Rating: 
Summary: A dubious platform for obsessions about Israel
Review: The author of this book devotes a large portion of his work to the Israeli attack on the U.S.S. Liberty during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, essentially claiming that the Israelis attacked the Liberty because it was eavesdropping on Israeli war crimes in progress. The author ignores the context of the times, including longstanding U.S. support for Egyptian President Nasser, especially in 1956, and the fact that Israel was a client-state of France, not of the U.S. It apparently did not occur to Bamford that the Israelis may have thought that the Liberty was transmitting real-time intelligence to the Egyptians about Israeli positions and its order of battle.
Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointed
Review: I was very excited when I saw this book. What inquisitive kid has not wondered about the NSA? The excitement continued for almost 20 pages. Then all of a sudden Bamford starts in with pages and pages of partisan ranting that isn't even connected with the NSA. I had read similar works, such as those by Ronald Kessler, and was expecting the same professionalism. I did not find it.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice Overview with Interesting Details
Review: This large book attempts to cover the history and setup of the National Security Agency (NSA). This is the department of the government that sucks up all the radio and phone signals out there in the world and looks for intelligence valuable for the US and it's allies. The author does a good job of providing a high level view of the NSA operation; but I found the best parts of the book were the detailed chapters on the Powers U2 Shoot down over the USSR, the Cuban Missile crises, the USS Liberty attack by Israel, and the USS Pueblo attack by the North Korean's. We also get a nice overview of the workings of the NSA, the set up of the complex and a good direction of the size of the organization.The author provided a nice amount of detail on the U2 shoot down over the USSR and the reaction of Ike to the situation. I found the additional details of the other intelligence gathering missions over the USSR also interesting and somewhat scary given they were all playing with live ammo i.e. nuclear missiles. Bamford also slipped in a little intrigue with the assumption that Powers U2 was never designed to let him eject safely. As this section of the book was very interesting I did not find the solid connection to the NSA only - it looked to me that this operation have a number of departments of the government and military involved and no one branch could claim it for themselves. I felt that author also provided a nice amount of detail on the Cuban Missile crises. I learned a lot in this section of the book; the author enhanced the image of JFK saving the day. He also included some very startling plans that the CIA was working on to start a series of terrorist attacks on the US and blame Cuba. Anything to get a war started to get rid of Castro. The author also provides a great run down of the Pueblo attack, what lead up to it and how the Navy let it happen. I would have liked a bit more linkage to the information that was lost and how that loss effected the US going forward. The most I learned in this book came from his coverage of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty. Talk about unflattering to the Israeli's, the author claims that the Israeli's attacked the ship to cover up war crimes they were performing on the Egyptian's. There are a ton of details and the author does a great job of taking the reader through the whole attack and some of the political cover up and fall-out. I was disappointed in the author's coverage of the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the political use of the NSA information. He could have done more or put more detail in these sections and left out some of the fluff. Given the current climate it would also have been nice for the author to provide some information on how the NSA could help in the war on terrorism. I also would have liked some maps and pictures to be able to better familiarize myself with the different parts of the world the author was covering. Also what was with the chapter headings, sure after you are reading the chapter you understand the cute little reference, but come on - this is a non-fiction book, not some romance novel, give me chapter headings that mean something. My biggest complaint of the book would be the jumpy nature of the set up. The author seamed to bounce from one topic to another with no seaming reason. I also think the author could have also done a little editing to kick out some of the less then interesting bits. Overall the book in a nice overview of the agency and provides some good and interesting details on some cold war incidents. If you are only interested in only one of two of these topic's then it may suit you to find a book dealing with just that topic to get a more detailed review.
Rating: 
Summary: Secrets your Government hid from you!
Review: I am not completely done with this book but I have to admit, it is engrossing from the very beginning. After the Government recently told the Public of the "Shadow Government" this book is even more fascinating. The part I found interesting so far was Eisenhower ordered American planes to trek into Russian air spaces that were supposed to be no-fly zones and KNEW that it could cause WW III, but nonetheless, the Russian airspaces were tested. Many pilots died in this cause as did many of our highly sophisticated planes. I also never knew of the "Fish" and the other secret writing tools used for communications during WW II. I have to admit, there are Governments SMARTER than the US Government and have more technological capabilities than you can imagine, THAT is what the US Government doesn't want you to know. And as for the secret NSA bunker that is now empty and is a tourist attraction, one CANNOT tell me that there are not more of these installations in place around our country and in full operation as we speak! Deception at its worst! Which makes for great reading on History and technology and secrets. It's a must read I say!
Rating:
Summary: Wow! A Must Read
Review: What a fascinating book. Covering the history and development of the NSA. This book is very interesting. Covering some of the older secrets that have not been read about and hinting at the direction that this agency and our government is going. An overview of how this little agency turned into the monstrous agency that it is now and how much of the governmental budget it sucks up. Do we get a bang for our budget buck? Read this book to find out. Many disturbing world instances are brought to light including a relatively unkown incident that the Israeli's attacked a US ship in 1967. The facts that so many secrets exist at the NSA that most employes don't even tell their spouses where they work. Covering Crypto City and the effort it takes to run and guard it. A very important book to read covering the end of World War II, the Cold War, the observations of many counties (China, Korea, Egypt, Argentina, Cuba, Soviet Union and more), the Cuban Missle Crisis, the Vietnam War and so many events in history as seen through the eyes of the NSA. Buy this book, set aside a weekend, a be prepared to open your eyes to what your government has been up to.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book A must read for all americans!!!
Review: After reading this book i just was amaze even thou the last to chapeter are little dry but the rest will keep you wanting to read and read til you know what happen. Thit book is a must read for all americans that would liek to know the truth. expecially what going on the world today. Make you think what really happened sept 11 and what really happening in the middle east today.
Rating:
Summary: Hmmmm ....
Review: At first blush, "Body Of Secrets" seems to be a meticulously researched if clumsily written history of the NSA. Indeed, there is much to commend this work insofar as it opens the door a crack and lets us peer into the inner sanctum of this almost mythic institution. When studying history there are The Facts and there is The Truth. The Facts are clouded by time, but can usually be tested objectively. But The Truth is harder to find because the historian applies his or her analysis to The Facts as they reveal themselves. No historical "Truth" is possible without some observance of the historian's personal biases. Our best historians make clear the separation between indisputable facts and their own analysis of same. Bamford fails to maintain this clear separation - He grinds an obvious anti-Israeli and anti-Pentagon axe throughout the first half of the book while weaving an intricate story full of what appears to be factual information. His credibility suffers thereby. There is clearly a lot of good research and fact-finding in the book but it is impossible to tell what is indisputably a fact and what is his opinion of what those facts mean. This is exacerbated by the fact that many of his claims cannot be checked against original sources. Over and over again we hear that his sources are "documents obtained for Body Of Secrets...". This kind of gnostic approach to history writing undermines the value of this sort of book - you never know what to believe. Without question, the most controversial aspect of the book is Bamford's claim that the Isreali's intentionally bombed the US spy ship Liberty in the 1967 war to cover up their own war crimes. Now this may or may not be true - certainly many supporters of Israel have taken him to task on the minutae of his argument. The problem is that there is simply no reliable way to check his claims. This is a good book flawed deeply by the author's obvious agenda. Bamford either needed to remove his personal tastes from the matter at hand, or provide incontrovertable evidence that his position is justfied, or, at the very least, offer some credible alternative interpretations to these events as a matter of balance and fairness. As it is, this is a fascinating read, you just won't be entirely sure how much of it is real and how much of it is authorial polemic.
Rating:
Summary: Extremely well documented and entertaining
Review: Bamford, also the author of Puzzle Palace, wrote this out of recently de-classified materials and (many) FOIA requests. There are close to 80 pages of notes and not because he has a note for everything he says. So it is well-documented. But it is not academic, dry and hard to read; on the contrary it reads like good conversation, story-telling even. After a chapter or two it becomes hard to put it down. The author is to be highly complimented for writing a book about as important a subject as this is that is also entertaining. If everybody who takes on a subject of this scope could write so well, we might get a notch closer to having a citizenry that has an inkling of what's going on.
Rating:
Summary: Deliberate and lethal Israeli attack on a US Navy ship
Review: Fascinating: worth the money if only for the chapter about the little known but brutal and ruthless attack on the USS Liberty by air and naval units of the Israeli Defence Force in which 54 US sailors were killed. The Israeli govt later claimed the attack was a mistake. They said they thought the Liberty, which was flying a huge US flag, was an Egyptian ship. What the Israelis did not know was that there was a US Navy EC121 flying far above the scene listening to all the damning radio calls of the attackers and to the pleas for help from the Liberty. The Israelis strafed and bombed the ship. Then torpedo boats torpedoed the ship, and machine gunned US sailors attempting to launch life boats. But why did they do all this? Read the book. It is a shocking eye opener. Highly relevent to current Israeli operations. The book and especially this chapter is must reading for any student of military and signal intellegence history .( See also "Attack on the USS Liberty" by William Gerhardt and "Conspiracy of Silence:Attack on the USS Liberty" by Anthony Pearson.
Rating:
Summary: Way Cool
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I bought it at an airport and read it while I was away for work. I couldn't put this book down. It was almost like reading a Tom Clancy novel or watching a James Bond movie except that this was/is real. I liked the way the book progressed from America's first intelligence gathering capabilities through today's organizations (NSA). I highly recomend this book to anybody with an interest military history.
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