Paul Pillar has written an important article in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs: Two new books on intelligence reform -- Tim Weiner's Legacy of Ashes and Amy Zegart's Spying Blind -- distort the historical record. A third, by Richard Betts, rightly observes that no matter how good the spies, failures are inevitable.
I haven't read these books (yet), but it's notable that Pillar is absolutely lambasting a National Book Award winner: Tim Weiner's Legacy of Ashes won the 2007 National Book Award for nonfiction -- but probably would have been a better candidate in the category of fiction. Legacy of Ashes is not a history of the CIA, much less the history that the subtitle promises. It is largely a collection of tales of derring-do, deceit, and defeat. This highly tendentious book should be viewed the same way as a good novel: a lively read not to be trusted as history.
Based on Pillar's review, I think the new book by Betts is consistent with Timothy Naftali's book, Blind Spot: The Secret History of American Counterterrorism, which I reviewed in 2005. In a conclusion consistent with Pillar's observation now, I wrote: Naftali seems resigned to the reality of future attacks, and he is definitely skeptical of any quick fix or silver bullet.
Intelligent Design? The Unending Saga of Intelligence Reform | 
