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Ever since it's formation in the 1950's the CIA. has been one of the most intriguing and at times most controversial organizations of all time. Ronlad Kessler's investigative novel: Inside The CIA offers to shed some much-needed light on the agency's purpose. Using information gathered from interviews with retired CIA and KGB officers, Kessler reveals more about the CIA's structure, policies, and personnel than any James Bond movie ever could.

Kessler explains that the CIA is divided into four chief directorates: operations, intelligence, administration, and science and technology. He goes on to say that these four departments work in unison to keep the CIA runnning smoothly. The CIA could not withstand the loss of any one of these divisons; if the directorate of administration was taken away no one would get employed, paid, or terminated. Likewise if the directorate of intelligence was eliminated the CIA's main role (gaining information about other countries and using that information to protect national security) would not be fulfilled. At the head of all these directorates and sub-directorates is the office of the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Movies like James Bond and Misson: Impossible may give people the wron idead about the CIA. Kessler states that "When the public or the media cannot know something they immediately assume that the agency has make a mistake." Many people think that classified information is something the CIA doesn't want to acknowlege; in reality the CIA classifies information to protect the US and its citizens.

I picked up this book looking foward to pages full of clever gadgets and shadowly double agents. What i found was long drawn out procedures and policies that often confused me. However the book was occasionally spiced up with an intresting fact or two. For instance did you know that former president George Bush was once director of the CIA? Or that in the past the CIA hired US citizens vacationing over seas to spy on foreign emmbassies? These seldom facts combined with the agency's interesting history kept me reading. This book might appeal to someone who wants to clear up some of the speculation of the CIA.

evidently, this guy's book about the FBI created quite the stir. when i got this book for x-mas, i expected a lot of information on the operations aspect of the CIA, but was somewhat disappointed. i was pleased with some of the operational history and how the agency evolved through the years to become one of the most skilled, and respected intelligence agencies in the world. but, this book didn't reveal much that couldn't already be found online. aside from his detailed operations accounts and interviews of CIA personnel, just about everything this guy discusses is somewhere online -- most of it on the CIA website. furthermore, i expected at least something on the collection management aspect of the clandestine service, but kessler didn't mention that job at all, preferring to spend a whole chapter on the CIA's games in cuba and with castro.
don't expect to find anything too exciting in here. there's some good operations history, and he does a good job detailing different areas of the CIA, their responsibilities, and how they all work together. but it read like a series of somewhat nonsensical stories told by someone more interested in the garnishes than the entree. if you want to know more about the CIA, you would be better off going to their website first and then reading this guy's book for some 1st person accounts and operations.

This book gives a good overview of the CIA structure, depicting each department individually. In doing so, the author jumps chronologically and repeats himself. This book had very few accounts of what CIA actually does, apart from a lot of references to the Inran-Contra affair (not exactly explained in the book). Apart from explaining how CIA is structured and giving a couple of semi-bios CIA directors this book leaves you wanting to read something else on the subject.