The CIA and American Democracy

by Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

This third edition of Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones’s engrossing history of the Central Intelligence Agency includes a new prologue that discusses the history of the CIA since the end of the Cold War, focusing in particular on the intelligence dimensions of the terrorist attacks on 9/11.
Praise for the earlier editions:
“I have read many books on the CIA, but none more searching and still dispassionate. Nor would I have believed that a book of such towering scholarship could still be so lucid and exciting to read.”—Daniel Schorr
“This is one of the best short histories of the CIA in print, up-to-date and based on a wide range of sources.”—Walter Laqueur
“Judicious and reasonable. . . . A sophisticated study that should challenge us to take a more serious view about how our democracy formulates its foreign policy.”—David P. Calleo, New York Times Book Review
A brief, yet subtle and penetrating, account of the Central Intelligence Agency."—Leonard Bushkoff, Christian Science Monitor
"Subtle and crisply written. . . . A book remarkable for its clarity and lack of bias."—William W. Powers, Jr., International Herald Tribune, Paris

Genres: History, American History, Social Science, Nonfiction

361 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 1989

About the author

Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones was born in Wales and grew up in the ancient town of Harlech. He attended the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, then the Universities of Michigan, Harvard and Cambridge, where he obtained his PhD. He was active in anti-apartheid, anti-Bomb, anti-Vietnam War and pro-civil liberties campaigns and aimed at a career in politics, but then settled down to family life and scholarly pursuits. He was a Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh, where he is now emeritus. He played rugby in Wales, England and America, and remains a keen fan, his other interests being opera, vegetable gardening, and snooker.
Rhodri’s latest book, published in different formats in the United States and the UK, tells the story of how FBI detective Leon Turrou hunted down a German spy ring in 1938 and then conducted an effective propaganda campaign against the Nazis. He is currently writing a history of the CIA, and researching the Glasgow background of the private detective Allan Pinkerton.
For further information:
“Learning the Scholar’s Craft" (2020): https://hdiplo.org/to/E221
Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodri_...

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the most cautious history of the CIA I have yet to read, its sources being substantive and well-documented. For someone suspicious of the self-interested memoirs of former insiders or the speculations of conspiracy theorists, this may be the book to start with.

The approach of the author is institutional, the focus being on the relations between the CIA and the other elements of the polity of the USA such as the DIA, the Congress, the Executive and, of course, the public. It is taken for granted from the outset that foreign intelligence gathering is necessary at all times and that covert operations necessary sometimes. It is also maintained that some degree of public accountability is desireable in what the author terms "a democracy." Exactly what restraints and reforms would be optimal can only be inferred from the text. Its general tendency is to look favorably at intelligence gathering, suspiciously at covert operations.

In the author's view the foremost problem of the CIA has been its relationship to the Executive. This has occurred primarily in two ways. Some presidents have failed to allow objective intelligence (notably Johnson as re Vietnam). Other presidents have pushed the agency to illegal covert operations (notably Nixon).

[Ferris Mx · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fairly dense and fairly academic treatise was incisive in its anecdotes and observant of the relationship between intelligence and government. It was a lot briefer than Ranelagh, but I can't identify anything that was omitted. Perhaps if I had read in the other order I would feel differently, though. Fairly thorough in the ebb and flow of attention to intelligence over the 45 years after WWII, and in the ebb and flow of congressional oversight, and the implications of excessively strong or excessively weak direction.

[Allen Bolinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book contains some interesting information. However, the author, in my opinion, treats the Agency with kid gloves. I would like to see a little harder look at some of the infamous misadventures. It does have a good amount of historical information about the CIA, its relationship with various presidents, and legislative attempts to reign it in.

[Danny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was extremely thorough in presenting the beaurocratic genealogy of the CIA, from WW2 up to the end of the Reagan years. Much more interested in tracking the ups and downs of the agency's political "stock price" and how fairly or unfairly blame for failures was assigned. I found the author's approach to be excessively dispassionate towards democratic values when in tension with the notion of spy craft and covert operations in "the national interest." An open society is often called out as an unfortunate hindrance to CIA effectiveness. A good case is made that every president, FDR through RWR, has abused, ignored or manipulated the data they were given or appointed directors who would be inclined to self-suppress intelligence they thought would be poorly received. There's also a total lack of narrative drive that many historians are skilled at delivering. With so many "now-it-can-be-told" opportunities as a history of the CIA would seem to supply, this book was by NO means a page-turner