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Rating: 
Summary: Most informative book on intelligence this quarter century
Review: Copious insights into the secret world of spies written by the master expert on world intelligence.
Rating: 
Summary: Understanding Intelligence
Review: Even though this book was published over six years ago, the insights it provides for today are invaluable. Through it's detailed history of the changes in fashion and mission in the United States' intelligence agencies, we begin to understand why the human intelligence assets were not in place to predict September 11, why we are often surprised by events in North Korea, and the challenges faced in creating the Department of Homeland Security. Johnson gives an even-handed, largely non-political view of these issues. It is refreshing to read an account written by someone with no apparent axe to grind.
Rating:
Summary: Most informative book on intelligence this quarter century
Review: Loch is the dean of the scholars competent to address intelligence matters, and his experience as a member of the professional staff of both the Church Committee in the 1970's and the Aspin/Brown Commission in the 1990's uniquely qualify him to discuss and evaluate U.S. intelligence. His chapters on the ethics of covert operations and on intelligence accountability set a standard for this aspect of the discussion. This is the only book I have seen that objectively and methodically discusses intelligence success and failures in relation to the Soviet Union, with a superb three-page listing decade by decade being provided on pages 180-182.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent academic book; but too academic
Review: Loch Johnson has done an excellent job detailing the interplay between the CIA and the Congress in the post/last days of the Cold War era. He is able to draw on firsthand data and tackles some interesting topics, such as the ethics of what various "Secret Agencies" do. If you are well versed in the Intelligence Community arena you will find this a valuable reference. If you are new to the subject; this is not the book to start with. This is a book of facts and figures; none of life and vigor of the people, agencies or even the author is present. If Mr. Johnson added a bit more life to his facts and figures this would have been an excellent book. I took a class from Loch Johnson at the University of Georgia - his presentation and arguements are much more interesting in person.
Rating:
Summary: Secret Agencies
Review: This is an excellent book, yet it still deserves only three stars. It deserves the lower rating for three reasons: 1) it was published in 1996 and is starting to show its age; 2)in spite of its title, it is really a historical snapshot of the Directorate of Intelligence of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) rather than the members of the intelligence community; and 3)it rather skims over CIA's interactions and relations with the other main intelligence players, the Intelligence and Research Bureau of the State Department and the Defense Intelligence Agency.Still the book has a lot to recommend it. Johnson is a meticulous researcher and a first rate analyst. He appears to have an excellent understanding of the intelligence process and one wishes he had elaborated on that process a bit more. His chapter on intelligence and economic security is extremely well thought out. Finally, his book provides a fair and well balanced history of the CIA during an extremely unsettled period. I wish I could honestly give this book five stars.
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