Rating: 
Summary: Fine exposure of US/British skullduggery
Review: The author of this remarkable and comprehensive book on the US government's National Security Agency has unearthed evidence of 'what may be the most corrupt plan ever created by the US government'.Bamford summarises the secret documents. In 1961, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff "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. Codenamed Operation Northwoods, the plan, which had the written approval of the Chairman and every member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for innocent people to be shot on American streets; for boats carrying refugees fleeing Cuba to be sunk on the high seas; for a wave of violent terrorism to be launched in Washington, D.C., Miami, and elsewhere. People would be framed for bombings they did not commit; planes would be hijacked. Using phony evidence, all of it would be blamed on Castro." The Joint Chiefs of Staff 'Top Secret Document' of 12 March 1962, entitled 'Pretexts to justify US military intervention in Cuba', stated, "We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba, ... casualty lists in US newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation. ... We could develop a Communist Cuban terrorist campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington. The terror campaign could be pointed at Cuban refugees seeking haven in the United States. ... We could sink a boatload of Cubans en route to Florida (real or simulated). ... We could foster attempts on lives of Cuban refugees in the United States even to the extent of wounding in instances to be widely publicized. ... Exploding a few plastic bombs in carefully chosen spots, the arrest of Cuban agents and the release of prepared documents substantiating Cuban involvement also would be helpful ... Advantage can be taken of the sensitivity of the Dominican Air Force to intruders within their national air space. 'Cuban' B-26 or C-46 type aircraft could make cane-burning raids at night. Soviet Bloc incendiaries could be found. This could be coupled with 'Cuban' messages to the Communist underground in the Dominican Republic and 'Cuban' shipments of arms which would be found, or intercepted, on the beach. Use of MiG type aircraft by U.S. pilots could provide additional provocation. ... Hijacking attempts against civil air and surface craft could appear to continue as harassing measures condoned by the Government of Cuba." In 1963, the Office of the Secretary of State for Defense produced a 'Top Secret/Sensitive' policy paper, 'War between Cuba and another Latin American state'. "A contrived 'Cuban' attack on an OAS member could be set up and the attacked state could be urged to take measures of self-defense and request assistance from the U.S. and OAS; the U.S. could almost certainly obtain the necessary two-thirds support among OAS members for collective action against Cuba." Bamford writes, "Among the nations they suggested that the United States secretly attack were Jamaica and Trinidad-Tobago. Both were members of the British Commonwealth; thus, by secretly attacking them and then falsely blaming Cuba, the United States could lure England into the war against Castro." This paper proposed "to bribe one of Castro's subordinate commanders to initiate an attack on Guantanamo." As Bamford comments, "the act suggested - bribing a foreign nation to launch a violent attack on an American military installation - was treason." Bamford sums up, "in light of the Operation Northwoods documents, it is clear that deceiving the public and trumping up wars for Americans to fight and die in was standard, approved policy at the highest levels of the Pentagon. In fact, the Gulf of Tonkin seems right out of the Operation Northwoods playbook ... " Is Bush dusting off these plans? Would Blair back a US attack on Cuba? Yes and yes - to the extent that we allow them!
Rating: 
Summary: Bamford has respect for the NSA now
Review: James Bamford's earlier work, The Puzzle Palace, was a good book to use to find your way around the NSA. I think the NSA changed substantially in the '90's because of the Clinton administration and the Palace book may be somewhat dated. Bamford wrote then probably with an air of fascination at how the agency worked, and sometimes didn't work. His Body of Secrets has much more respect for the achievements of the agency, and the intelligence community in general. The book takes a little ride through early intelligence history, from an overall point of view, then suddenly starts covering in explicit detail conflicts that have occurred in the last half century and details the Community and the Agency knew. I feel this information is the most rewarding to read. It won't be found in the popular media, that's for sure! An example: during the Vietnam war, leading up to the Tet offensive, the Agency strongly warned of an unprecented buildup of NVA, and an Agency head went to Gen. Westmoreland's war planners to personally warn of the impending attack, only to be ignored by what he felt was the staff's false confidence of superiority over their enemy. Result: 5000 South Vietnamese dead, 4000 American troops dead, and 53,000 NVA dead at the end of 12 days of fighting. And, the start of the end of the war for America.
He mentions that a Congressional review in 1998 of events surrounding the Tet offensive resulted in the NSA receiving high marks and other agencies and the DoD receiving low marks for ignoring the Agency's warnings, finding that SIGINT intercepts made for much more accurate estimates of NVA troop size than what the DoD had been using (estimates derived from enemy interrogations). I'm only half-way through the book so far. It is a hard book to put down at night! I want to keep reading it.<...
Rating:
Summary: History of top secret organisation
Review: An interesting read, it's a loose history of the National Security Agency, told in mainly anecdotal form. Mr Bamford's style is accessible at the very least and certainly you will come away with a better understanding of the NSA's role and mission within the intelligence community. There are several chapters devoted to a description of the present day NSA, however for obvious reasons when it comes to detailing their practices and so forth the author is restricted to essentially generic terms. Hence you are really none the wiser as to how modern day codebreaking and signals intelligence actually works, besides the fact that it seems to involve mathematics and computers a lot.
The book also contains certain juicy Cold War era revelations, including Eisenhower's handling of the Gary Powers U-2 incident and the Joint Chiefs' plans for Cuba in the early 1960's (Operation Northwoods). It's debatable whether these events actually involved or where influenced by the NSA, but they are fascinating nonetheless. Australian readers should also be intrigued by the role of the NSA's "Pine Gap" facility near Alice Springs, and the importance of this base in eavesdropping on high level Soviet communications. The future of "Pine Gap" supposedly resulted in the downfall of a Labour government in the 1970's in extremely suspicious circumstances, a crisis however which isn't referred to in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: A mixed bag of operations, events, and editorials
Review: Body of Secrets is James Bamford's mix-and-match homage to America's largest spy agency. It's subtitle, "Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency" is unfortunate, since maybe a quarter of the book is actually devoted to this level of description. A simple "History of the NSA" would have been sufficient and somewhat less misleading. The writing is interesting, to say the least. The chapters are topical, and the early ones are devoted to case by case incidents in the Cold War. It's hard to figure out how the NSA plays more than a bit part in some of these accounts. It would be more accurate to point out that secrecy is the common thread combining these stories, not code breaking per se. There are plenty of fascinating accounts in these early chapters, covering such subjects as overflights of the USSR, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the various exploits of spy ships, including the Pueblo and Liberty. It is in these chapters, also, that Bamford is at his most political and editorial. Sometimes this is justified... The account of the actual battle in the Liberty incident makes for some exciting reading, and the allegations of a cover-up are plausible enough to cause some concern. It's too bad he had to insert so many editorial one-liners into his text. It probably would have saved a few pages had he not. Once past this nadir, it's uphill reading. Despite his investigative journalist's hat, Bamford writes with a passion and attention to detail that shows his fondness and respect for his subject. Every facet of the NSA is covered from government funding to the on site health club. The reader is not allowed to slip into boredom, even during the description of converting paper products into industrial slurry for eventual reconstitution as pizza boxes.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling, intriguing; an unauthorized biography of the NSA
Review: I checked this book out by accident while expecting to get "The Puzzle Palace", and it turned out to be a wonderful mistake. The story held my attention for many days, and I was hard-pressed to put it down at any point in time. It's a compelling story of how the NSA came to be who they are today, while bringing those of us who had no idea what they are up to speed. Technological and math expertise is not expected; it's written from the perspective of a historian, not a technician. The author's tone is, albeit slightly critical, quite down-to-earth; much of the story is told with quotes, anecdotes, letters, and other such information. Hundreds of documentary sources are listed at the end, as well, for those who desire to verify facts or continue research into specific matters. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about one of the most secretive government agencies; it's a narrated timeline from just before the birth of the NSA to the modern-day (2001) events just after the Y2K upgrades. Definitely worth having on the shelf.
Rating:
Summary: Thorough account of the NSA
Review: Bamford has trod important ground by presenting a fully-realized essay on the NSA. There are, of course, holes of information and areas where the author's viewpoint is asserted, but these should be considered within the remarkable achievement of the whole. Bamford has dared to deliver a single volume text on an organization whose currency is secrets. That he at times maintained an objective and exhaustive stance is worthy of recognition. For fans of espionage and the real-world uses of cryptography in the intelligence community, this book delivers on the promise to reveal the nuts and bolts of the NSA. David R. Bannon, Ph.D.; author "Race Against Evil."
Rating:
Summary: The Beauty Of Secrets
Review: I throughly enjoyed this book. The history of the NSA is a very intersting subject, and Bamford pulls it off well.
The best part about this book is its contrast to others of its genrae. While many super-secret govenment books are dry and boring, this one is rife with scene setting detail and great imagry, which all set it a cut above other books of its ilk.
Rating:
Summary: Astonishing and Scary
Review: "Body of Secrets" is the history of the ultra-secret National Security Agency in all of its iterations from World War II until the sinking of the Kursk in 2001. The stories that James Bamford tells throughout the sixty years he covers are sometimes amazing, sometimes reveling, sometimes scary, and, unfortunately, sometimes boring. Instead of giving a year-by-year account of the NSA's doings, the book is based around a handful of major events that Bamford describes in great detail. Although I found the methods of intelligence gathering interesting, I found that the overall feeling I received from the book was that of either fear or anger. ... For the most part I thought that "Body of Secrets" was pretty good. If nothing else, it promoted a lot of thinking and digesting of the stories Bamford tells. His writing is of a style that is easy to read, although he is quite a bit wordy. He also has a tendency to slip of onto tangents occasionally, but some of these secondary stories and facts I found interesting. The only complaint I have with "Body of Secrets" is the second to last chapter. He goes through, in detail, the different people that currently work for NSA, and where their offices are located, and the EEO and affirmative action problems the NSA has faced. I thought I was reading a book on the signal intelligence of the NSA, not its hiring practices. Overall, it's worth the read, especially if the NSA intrigues you.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting & expansive book of data and trivia, but liberal
Review: I found the book an interesting read, mainly for the volumes of trivial information regarding the size, breadth and expanse of NSA's reach into the world's technological community. I found the organization of the book a little confusing, but it may be a personal bias for chronological order of events as opposed to the functional order the author uses. My chief concern was eloquently outlined by another reviewer that warns of the frequent liberal political commentaries and tirades that the author embarks on which caused me to be sceptical of some of the more interesting and unusual events portrayed. Given that the author makes it no problem seeing his liberal bias you can enjoy the book with that calibration in place as you read the tale.
Rating:
Summary: NSA revealed.
Review: Body of Secrets is the only complete, and reliable, history of the highly secret National Security Agency. The book begins with the agencies birth in the early fifties and ends explaining the modern agency and its mission. It is very informative and is based on unclassified documents and interviews with agency employees.
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