Central Intelligence

Though it might be hard to believe, the Americans did not have a covert operations organization when they joined the war, and like the British, it took them some time to realize it could be a powerful tool. As a result, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was not established until June 13, 1942, six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. And of course, it would all chart a path for the early days of America’s most famous intelligence agency, the CIA.

With help from family archives, CIA documents, and on-the-record interviews, Douglas A. Wissing reveals how Benjamin C. Evans Jr. quietly ran a vast government agency as elected leaders came and went. A CIA officer for more than 20 years, Evans deftly managed the CIA through four presidents and seven directors of central intelligence. Gentleman in the Shadows is a book about a remarkable American living in tumultuous times. Through the depths of the Cold War, Evans helped make and execute world-shaping CIA decisions

The Shinkolobwe Mine in the Belgian Congo was described by a 1943 Manhattan Project intelligence report as the "most important deposit of uranium yet discovered in the world". So long as the United States remained in control of this mine and its supply, it had a world monopoly on the primary material needed to build an atomic bomb. The uranium from this mine was used to build the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Inside the “Mickey Mouse Factory” comes from a veteran of 27 years of U.S. government service in various agencies such as the CIA, and combines an insider's life with a memoir that reveals his experiences serving as a CIA operations officer. From training courses designed to reflect operational realities to various incidents that presented special diplomatic and political challenges as operations were carried out in other countries, Sawyer's ability to reveal the nuts and bolts of intelligence goals and conundrums alike creates a fast-paced book packed with information.

In Spy Watching, Loch K. Johnson explores the United States' travails in its efforts to maintain effective accountability over its spy services.

In Jawbreaker Gary Berntsen, until recently one of the CIA’s most decorated officers, comes out from under cover for the first time to describe his no-holds-barred pursuit of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.

This New York Times best-seller delivers the untold story behind the last battle of the Cold War, the rise of militant Islam, and how a colorful congressman from Texas conspired with a rogue CIA operative to launch the most successful covert operation in CIA history.