Body of Secrets : Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency

Rating:
Summary: In God We Trust, In All Others We Monitor
Review: ~Body of Secrets : Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency~ is an intriguing look into national security apparatus of the NSA. This less-than-known history of political intrigue and power play intel-games in the 20th century is enthralling. The chapters on the U-2 spy missions against the Soviets and the Cuban Missile Crisis are really interesting. Another chapter captures the tragedy of the intelligence ship, the U.S.S. Liberty, which in the heat of the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, was attacked by Israel and a debacle ensued thereafter. The circumstances surrounding the attack have never been fully probed, but the implication is foul play. A fascinating chapter documents the NSA cat-and-mouse games in a trawler off the coast of North Korea in the midst of the Cold War. Another chapter called Heart gives walkthrough of the Crypto City in Maryland-the elaborate intelligence complex, which remains the core of the NSA machine-and Bamford delves as deep in detail as the NSA will publicly allow. The author discusses the UKUSA agreement that brings America's WWII ally and Commonwealth countries like Australia, New Zealand, and Canada into our nation's cooperative intelligence sphere. (The NSA operates a huge SIGINT installation in the UK and much to the chagrin of the EU.) Bamford captures the successes of the NSA with clarity and admiration, but shows its bureaucratic bungling on occasion and its conflicts with other agencies for power and funding.

The NSA of the 21st century is faced with new challenges. The focal point of its SIGINT and espionage operations during the Cold War was the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union's byzantine intelligence structure with its fixed bureaucracy advanced in technology at a snail's pace even with technological espionage and leaks. Every so often some turncoat politician or a bureaucrat in the U.S. State Department acquiesced in loosening technology transfer controls on exports, and Soviet technology would get a shot in the arm. Otherwise, the NSA didn't have to move very fast. But times have changed, with the advent of fiber-optic connections, cell phones, and a communications revolution that has reached critical mass; the NSA is in a frenzied race to upgrade its technologies. NSA remains an albatross bureaucracy and concessions have been made that all 38,000 employees couldn't even receive an e-mail from the Director because there were so many separate e-mail systems. Yet with a focused target, the NSA has the most advanced electronic surveillance practices and capabilities in the world. A post 9/11 follow-up chapter was added analyzing the oversight that lead up to that terrifying day and the subsequent shake-up thereafter. At times Bamford really captivates the reader and overall this book makes for a fascinating weekend read.

After 9/11, with the advent of Homeland Security, the concern for civil liberties abuse is obvious, as private citizens could become targets of surveillance. Also revelations have been made about the Clinton Administration utilizing the NSA for corporate espionage to help American interests against Airbus. More innovations like the Patriot Act provide the impetus for the NSA being integrated with CIA, FBI, DIA, DEA, and other intelligence-law enforcement agencies. The Patriot Act leaves the NSA's previous prohibition against operating domestically in limbo, and it sets the stage for their counterintelligence and counter-terrorism activities within the U.S.

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" -Juvenal

Rating:
Summary: More history than "anatomy"
Review: The title of this book in pretty misleading. The "anatomy" of the NSA isn't really the focus until the final 25% of the book, the rest is mostly on the history of the various activities of the agency. Still, this is a mighty ambitious and impressive volume that I found fairly engrossing in places (especially the harrowing attack on the USS Liberty by Israel in 1967). I learned a bunch, but I'd say this one is best suited to military history and espionage buffs. Definitely more info than I needed.

Rating:
Summary: Mind numbing
Review: a very intersting and detailed book about the NSA. however, i found myself feeling like an analyst at NSA in that i had to plow through a LOT of information, some of which was interesting but could have been condensed.
my only complaint is that the author looses his objectivity in the afterword when describing the actions of george w. bush in response to the events of 09/11.