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Consequences: An Intelligence Officer's War
Are you ready to delve into the world of counterintelligence? If so, then you won't want to miss this award-winning memoir that offers a rare and fascinating look into the secretive world of espionage.As a former counterintelligence agent, David spent years working in the shadows, gathering intelligence and protecting our nation's most critical secrets from foreign adversaries. In this memoir, David pulls back the curtain on this shadowy world, sharing personal experiences and insights into the high-stakes game of espionage.From the intense training and preparation required to become a counterintelligence agent to the complex and often dangerous operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, David's story offers a first-hand account of the unique challenges and rewards of this field.But his story is not just about war missions or the secrets protected. It's also a tale of personal growth and self-discovery as he navigated the complexities of life as a spy while maintaining relationships with family and loved ones.Whether you're a fan of spy thrillers, interested in the world of intelligence, or simply looking for a captivating read, this memoir is a must-read. So don't wait - grab your copy today and join me on a thrilling journey through the world of counterintelligence.
164 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 5, 2020
6 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
David Grantham
1 book2 followersDavid A. Grantham, Ph.D. is a leading expert in national security matters and international affairs. He is a nationally renowned intelligence professional, having served in various positions on the federal and local levels.
Dr. Grantham currently serves as a Senior Fellow with the Center for a Secure Free Society, Washington D.C. Prior to that, he served as the Senior Fellow of National Security at the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) and as an officer in the United States Air Force and Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI).
Dr. Grantham holds a PhD from Texas Christian University with specializations in Latin America and Middle East history. He earned his Master of Science in International Relations from Troy University and Bachelor of Art in History from the University of South Florida.
Dr. Grantham currently serves as a Senior Fellow with the Center for a Secure Free Society, Washington D.C. Prior to that, he served as the Senior Fellow of National Security at the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) and as an officer in the United States Air Force and Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI).
Dr. Grantham holds a PhD from Texas Christian University with specializations in Latin America and Middle East history. He earned his Master of Science in International Relations from Troy University and Bachelor of Art in History from the University of South Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 14, 2021
An intelligent book about intelligence, and David Grantham certainly has the credentials to write it. When you see this is a book about an agency posting in the war zones of Iraq, against the backdrop of the birth of ISIS, you do start to worry that it is going down a disturbing and brutal path – and, truthfully, this book is at times genuinely quite frightening. Fortunately, though, the author veers away from the horrors of the Islamic fundamentalists he fights against, in favour of an altogether less gung-ho, more administrative look at the situation on the ground – and he writes it in the style of the professional he is. Gathering intelligence is not portrayed as glamourous and, despite the reference to the movie Spy Game, nor is it treated as an action-packed web of espionage; David’s smart memoir portrays his job as a rather more staid affair, and shows that infiltrating an alien community to gather information is a simple matter of making acquaintances, talking to people, gaining trust and listening carefully. There is no real action to speak of, no complex web-weaving or expensive gadgets, nor thankfully does it linger on the revolting activities of the extremists. David and his colleague Erin can more accurately be described as grafting investigators than soldiers.
The book is an informative and insightful one, which opens your eyes to the reality of day-to-day life in a war zone, specifically the tangible tension and paranoia of every waking moment, seeing threats and distrusting everyone. It also shows the rather diplomatic reality of what David’s job entails, and how the information is then processed into useful data. The consequences referred to in the book’s title are in fact its most shocking aspect: the suggestion that American incarceration and segregation of Sunni and Shia militants in the enormous prison Camp Bucca might have actually been instrumental in the galvanization of a brutal collective, which would prove to be the origins of Islamic State, is a devastating one. As far as mistakes and consequences in war go, this one is a banger! The suggestion that prison staff’s indifference or internal power struggles somehow might have aggravated this rise is a bitter one to swallow. This is a brave and important book by David, and he tells of his experience with a matter-of-fact calm. If you’ve any doubt about David’s insights or opinions on the situation in Iraq, his professional experience before and since should tell you all you need to know – he is a working authority on national security and policy analysis; it is a privilege to be asked an opinion on his writing.
A good book, solid and dependable, about working at the grass roots of Islamic terrorism, which relies on the reader’s sense of its paranoid tension to make its point, without wallowing in the horror – that part we already know. Not a war book, but an intelligent book about the seeds of war.
The book is an informative and insightful one, which opens your eyes to the reality of day-to-day life in a war zone, specifically the tangible tension and paranoia of every waking moment, seeing threats and distrusting everyone. It also shows the rather diplomatic reality of what David’s job entails, and how the information is then processed into useful data. The consequences referred to in the book’s title are in fact its most shocking aspect: the suggestion that American incarceration and segregation of Sunni and Shia militants in the enormous prison Camp Bucca might have actually been instrumental in the galvanization of a brutal collective, which would prove to be the origins of Islamic State, is a devastating one. As far as mistakes and consequences in war go, this one is a banger! The suggestion that prison staff’s indifference or internal power struggles somehow might have aggravated this rise is a bitter one to swallow. This is a brave and important book by David, and he tells of his experience with a matter-of-fact calm. If you’ve any doubt about David’s insights or opinions on the situation in Iraq, his professional experience before and since should tell you all you need to know – he is a working authority on national security and policy analysis; it is a privilege to be asked an opinion on his writing.
A good book, solid and dependable, about working at the grass roots of Islamic terrorism, which relies on the reader’s sense of its paranoid tension to make its point, without wallowing in the horror – that part we already know. Not a war book, but an intelligent book about the seeds of war.
December 30, 2021
David is my friend, and reading this was like hearing his war stories first hand. It's almost surreal to imagine someone I know experiencing firsthand the things I've only seen in movies. If you've ever been interested in what our soldiers, our Intelligence officers, our Americans have seen and heard and smelled and tasted and felt during our enduring war against terror, then this is the book for you. Thank you for sharing your story, Dave.
February 7, 2021
A view of the war most don’t get to see
An interesting view of the life of a real intelligence officer and what it is like to carry that sort of responsibility in a war zone. We get so used to news blurbs on what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan we don’t think about the day to day work of professionals that support and protect the warfighters in the field. This book shows what goes on behind the scenes.
An interesting view of the life of a real intelligence officer and what it is like to carry that sort of responsibility in a war zone. We get so used to news blurbs on what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan we don’t think about the day to day work of professionals that support and protect the warfighters in the field. This book shows what goes on behind the scenes.
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August 16, 2021This is a great book !!!! Wow what our guys went though.... Now they are going to into everything they have done !!!! A must read ...and read about Afghanistan !!! Now have to read that part again !!!!
November 23, 2020
A well written page turner. Author does an excellent job of placing the reader with him in the heart of the Middle East war.
January 8, 2024
In 2020, ISIS followers are being encouraged to use COVID-19 to sicken Westerners. An ISIS supporter attacked a Naval base in Corpus Christi, Texas. Iran and the United States exchanged blows in Iraq. We are still living in the long shadow of the Iraq War.
In this exhaustive, compelling account, Grantham documents his own journey as a member of the USAF Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) at the height of the Iraq War, throwing open the shutters of the secret world of counterintelligence. Fresh out of college, Grantham begins his job as a counterintelligence officer with the elite and secretive AFOSI in 2006. But working in a war zone in the Middle East was something of a dream for him. With the US military desperately in need of on-the-ground intelligence, Grantham found himself stationed in Kuwait despite his age and experience. From there, he made his way to the war-torn Afghanistan and Iraq’s infamous American prison, Camp Bucca. Grantham is a sharp, intelligent writer who can convey a complex narrative in crisp terms. He tells the story briskly and with intimate detail, taking readers on an intelligence officer’s journey of navigating danger and death every step of the way. He also reflects on the extraordinary opportunity that the US-run prison provided the jihadis, with the entire al-Qaida leadership living in a close proximity to the other prisoners. Grantham weaves the clandestine activities of his intelligence missions into a gripping narrative, showing that facts are actually more fantastic than fiction. It is an informative book on intelligence missions and also an important primer on the evolution of radical jihadism in prisons like Camp Bucca. This candid nonfiction narrative makes for an endlessly fascinating read.
One of the best War Memoirs on Intelligence during the Global War On Terror. David Grantham does a superb job describing what it is like to be an Intelligence Officer in a Combat Zone. As a member of the AFOSI, he describes one of the most difficult disciplines in the Intelligence Field, Human Intelligence, which includes recruiting and running sources, as well as analysis to create an all source product for Commanders and other National Security Decision Makers to use. This effort also dovetails with Counter-Intelligence, which protects friendly forces and foils intelligence collection efforts by adversaries. His experiences at Camp Cropper gives us an insight not only into the works of Al Qaeda in Iraq but also the genesis of ISIS. I highly recommend this to graduate students and the general public if they want to know what it is like in the Intelligence Community in an armed conflict.
Well, I wish David had written this book a few years earlier. Consequences is both a riveting behind-the-scenes look at intelligence operations at the height of the Iraq war, and a charming and sobering story of one man’s journey through the pleasures and consequences that come with wartime intelligence.
Dr. Grantham pulled back the curtain to allow the reader to take a peek at an important part of the intelligence underbelly. After reading his experiences I felt as if I had sand and grit on my face. I truly had no idea what to expect. Readers will certainly be entertained by his personal observations. I will always remember Bagram Ball and how to eat an eel.
The book is a fast read and very engaging! Dr. Grantham is a very gifted writer and succeeded in giving insight into a secret part of international intelligence.
Consequences is both a riveting behind-the-scenes look at intelligence operations at the height of the Iraq war, and a charming and sobering story of one man’s journey through the pleasures and consequences that come with wartime intelligence. The sensory experiences (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch) came alive for me and I connected easily with the emotions one feels when when he described danger, temptation, loneliness, victory, comradery, death, change, growth, etc. I feel like I went on a journey to Camp Bucca in Afghanistan (and other places) through David's eyes. Grantham does an excellent job of accurately portraying the frustrations and difficulties of that time and era. Matter of fact, no preaching, did his job and was able to come home.
People if you want to have a little understanding of what it was like to live, work, and survive in a stress-filled, bullet-filled location this is the book for you. The author could not tell you everything but he told you enough to want more. I hope the author uses his writing skills to continue to inform and entertain us.
What a timely read given today's grave situation in Afghanistan.
In this exhaustive, compelling account, Grantham documents his own journey as a member of the USAF Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) at the height of the Iraq War, throwing open the shutters of the secret world of counterintelligence. Fresh out of college, Grantham begins his job as a counterintelligence officer with the elite and secretive AFOSI in 2006. But working in a war zone in the Middle East was something of a dream for him. With the US military desperately in need of on-the-ground intelligence, Grantham found himself stationed in Kuwait despite his age and experience. From there, he made his way to the war-torn Afghanistan and Iraq’s infamous American prison, Camp Bucca. Grantham is a sharp, intelligent writer who can convey a complex narrative in crisp terms. He tells the story briskly and with intimate detail, taking readers on an intelligence officer’s journey of navigating danger and death every step of the way. He also reflects on the extraordinary opportunity that the US-run prison provided the jihadis, with the entire al-Qaida leadership living in a close proximity to the other prisoners. Grantham weaves the clandestine activities of his intelligence missions into a gripping narrative, showing that facts are actually more fantastic than fiction. It is an informative book on intelligence missions and also an important primer on the evolution of radical jihadism in prisons like Camp Bucca. This candid nonfiction narrative makes for an endlessly fascinating read.
One of the best War Memoirs on Intelligence during the Global War On Terror. David Grantham does a superb job describing what it is like to be an Intelligence Officer in a Combat Zone. As a member of the AFOSI, he describes one of the most difficult disciplines in the Intelligence Field, Human Intelligence, which includes recruiting and running sources, as well as analysis to create an all source product for Commanders and other National Security Decision Makers to use. This effort also dovetails with Counter-Intelligence, which protects friendly forces and foils intelligence collection efforts by adversaries. His experiences at Camp Cropper gives us an insight not only into the works of Al Qaeda in Iraq but also the genesis of ISIS. I highly recommend this to graduate students and the general public if they want to know what it is like in the Intelligence Community in an armed conflict.
Well, I wish David had written this book a few years earlier. Consequences is both a riveting behind-the-scenes look at intelligence operations at the height of the Iraq war, and a charming and sobering story of one man’s journey through the pleasures and consequences that come with wartime intelligence.
Dr. Grantham pulled back the curtain to allow the reader to take a peek at an important part of the intelligence underbelly. After reading his experiences I felt as if I had sand and grit on my face. I truly had no idea what to expect. Readers will certainly be entertained by his personal observations. I will always remember Bagram Ball and how to eat an eel.
The book is a fast read and very engaging! Dr. Grantham is a very gifted writer and succeeded in giving insight into a secret part of international intelligence.
Consequences is both a riveting behind-the-scenes look at intelligence operations at the height of the Iraq war, and a charming and sobering story of one man’s journey through the pleasures and consequences that come with wartime intelligence. The sensory experiences (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch) came alive for me and I connected easily with the emotions one feels when when he described danger, temptation, loneliness, victory, comradery, death, change, growth, etc. I feel like I went on a journey to Camp Bucca in Afghanistan (and other places) through David's eyes. Grantham does an excellent job of accurately portraying the frustrations and difficulties of that time and era. Matter of fact, no preaching, did his job and was able to come home.
People if you want to have a little understanding of what it was like to live, work, and survive in a stress-filled, bullet-filled location this is the book for you. The author could not tell you everything but he told you enough to want more. I hope the author uses his writing skills to continue to inform and entertain us.
What a timely read given today's grave situation in Afghanistan.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews