a sort of refresher.
There are 24 30-minute lectures covering the history of the CIA through various eras. I didn't really hear anything I didn't already know, but it was a good refresher. The accompanying PDF is very useful as a reference.
The professor is a Brit teaching at a US university, which gives him a bit of a different perspective. I did feel that the course focused a little too much on CIA missteps, overreaches, and scandal, but maybe there just isn't much public information on their successes. I'd also be interested in more information about the day-to-day workings of the CIA, instead of just the high-profile stuff.
There are 24 30-minute lectures covering the history of the CIA through various eras. I didn't really hear anything I didn't already know, but it was a good refresher. The accompanying PDF is very useful as a reference.
The professor is a Brit teaching at a US university, which gives him a bit of a different perspective. I did feel that the course focused a little too much on CIA missteps, overreaches, and scandal, but maybe there just isn't much public information on their successes. I'd also be interested in more information about the day-to-day workings of the CIA, instead of just the high-profile stuff.
October 25, 2019
An excellent course, informative and entertaining. Lectures 1-21 deserve 5 star ratings. In the final lectures, Wilford dives into the alleged Russian interference with the 2016 election and loses much of his previous objectivity, treating the supposed Russian interference as a fact. What was conspicuously absent were the allegations of Obama administration officials supposedly ordering investigations into the Trump campaign. Also Benghazi and Hillary's BlackBerry and subsequent email scandal aren't mentioned. And yet he makes the time for a few perhaps well-deserved criticisms of Trump. All in all, I was disappointed in this rather one-sided covering of all this. I realize this course is about the CIA and not the FBI or NSA or any of the other players in these recent scandals, but like I said, he makes time for digs at Trump.
June 22, 2021
Gaddis in The Long Peace briefly mentioned the CIA being used as a conduit to spread good will by supporting various NGOs and left of center causes to keep nations from falling into the Soviet camp. Other than this I have read nothing of the CIA. Wilford does cover this strategy in a couple of his chapters. An interesting topic but my opinion is the power of the CIA (for good or bad) is way overblown. It is an intelligence gathering network. They don't set national policy. They gather intelligence for policy makers. A critical job, but that is it. If armies of 100,000s can't accomplish one task or another the idea that an intelligence gathering service is somehow going to topple governments or even help build governments that we want is a bit far fetched. Wilford knows this and makes this point a few times.
December 22, 2024
Just one pie in the face after another; the history of the CIA is dogged with attempts that fall flat or blow up in the face of the creators, with cowboy operators and political actors with their own personal agendas being given free roam and bags of cash to cause mayhem and seed insurrections. The list of successes is thin, or comes down to managing a crisis they had a hand in creating (eg. the situation in Iran and Afghanistan). On a meta-level, the clearest successes are the ability to stay in power even as multiple presidencies are tarred with some albatross of their making, and their ability to whitewash themselves through the work with Hollywood and the media sphere (for example spreading their ex-agents as 'experts' or media talking heads). Few successes are covered here, and of those there are, half of them are just dealing with the wake of problems they helped unleash in the first place.
August 19, 2022
An interesting if not exceptional set of lectures on the history of the CIA. The story of the Agency is told in a blow by blow manner, focusing on how specific events that the CIA was involved in. Wilford is an acceptable storyteller, though I feel like these lectures might have been more interesting if he had been able to occassionally, step back and offer a broader view.
Still, this is definitely worth the read/listen.
Wilford concludes that the CIA was not as powerful as accounts of it often suggest it is, that it had plenty of failures, but he also balances that with many instances of it exceeding expectations.
Still, this is definitely worth the read/listen.
Wilford concludes that the CIA was not as powerful as accounts of it often suggest it is, that it had plenty of failures, but he also balances that with many instances of it exceeding expectations.
September 22, 2025
Super well-organized lectures. They're also very interesting. How odd to have the presentation by a Brit. Wilford does a great job of sharing comprehensive info of each side, each era, and each presidency - presenting them along with reactions from the left, right, and citizens in general - both of the U.S. and of the affected countries in whatever operations/analysis is being covered. I loved learning about the history of the CIA and the checks and balances system. These lectures really were about understanding the CIA's scope and how the Executive Branch is supposed to interact with it versus whether Wilford thinks it's a needful or good agency.
October 9, 2023
I’m loosing patience with plentiful lack of context the author demonstrates. I don’t disagree that our open government having a secret agency(s) does stike a discordant note, especially when the history is littered with spectacular failures, like Pearl Harbor, The Soviet infiltration of US politics and 9/11. But, a modicum of balance, describing the devious, and malicious practices of our global enemies would make for more interesting and idealogically neutral listening.
June 22, 2019
I picked this up since I know so little about the CIA. It provided a good background, though the occasional non-linear aspects left me without a clear timeline in my head. Most of the fault is with the listener, I'm sure-- I frequently listen to audio books while I walk and was often distracted. This one merits listening to again.
October 22, 2022
The lectures started off well with some solid historic background. But it soon began to evolve into more political slanted commentary. It missed significant agency events. Unfortunately, it was a purely academic viewpoint coming from other articles and opinions and with little to no insiders knowledge to add insight to the discussion.
April 19, 2024
Fast paced and engaging account of the CIA. Interesting stories of numerous CIA actions including domestic interference, regime change and assassination. It also charts the changing political climate and the swift move away from an isolationist position to intervention in overseas matters. Wilford doesn't offer his own opinions which is fine with me.
June 7, 2024
Informative, but very determined to portray the CIA in the best light possible, and avoids really discussing the ethical issues. Apparently presidential wishes trump even the concept of moral responsibility... although I suppose if the author engaged in anything but the mildest criticism, he'd have to look for another field of study.
May 6, 2025
I enjoyed the details of the history in this book. I learned a tremendous amount about people and incidents I heard in the news as a child and adult, but never understood. The added visual photographs and original news clips were helpful. One star off because the lecturer has only one hand gesture, and he does it constantly, for 24 lectures.
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August 3, 2019Audible Audiobook
May 15, 2023
It was an alright read. I did find myself drifting a bit while listening. Overall it gave me a more negative outlook on the CIA when it did state it was trying to be neutral.
August 5, 2023
A good collection of American history in government secrecies.
August 11, 2023
Juicy and exciting without being conspiratorial, though it covers such a wide time period that it is not always as comprehensive as some people might expect.
June 7, 2024
good book
October 14, 2024
A good look at the Agency from formation until now, it's failings, and it's wins. It's an interesting history course.
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