The Art of Intelligence: Lessons from a Life in the CIA's Clandestine Service [Tapa dura]

This book should be added to any serious reader's espionage bookshelf. It is not a memoir, per se, but a readable study in what motivates people to spy for the United States, and how the CIA's operations officers get them to do it. It is illustrated with stories from Crumpton's career and those of his friends an colleagues. It is entertaining, funny, illuminating, and educational.

Some previously un- or under-told stories include: 1) how the Predator program was created because of the determination of enterprising young operations officers and military details 2) how CIA's National Resources division quietly does its work in the domestic theater, with the help of patriots in the private sector and 3) the critical role of liaison with foreign intelligence services and how that works.

The best part of this book is that it not only describes how operations officers do their work, but how analysts, technicians, support staff, all work together to provide the best intelligence they can for the country. Whether policymakers use it or not is another matter, addressed in this book in a factual, non-strident way.

It is a fast read. Crumpton's writing style is simple, direct and clear and you have no questions about where he stands on matters of opinion.

THE ART OF INTELLIGENCE: LESSONS FROM A LIFE IN THE CIA'S CLANDESTINE SERVICE by Henry Crumpton dives into the belly of espionage and counter-terrorism. The author was Deputy Director of the CIA's Counter-Terrorism Center who, after 911, directed his team to find al Qaeda and kill them.

In this fascinating book, Crumpton tells how he learned about insurgencies in his early years from African rebels, and about al Qaeda terrorists and the enemy agents from North Korea who he recruited as spies by supplying money and pornography.

We've all watched movies and read fictional books about the CIA, but this book takes you behind the scenes of real life operatives and covert operations both stateside and on foreign soil. It's an amazing glimpse into the world of one of the most fascinating agencies in the world, the CIA. High recommended and well written.

Crumpton's expertise and dedication cannot be questioned. The subtitle, though, is more descriptive of the book than the main title. This is not a treatise on The Art of Intelligence. It is, however, about the experience of one CIA officer and team leader, at least to the extent he can discuss his experiences.

What I found most interesting was Chapter 7, about the differences between the approaches and limitations of the CIA versus the FBI. Crumpton is impatient with political leaders who demand more solid proof than his team would need to take drastic action. He is impatient with those who collect evidence instead of "intelligence," which is often a lower standard. He is impatient with the need to justify and to obtain permission when the mission is clear and the available intelligence seems to point to a resolution clear to the CIA.

One thing bothers me about Crumpton's conclusions, in which he seems to be surprised a "how ambivalent, cynical, or ignorant the U.S. public and many policy makers are about intelligence." Really? With an organization that is essentially a secret, with a fairly large budget that is just as largely unaccounted for; with the "I can't tell you where I work or what I do" and "the CIA is necessary, but we can't tell you how or why" constraints (some of which are clearly necessary), it seems not very surprising to me. People - whether members of Congress or the public - tend to distrust what they do not understand, and what will not be explained to them. To suggest that ambivalence, cynicism and ignorance are incredible, is massively naive.

I would rather that the book lived up to its main title - a more in-depth description of the hows and whys of intelligence - instead of "Henry Crumpton's Experience with the CIA." As for historical context, Crumpton could have spent more time on how the CIA was used, despite its actual advice, to help justify the Iraq war, for example.
Still, an interesting book which answers, at least in part, some of the essential questions and discusses the seemingly insurmountable problems and the ways in which the CIA is trying to adapt and to overcome those obstacles.