Clumsily written (or edited), Mazzetti's book sells itself as a neutral account of CIA and JSOC moves in the post 9/11 world, but is written with a slant that would make Thomas Friedman blush. If you are thinking about reading this book, skip it and read Jeremy Scahill's more complete Dirty Wars. ( )

This is a very good summary of the transition of CIA under GWB and Obama from an intelligence gathering organization, largely constrained by the Church committee rulings of the 1970s to avoid extensive paramilitary activities, into an essentially paramilitary organization which incidentally collected intelligence. The Title 50 authority was used to wage secret war in countries outside Iraq and Afghanistan, and there were substantial areas of overlap between DOD JSOC and CIA. Ironically, DOD ended up having to expand their own intelligence gathering activities. ( )

In the 1970s the CIA were forbidden to kill. Their agency was to gather intel and arrest people when needed. The War on Terror changed that as it became more expedient (and sometimes simply eaiser) to kill terroristic foes than to capture and then figure out what to do with captured people. Plus, the advent of killing by remote control with drones changes the amount of danger created for our people when we decided someone needed to die.

This book discusses the change in the CIA as they have become more like the WWII OSS and their turf wars with the military over what they do vs what the CIA does. The CIA has won most of the turf wars. Indeed, the Seal team that killed Bin Ladin did so working for the CIA rather than as a military operation and the CIA launched the Afgan invasion before the military troops hit the ground.

If you want to understand how we are waging the War on Terror from an intel perspective and how the CIA has evolved into the president's hit men this is the the book to check out. This isn't a breathless expose, rather it's a recounting of the history of change in the CIA with the war on terror. The Way of the Knife over intel gathering hasn't worked well for the agency in every respect as the unexpected Arab Spring uprisings showed. And the focus on killing terrorists in the Middle East and Africa has detracted from the CIA being able to focus on intel gathering in other parts of the world. ( )

Interesting stories about rivalries between CIA and Pentagon. Does not reflect well on the handling of the war by Bush administration and particularly Rumsfeld. Warning, trying to sort through the cast of characters is a chore. ( )

Good book and is heavy on details. If you're not looking to get in the weeds then don't pick up this one. Otherwise it's well written and seemingly well researched. ( )