For the President's Eyes Only
Christopher Andrew, For the President's Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush (Harper Perennial, 1995)
Summary: The best single-volume history of U.S. intelligence. Great research, great writing, great history. A quarter-century later, however, it could use an update.
Key Quote: "Franklin Roosevelt presided over both the worst intelligence failure and the greatest intelligence success in American history. On December 7, 1941, the inability of the disorganized and under-resourced U.S. intelligence community to detect the movements of the Japanese fleet made possible the devastating surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Over the next few years, however, Allied codebreaking and intelligence coups hastened victory in both Europe and the Pacific. Roosevelt bears some personal responsibility both for the disaster that brought the United States into the Second World War and for the successes that shortened it." - p. 75
Bottom Line: Read this book for a master historian's sweeping survey of U.S. intelligence—with all the necessary details.
