In From the Cold. CIA Secrecy and Operations is an account by one of the CIA’s most accomplished operatives. Kevin Shipp occupied several of the most sensitive positions in the Agency, working at the highest levels of the organization, and engaging in operations in several countries around the world, including the Middle East.
He discusses how the CIA functions in intelligence collection and how the Agency conducts covert operations.
As an Agent on the protective detail of CIA Director William Casey during the Iran Contra scandal, for the first time he disputes, with a first-hand account, reporter Bob Woodward’s alleged secret visit with Casey in the hospital after surgery for a tumor in his brain.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the CIA was in disarray, fighting for its very survival. Events occurring in the CIA seriously hampered its ability to identify and stop terrorist attacks, including the unimaginable events of 9/11. Because of the outdated organizational structure, restrictions placed in the CIA and the internal political climate, the organization had virtually no penetrations of terrorist cells prior to 9/11 and a serious lack of substantive intelligence on terrorist organizations.
9/11 backlash within the CIA and the US government led to an erosion of American freedoms and some chilling recommendations inside the CIA and Department of Homeland Security.
Shipp lays bare the structure of Al Qaeda, its global reach and perversion of the Koran; leading to the deadly spread of suicide bombings, and Iran’s current threat to international security.
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