Faddis (Operation Hotel California
), a career CIA operations officer, pulls no punches in this provocative critique of the iconic—and dysfunctional—spy agency. Noting that the CIA was created to protect the U.S. from another Pearl Harbor, the author points to 9/11 as proof that the agency can no longer perform that task and is so beyond reform that it must be replaced. In his portrayal of the CIA, “risk-taking, daring and creativity” are discouraged, bureaucratic concerns are given precedence, senior leadership is lacking and morale has been sapped by “crippling purges and witch hunts.” The author concludes that the agency “is dying a death of a thousand cuts” and offers “a blueprint for a new OSS,” modeled on the legendary Office of Strategic Services, FDR's WWII spy agency that spawned the CIA. Keep this new organization, like its wartime predecessor, small, flat and elite, he cautions, and use it sparingly. In a world where threats “are multiplying and becoming more complex,” Faddis's bleak assessment of the CIA should be required reading. (Nov.)
