Rating: 
Summary: BAMFORD'S "BODY OF SECRETS" TELLS TRUTH ABOUT USS LIBERTY
Review: BAMFORD'S "BODY OF SECRETS" TELLS TRUTH ABOUT LIBERTYBY WILLIAM GARTLAND Anyone who has read the addendum attached to the 1986 edition of ASSAULT ON THE LIBERTY by Jim Ennes would know of Captain Joseph Tully's launch of aircraft from the USS SARATOGA that could have saved 25 of those 34 lives lost on the LIBERTY but for the sad fact that they were recalled. This fact alone cries out for a congressional investigation of the Israeli attack of June 8, 1967 on the USS LIBERTY. By whom were they recalled? Captain Tully is still wondering why they were recalled as are the surviving members of the USS LIBERTY. Jim Bamford's BODY OF SECRETS could have paid more attention to the Ennes work on the USS LIBERTY tragedy, This does not take away from the fact that Bamford's work too is a valuable addition to the literature dealing with the Israeli attack. Bamford, like Ennes,shows unequivocably that the Israeli attack was deliberate and that Zionist influence in the congress and white house has prevented aninvestigation to show culpability for the deaths of 34 young Americans. What was particularly interesting and revealing in the Bamford book was the confirmation that the Israeli army, which boasts of its "purity of arms," massacred hundreds of unarmed Egyptian prisoners-of-war and civilians. This suggests that the IDF had adopted the ethics of war practiced by Hitler's Waffen SS as they murdered innocent civilian in France as well as American prisoners-of war at Malmedy in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge. And, of course, the revelation that an NSA aircraft overheard Israeli pilots recognizing Old Glory flying from the LIBERTY simply nails the lid on the coffin of the lies Israeli toadies in Congress have used to deny the LIBERTY survivors and their loved ones the long overdue investigation into why 34 young Americans died on that tragic day in June. This simply confirms the Ennes report in ASSAULT ON THE LIBERTY that the LIBERTY crew heard virtually the same conversations. If anything, let us hope that the Bamford book ignites some spark of conscience among America's political elite in seeing to it that that congressional investigation into the LIBERTY tragedy finally takes place.
Rating:
Summary: Blinded by the light
Review: Read this excellent history of the NSA if for no other reason than the revelations of the true story behind the attack on the USS Liberty. I was stationed in Rota, Spain at the Naval Communications Station from 1975 to 1979. Even at this late a date, the affect upon morale of naval personnel due to this attack was palpable. That is to say, there were no end of hard feelings over what most personnel knew to be a blatant betrayal of their shipmates on the Liberty. Anyone reading Bamford's book no longer has the luxury of saying the attack was all a big mistake. An attack by the East Slobovian Air Force could be believed, but not so huge a mistake by the Israeli Defense Forces and their intelligence services. Denial is no longer feasible or intellectually honest.
Rating: 
Summary: Even more than I wanted to know?
Review: Too bad I didn't read the first book, The Puzzle Palace, before this one. Bamford is an honored investigative reporter for ABC News, NY Times, LA Times, Wash Post, and others and has found out a tremendous amount of information about what our super-spy agency has been up to. He lays it all out. I picked up the book because it seemed to be about cryptology. And it is. It is also about how our country organizes its spy "service." The Bay of Pigs is seen in detail, also the Cold War with Russia, the U-2 and other spy planes, plus spy ships like the Pueblo and the Liberty. Presidents from Truman to Clinton are studied as to their understanding about spying and cryptology. Interesting are the changes from the breaking of the Enigma code during World War II to how we now break into buried or under-sea fiber optic cables. The spying business is broken up into the various types of concentration from signals, voices, machines, technology, etc. Never thought there were so many divisions. Bamford takes the reader from the beginnings of NSA during the early cold war, through the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War, to the sophisticated developments in information technology taking place within NSA today in the final chapter. The various directors are studied. Bobby Inmann from Texas is an interesting and odd story. Only 2 women have been deputy directors. Bamford appears to alert us as to when lying by public officials began. He tells of President Eisenhower's decision to lie to the public in order to protect a national-security secret, but he takes the story a step farther and shows how Eisenhower "went so far as to order his Cabinet officers to hide his involvement in the scandal even while under oath. At least one Cabinet member directly lied to the committee, a fact known to Eisenhower." Was this a first? One more from the Kennedy years: "The Joint Chiefs of Staff drew up and approved plans for what may be the most corrupt plan ever created by the U.S. government. In the name of anticommunism, they proposed launching a secret and bloody war of terrorism against their own country in order to trick the American public into supporting an ill-conceived war they intended to launch against Cuba." This one is truly scary. Says a lot about power. Bamford tells of the headquarters, known as "Crypto City," which has its own totally self-contained community. They are complete unto themselves. A fiefdom. What NSA is capable of certainly makes me uneasy: more and more sophisticated surveillance techniques can enfringe upon the basic rights of individual privacy. In a computer system that can store five trillion pages of text, anyone and everyone can be monitored. It brings up the unspoken question: Should we do this just because we are able to? The NSA is the largest, most secretive, and most powerful intelligence agency in the world, but even it had its moment of breakdown. Not 2 weeks after NSA had survived Y2K, the complete computer system went down for 3 days. Talk about a secret! But how did Bramford find out? That is a story in itself. I would think that Body of Secrets is a must-read for people fascinated by the intrigues of a shadowy underworld, actually all U.S. citizens. Orwell's Big Brother has arrived.
Rating:
Summary: Two Very Separate Books
Review: The problem in reviewing this book is that it really is two separate books. The first, written by James Bamford, consummate investigative reporter tells a wonderful tale of technological daring as he colorfully recounts the history of the NSA with wit, verve and dispassion. Having worked in the black world it's great to see even 1000th of what we did make it into print, however garbled the telling might be. The second book, written by James Bamford, author with an axe to grind and a point to make, is written in such a histrionic pitch that I thought there was going to be a punch line at the end of the chapter. Other reviewers have noted these over-the-top attacks (in tone and temperament if not fact) on Israel's attack on the Liberty, but you can read the same venom in his distaste for Bobby Inman, President Eisenhower, and in other places in the book. It's unfortunate because when we read the "good" James Bamford he's very, very good. But when we read the "bad" James Bamford he sounds like the host of a late night conspiracy radio station. As Byron said "an author not only exposes his subject but his soul."
Rating:
Summary: An important book
Review: This is a well written and well researched book that points out what lengths our government (and others) will go to hide the ugly truth from the public. The chapter on the USS Liberty attack is particularly chilling. Bravo!, Mr. Bamford.
Rating:
Summary: This book speaks the truth - finally
Review: I am a religious Jew with rabbinical ordination. I have always felt that one must be fair in one's position towards Israel, not defending the indefensible. The Israeli military attack against the USS Liberty, has irrevocable been proven to have been deliberate and was completely unjustified, it being against Israel's long-standing ally. The Israelis didn't want information the ship had picked up concerning its plan to advance the war, pushing the Arab armies out of the West Bank, Golan, etc., to reach the United States, as President Johnson had already warned Israel against such moves. That they bombed this ship, poured napalm on it, shot at and torpedoed it is reprehensible and gruesome to say the least. Even John Loftus, a man very sympathetic towards Israel, has written the attack was deliberate. He cites that Israel tried to spare as many lives as possible, but the act itself was nothing short of treacherous. Many refuse to believe anything bad of Israel and this book has therefore been subject to unfair criticism by those who know nothing of the incident, nor have they cared to find out. All American Jews should pressure Congress to reopen the investigation which President Johnson agreed to suppress when Israel apologized for the incident. Our loyalties must be to our country, not Israel. This book will hopefully be a tremendous step in reopening the investigation and a relief to the survivors of the USS Liberty crew as well as to those who did not.
Rating:
Summary: Tremendous Presentation
Review: I have never read, "The Puzzle Palace", so my only exposure to this Author is this work. I have read about the NSA on other occasions, however nothing as complete as this volume appears to be. I use the word appears as I believe some reasonable skepticism must accompany a work that attempts to pierce the veil of the most secret government organization this country has. The author presents a great deal of information on certain historical events, and to a lesser extent the technology involved. Many of the events portrayed are still the issue of intense debate. I fell the author did a good job of making the case for the events he presented to readers. Many of these events portray national leaders or arms of a variety of governments in terms that will not be welcome. I thought the author did an excellent job of confining the discussion to the factors involved. His comments in no way portray or judge the populations of a given country. If he attributed governmental behavior to a given group I believe he would have destroyed his credibility, or at least have brought it into question. This standard must also flow the other way, governments should not claim their actions are legitimate because of passed injustices they may have endured. Sons are not to be punished for a father's sin, and niether may those sins be sued to generically justify actions taken decades later. There is no question that if the NSA targets a person or persons they have the ability to document much of their waking moments and what might hit their fax of computer while they sleep. I think it is also clear that the charge that this is an Agency that would fulfill Orwell's prophecy is unjustified. As is apparent from the book, even if the NSA could instantly adapt to every new form of communication and its variants, they have not and do not have the abililty to review it all, or even a large portion of it. They have the same problem we all have, technology is evolving so rapidly, and changing in such fundamental ways they too are constantly playing catch up. While there is no way to be certain if the information about their lack of ability to deal with fiber optics, and the dates projected for vesseks to increase those capabilities are accurate, I believe the point is made. Very often the information they collect is from fairly low-tech devices. The fact that an amazing array of high tech stealth communication may be possible does not prove that those who may intend to harm the country have access to those tools. The events that surround the events of The Hip Liberty are extremely upsetting as it is presented here. The issue is why was this ship attacked and why was a US ally doing the damage? The story is about very troubling behavior that brought about the event, and in my opinion the very poor manner that then President Johnson handles the aftermath. To take the event and expand it to the cultures involved dilutes the tragedy of what happened. People make decisions because they either believed they were appropriate, or they made tragic errors. The story brought to mind is the time a US Aegis Cruiser shot down a civilian Iranian Commercial Aircraft. It happened due to tragic mistakes and misjudgments, not because of the plane's origins. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition
Rating:
Summary: Truth hides and truth is exposed
Review: After reading this book I learned a lot about the inner workings of the American government, and its secret agencies and decision making process. I now see things a lot differently. The biggest difference in my thinking comes from reading other comments about this book and the interesting pattern of helpfulness of what others have written. I see objectivity rewarded with denial, confirming my belief that there are hidden forces at work in the American government. If NSA is the security arm of America, the ADL is the propoganda arm and it is so obvious right here. Bravo to those who speak out in support of this book with objective facts. To those who want to misdirect the truth by going off topic or vehement denial, well, that confirms what a great deal of the world outside of America knows or suspects.
Rating:
Summary: Deeply Researched Facts About the Secret Signals War
Review: I like this book because it is a deeply researched investigation of the National Security Agency, a part of the U.S. government that is always "in harms way", and because it offers up over 15 genuine journalistic investigative "scoops", shows how much can be learned about secret matters through persistent and professional exploitation of open sources, and paints a compelling dramatic picture of the honorable and courageous NSA employees, the less capable senior officers in the Joint Chiefs of Staff who risk their lives and do not provide them with emergency plans and air cover, and the man in the middle, LtGen Mike Hayden, whom the book portrays as a truly competent person who "gets it." This is the stuff of history and a very well-told tale. Among the "scoops" that I as a professional intelligence officer will list for the sake of showing how wide and deep the book goes, are: #1. Extremely big scoop. Israel attacked U.S. military personnel aboard the USS Liberty with the intent of simulating an Egyptian attack on US forces that would permit a joint US and Israeli retaliation. Even after the ship was destroyed, with very clear evidence from NSA tapes that the Israeli's deliberately attacked a US ship while the ship was flying US colors, President Johnson is reported to have betrayed his military and his Nation by covering this up, intimidating all survivors, and saying he would "not embarrass our allies." In consultation with my naval colleagues, I am satisfied that the author has it right. #2. US SIGINT failed as North Korea invaded South Korea. Our lack of preparedness, in both systems and linguists, was dereliction of duty at the highest levels. Fast forward to Sudan, East Timor, Burundi, Yugoslavia, Somalia, and Haiti. #3. US "Operations Security" (OPSEC) is terrible! Bad in World War II, bad in Korea, bad in Viet-Nam, bad in Somalia and bad today. This book is a stark and compelling indictment of the incompetence of U.S. military and political leaders who refuse to recognize that the rest of the world is smart enough to collect our signals and predict our intentions with sufficient effectiveness to neutralize our otherwise substantial power. #4. Eisenhower, as President, controlled the U-2 operations over Russia and lied to the world and the people about his individual responsibility for those missions. #5. US SIGINT failed in Arabia and against Israel. "The agency had few Arabic or Hebrew linguists and it was not equipped to eavesdrop on British, French, or Israeli military communications." We are often unable to sort out the truth in conflicts between Arabs and Israel, and this allows Israel to deceive and manipulate American policy makers. #6. In the early years of the Cold War, the US was the aggressor, and ran incredibly prevocational full bombing runs into northern Russia, simply to test for defenses and to see if it could be done. Young American military personnel were sent as expendable cannon fodder, with the ultimate result that Russia spent billions more on its defenses than it might have if America have been a "good neighbor." #7. The Joint Chiefs of Staff was "out of control" during our confrontations with Cuba, and proposed to the President of the United States that U.S. military capabilities be used to murder Americans in order to provide a false cover for declaring war on Cuba. #8. The most senior military officers serving under Kennedy did not have the moral courage to tell him that the Bay of Pigs was a doomed operation. They allowed hundreds to die and be captured rather than "speak truth to power." NSA provided ample SIGINT. #9. Imagery intelligence beat signals intelligence in answering the ultimate question about the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba. Those who practice "OPSEC" can defeat our SIGINT capabilities. #10. US telecommunications companies have for years been giving NSA copies of all telegrams sent by foreign embassies and corporations, compromsing their private sector integrity. #11. US military power is hollow. For both the USS Liberty and the USS Pueblo, a combination of screw-ups put military personnel in harms' way and a combination of incapacities helped get them killed and captured. In all of Korea only six U.S. aircraft were available to help protect the USS Pueblo, and they required several hours to get ready. The South Koreans, ready to launch defense forces instantly, were forbidden to do so, US leaders being more concerned about avoiding provocation of the North Koreans than about protecting U.S. military personnel. #12. US successes against the Russians and other targets were completely offset by the combination of the John Walker betrayal (turning over the key lists, this has been known) and the Soviet receipt from the Vietnamese (this has not been known) of a complete warehouse of NSA code machines left behind in Saigon. The Soviets have been reading our mail since 1975, and NSA did not want the President or Congress or the people to know this fact. #13. The North Vietnamese beat us on SIGINT, with 5000 trained SIGINT personnel and a system that stretched from Guam (where the B-52's were launched and the ground crew radios were in the clear) to the day-to-day operational orders going out to helicopters and fighters "in the clear". The book paints an extraordinarily stark contrast between North Vietnamese competence and US incompetence across all areas of SIGINT and OPSEC. #14. There are others, but the final scoop is summed up in the author's concluding chapter on NSA's race to build the largest fastest computer at a time when relevant signals are growing exponentially: "Eventually NSA may secretly achieve the ultimate in quickness, compatibility, and efficiency-a computer with petaflop and higher speeds shrunk into a container about a liter in size, and powered by only about ten watts of power: the human brain."
Rating:
Summary: USS LIBERTY Honored
Review: Finally, Truth is told to the public, as to what really happened that horriable day. It's a shame so many things like this are kept secret because, politicians in plan words, are "Job Scared" I am a Surivor of the Delibert ATTACK of the USS LIBERTY, by Isarelie Air and Sea forces, I was not expected to live, due to the wounds I recevied. I appreciate the accuracy of the book and the way it was not a censored, watered down version. We need our Gov. to look out for the AMERICANS who preserve our Freedom, and not worry about an Ally being embarrassed!! Congress wants that wonderful pension, they have provided for theirselves so much, they will waste American lives to receive it. How SAD!
R. Larry Weaver DAV
| 
