The book the CIA wanted to keep off the bookshelves! In the murky world of espionage, where shadowy intelligence operatives struggle against one another to gain tactical advantage, things can often go very, very wrong. This is one such story. Told by a former master CIA spy, truth is woven with fiction to create a gripping yet authentic action packed tale of real intelligence operatives at war.
“Broman’s true tales of putting his life on the line recruiting and running spies in a dozen countries are the stuff of action movies.” —Peter Arnett, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Live from the Battlefield Joining the CIA after fighting in Vietnam as a Marine, Barry Broman’s first posting was war-torn Cambodia. He was present at the fall of Phnom Penh in 1975, escaping just before the Khmer Rouge took power. During his career, he was twice chief of station, once a deputy chief of station, and he supervised an international paramilitary project in support of the Cambodian resistance to Vietnamese invaders. He was actively involved in several assignments in counter-narcotics operations in Southeast Asia including a major bust that yielded 551 kilograms of high-grade heroin from a major drug trafficker. His favorite agent against a variety of hard targets was a fellow whose only demand was that his assignments be “life threatening.” (He survived them all.) As amazing as the characters Broman has met are the places he’s been, with visits to little-known and rarely seen places like the Naga Hills on the India–Burma border, the world-famous but off-limits jade and ruby mines of Burma, and the isolated Banda Islands of Indonesia, the home of nutmeg. Broman’s engaging tone is complemented by photographs taken throughout his career, many of them his own, made using the skills he learned as a teenager working for the Associated Press in Southeast Asia—including Marines in action in Vietnam, the ravages of war in Cambodia, and opium buyers forcing growers to sell in Burma. “[A] remarkable life story.” —Booklist
Data are an organization's sole, non-depletable, non-degrading, durable asset. Engineered right, data's value increases over time because the added dimensions of time, geography, and precision. To achieve data's full organizational value, there must be dedicated individual to leverage data as assets - a Chief Data Officer or CDO who's three job pillars are: - Dedication solely to leveraging data assets, - Unconstrained by an IT project mindset, and - Reports directly to the business Once these three pillars are set into place, organizations can leverage their data assets. Data possesses properties worthy of additional investment. Many existing CDOs are fatally crippled, however, because they lack one or more of these three pillars. Often organizations have some or all pillars already in place but are not operating in a coordinated manner. The overall objective of this book is to present these pillars in an understandable way, why each is necessary (but insufficient), and what do to about it. - Uncovers that almost all organizations need sophisticated, comprehensive data management education and strategies. - Delivery of organization-wide data success requires a highly focused, full time Chief Data Officer. - Engineers organization-wide data advantage which enables success in the marketplace
Left of Boom is the explosive New York Times bestselling memoir by a young CIA operative on the front lines in Afghanistan. On September 11, 2001, Douglas Laux was a freshman in college, on the path to becoming a doctor. But with the fall of the Twin Towers came a turning point in his life. After graduating he joined the Central Intelligence Agency, determined to get himself to Afghanistan and into the center of the action. Through persistence and hard work he was fast-tracked to a clandestine operations position overseas. Dropped into a remote region of Afghanistan, he received his baptism by fire. Frustrated by bureaucratic red tape, a widespread lack of knowledge of the local customs and culture and an attitude of complacency that hindered his ability to combat the local Taliban, Doug confounded his peers by dressing like a native and mastering the local dialect, making contact and building sources within several deadly terrorist networks. His new approach resulted in unprecedented successes for the CIA, including the uncovering the largest IED network in the world, responsible for killing hundreds of US soldiers. Meanwhile, Doug had to keep up false pretenses with his family, girlfriend and friends--nobody could know what he did for a living--and deal with the emotional turbulence of constantly living a lie. His double life was building to an explosive resolution, with repercussions that would have far reaching consequences. Left of Boom tells his story.
Call me naïve, but when I was a girl-watching James Bond and devouring Harriet the Spy-all I wanted was to grow up to be a spy. Unlike most kids, I didn't lose my secret-agent aspirations. So as a bright-eyed, idealistic college grad, I sent my resume to the CIA. Getting in was a story in itself. I peed in more cups than you could imagine, and was nearly condemned as a sexual deviant by the staff psychologist. My roommates were getting freaked out by government investigators lurking around, asking questions about my past. Finally, the CIA was training me to crash cars into barriers at 60 mph. Jump out of airplanes with cargo attached to my body. Survive interrogation, travel in alias, lose a tail. One thing they didn't teach us was how to date a guy while lying to him about what you do for a living. That I had to figure out for myself. Then I was posted overseas. And that's when the real fun began.
This book details the author's experiences, both good and bad, while working as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Officer for over twenty years. The book begins with how the author was hired by the CIA to include the grueling polygraph test. Details on the author's first day at the CIA transports the reader's mind into what it must be like to walk through the halls of the world's premier intelligence agency and one of the most secretive buildings in the world. Insights about living in a foreign country abound throughout the book, as are reflections on what it's like living and working "under cover" and having to lie to friends and family about the true nature of his work. The inner workings of the CIA are detailed from an insider point of view and no punches are pulled in the chapters "Victims of Power" "Leadership (or lack of it)" and "Diversity (or lack of it)". The chapter "Gulf War I – 1991" (Persian Gulf War) finds the author less than a year and a half after being hired immersed in war efforts and becoming a victim of an exploding landmine. In 2003 the author again finds himself in the Middle East in the midst of Gulf War II. Chapter "9/11" details what occurred at the CIA on September 11, 2001 and how the CIA reacted to these terrible events. Poignant stories of the death of friends and colleagues in the chapter "Death Happens" provides an understanding to the reader that being a CIA Officer is oftentimes dangerous and can be deadly. The chapter "Special Project", which was heavily redacted by the CIA, provides the reader an insight into covert operations.Humorous aspects of living overseas, interacting with people of different cultures and eating exotic foods are interspersed throughout the book's twenty-eight chapters. Most other books written by former CIA Officers detail one or two specific events; this book is different in that the author provides insight into a whole career, from hiring to retirement, from the mundane to the exciting, to give the reader the full experience of what it's like to be a CIA Officer.
AN ALTERNATE SELECTION OF THE HISTORY BOOK CLUB AND THE MILITARY BOOK CLUB "One of the best behind-the-scenes perspectives on Cold War espionage that I have read." -Francis Gary Powers, founder, The Cold War Museum "When I think of George Kisevalter, I think about one of the finest public servants I have ever known. I think about honor, decency, and integrity. He served in some very important and difficult posts, always with distinction, always making his country and the Agency proud." -George Herbert Walker Bush, president and former CIA director George Kisevalter ran the first key Soviet agent in CIA history, Pyotr Popov, gained the U.S. its first view behind the Iron Curtain, and helped gain information from Soviet colonel Oleg Penkovsky, regarded as the most successful spy in CIA history. This top-secret information proved decisive for Kennedy during the showdown of the Cuban missile crisis. More than a biography, CIA SpyMaster is a glimpse into the mind of an espionage genius, a rare view of what it takes to "live in the black" for years at a time under a fictitious identity, torn from friends and family. It's a behind-the-scenes look at spycraft in action, from dead drops and cutoffs to multilayered ciphers, the KGB's secret "spydust," and everything in between. It is a book of ever-increasing tension and suspense, as the rising stakes of the Cold War endow every act of espionage with utmost importance. During his lifetime, George Kisevalter was awarded the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the highest award attainable in the CIA without giving one's life. For his work with Penkovsky, he received a Certificate of Merit with Distinction. Less than two months before his death in 1997, he was selected as one of fifty "unique contributors" in the fifty-year history of the CIA and was presented with the newly established Trailblazers Award, the only case officer ever to be so honored.
