Inside : A Top G-Man Exposes Spies, Lies, and Bureaucratic Bungling in the FBI

Rating:
Summary: Engaging and Fair
Review: Covering everything from Whitewater, to recent spy scandals, to 9/11, the author gives real insight, and more importantly backs up his ideas on the FBI over the past 20 years. It is an engaging and easy read. I highly recomend it.

Rating:
Summary: Not Enough on Spies, but Overall Superb
Review: I bought this book in an airport for two reasons: because I knew the man, and because the FBI does not produce enough good authors. Although I was disappointed by finding that only 20% of the book covers spies and lies, while 80% covers bureaucratic bungling and leadership failures with in the FBI, overall I put it down fully satisfied.

We all know now that Al Qaeda was never operating in secret, and even today, is not operating in secret. We are simply incompetent at looking at open sources in foreign languages. IC Smith conveys this perfectly early on in his book, on page 7, when he repeats something he said that was published in the media, to wit "These guys were not superhuman, but they were playing in a system that was more inept than they were." I share IC's anger over the FBI's failure to translate and exploit the many boxes of documents in Arabic that were captured in the Philippines and after the first World Trade Center attack, the botched car bombing.

If there is one word that summarizes this book's message, beyond incompetency, it is "corruption." IC Smith tells it like it is when he discusses Congressional corruption, refusing to fix known problems in the Intelligence Community; Presidential corruption in abusing power and covering up those abuses; state-level corruption across Arkansas; intelligence community management corruption and malfeasance--some would even say treason, although IC avoids this word.

On a very practical level, IC Smith is probably the foremost authority to come forward and denounce the practice of having prosecuting attorneys manage investigations. The book has many examples of where trained investigators were not allowed to do their job, and prosecutors botched or blocked investigations that would have otherwise been timely and successful.

In passing, he skewers the staff at the FBI Academy, almost none of whom have actual street experience (nor do most FBI managers at the wood-paneled office level), and it is clear that while America has many dedicated Americans serving within the FBI, they are badly trained and badly led.

In addition to this book I recommend Michael Levine's Deep Cover (on the Drug Enforcement Agency), and Mark Riebling's WEDGE (on the FBI-CIA wars that continue to this day), as well as George Allen's book NONE SO BLIND (on the continuing ability of the White House--regardless of occupation--and the Intelligence Community--to lie to themselves, to Congress, and to the American people).

IC is a straight shooter. I'm glad he made it to retirement without being shot by a crook or stabbed in the back (fatally) by one of the suits in Washington that pretend to serve the people while serving only themselves.

Rating:
Summary: A recommended read
Review: I.C. Smith isn't in the habit of sugarcoating his words, and his book stays true to his personality. This well-written book reads like a conversation with the man: straightforward, honest, holding no punches.

It spans his decades of work within the FBI, illustrating successes and failures. He warns, through specific events, then in his own words, about the growing political use and abuse inside the agency, the federal judicial system and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Again and again, he lays out facts to reach his own brand of conclusions. You might not agree with all of those conclusions, but the book engages the reader's mind. That's especially true in his section about events leading to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

He served as the special agent in charge of the Little Rock, Ark., FBI office during most of the Whitewater and other Clinton-related investigations. We all know what happened, of course, but Smith gives his version of the underlying reasons about why some events unfolded as they did.

As a journalist, I was involved in reporting about some of the public corruption investigations Smith included in his book. For events I know about firsthand, he's accurate to a fault. I'd recommend this book to all who enjoy nonfiction works that delve into the intertwined workings of federal government and politics.


Rating:
Summary: Secure? Read This Book and Think Again!
Review: If you think the US elite police enforcement institution known as the FBI is protecting YOU in a post-9/11 world, then READ THIS BOOK and THINK AGAIN!

The embarrassing revelations of the incompetency of the FBI continue to surface and be exposed -- from its flawed investigations of the bombings of Pan Am Flight in 1988, Khobar Rowers in 1996, the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, the USS Cole in 2000 to the ultimate sacrificial bombing on 9-11. Add to the mix the retelling of the story about Robert Hanssen, an FBI Supervisory Special Agent, who spied for over two decades undetected by the FBI under their own nose while the FBI insisted on wrongly accusing a decorated Case Officer at the CIA for Hanssen's espionage offnesnes, and the result is egregious and catyclysmic incompetence.

Stunningly, FBI cronyism continues and many of the FBI Special Agents who should have been held responsible for these tragedies and more, have instead been promoted, and the upper management problems within the FBI still persists.

Thank you, I.C. Smith, for the courgage to present a thorough and public airing of the improprieties within the FBI. We can only hope and pray that someone will listen and make the necessary changes within the National Security structure of the FBI so that every citizen of the United States can feel protected. A GREAT READ!