Spying Blind

The CIA, the FBI, and the Origins of 9/11

Nonfiction, History, Military, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science
Cover of the book Spying Blind by Amy B. Zegart, Princeton University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Amy B. Zegart ISBN: 9781400830275
Publisher: Princeton University Press Publication: February 17, 2009
Imprint: Princeton University Press Language: English
Author: Amy B. Zegart
ISBN: 9781400830275
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Publication: February 17, 2009
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Language: English

In this pathbreaking book, Amy Zegart provides the first scholarly examination of the intelligence failures that preceded September 11. Until now, those failures have been attributed largely to individual mistakes. But Zegart shows how and why the intelligence system itself left us vulnerable.

Zegart argues that after the Cold War ended, the CIA and FBI failed to adapt to the rise of terrorism. She makes the case by conducting painstaking analysis of more than three hundred intelligence reform recommendations and tracing the history of CIA and FBI counterterrorism efforts from 1991 to 2001, drawing extensively from declassified government documents and interviews with more than seventy high-ranking government officials. She finds that political leaders were well aware of the emerging terrorist danger and the urgent need for intelligence reform, but failed to achieve the changes they sought. The same forces that have stymied intelligence reform for decades are to blame: resistance inside U.S. intelligence agencies, the rational interests of politicians and career bureaucrats, and core aspects of our democracy such as the fragmented structure of the federal government. Ultimately failures of adaptation led to failures of performance. Zegart reveals how longstanding organizational weaknesses left unaddressed during the 1990s prevented the CIA and FBI from capitalizing on twenty-three opportunities to disrupt the September 11 plot.

Spying Blind is a sobering account of why two of America's most important intelligence agencies failed to adjust to new threats after the Cold War, and why they are unlikely to adapt in the future.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In this pathbreaking book, Amy Zegart provides the first scholarly examination of the intelligence failures that preceded September 11. Until now, those failures have been attributed largely to individual mistakes. But Zegart shows how and why the intelligence system itself left us vulnerable.

Zegart argues that after the Cold War ended, the CIA and FBI failed to adapt to the rise of terrorism. She makes the case by conducting painstaking analysis of more than three hundred intelligence reform recommendations and tracing the history of CIA and FBI counterterrorism efforts from 1991 to 2001, drawing extensively from declassified government documents and interviews with more than seventy high-ranking government officials. She finds that political leaders were well aware of the emerging terrorist danger and the urgent need for intelligence reform, but failed to achieve the changes they sought. The same forces that have stymied intelligence reform for decades are to blame: resistance inside U.S. intelligence agencies, the rational interests of politicians and career bureaucrats, and core aspects of our democracy such as the fragmented structure of the federal government. Ultimately failures of adaptation led to failures of performance. Zegart reveals how longstanding organizational weaknesses left unaddressed during the 1990s prevented the CIA and FBI from capitalizing on twenty-three opportunities to disrupt the September 11 plot.

Spying Blind is a sobering account of why two of America's most important intelligence agencies failed to adjust to new threats after the Cold War, and why they are unlikely to adapt in the future.

More books from Princeton University Press

Cover of the book Foreign Direct Investment by Amy B. Zegart
Cover of the book Timefulness by Amy B. Zegart
Cover of the book The Lesser Evil by Amy B. Zegart
Cover of the book The Politics of Opera by Amy B. Zegart
Cover of the book Tracks and Signs of the Animals and Birds of Britain and Europe by Amy B. Zegart
Cover of the book In the Shadow of World Literature by Amy B. Zegart
Cover of the book Alabama in Africa by Amy B. Zegart
Cover of the book A Public Empire by Amy B. Zegart
Cover of the book A Perilous Progress by Amy B. Zegart
Cover of the book True Faith and Allegiance by Amy B. Zegart
Cover of the book Hamburgers in Paradise by Amy B. Zegart
Cover of the book Solomon's Knot by Amy B. Zegart
Cover of the book Race to the Finish by Amy B. Zegart
Cover of the book How to Think about War by Amy B. Zegart
Cover of the book The National Origins of Policy Ideas by Amy B. Zegart
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy