Name: A Question of Standing By Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, University of Edinburgh)
SKU: 9780192847966
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A Question of Standing Summary

A Question of Standing: The History of the CIA by Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, University of Edinburgh)

A Question of Standing deals with recognizable events that have shaped the history of the first 75 years of the CIA. Unsparing in its accounts of dirty tricks and their consequences, it values the agency's intelligence and analysis work to offer balanced judgements that avoid both celebration and condemnation of the CIA. The mission of the CIA, derived from U-1 in World War I more than from World War II's OSS, has always been intelligence. Seventy-five years ago, in the year of its creation, the National Security Act gave the agency, uniquely in world history up to that point, a democratic mandate to pursue that mission of intelligence. It gave the CIA a special standing in the conduct of US foreign relations. That standing diminished when successive American presidents ordered the CIA to exceed its original mission. When they tasked the agency secretly to overthrow democratic governments, the United States lost its international standing, and its command of a majority in the United Nations General Assembly. Such dubious operations, even the government's embrace of assassination and torture, did not diminish the standing of the CIA in US public opinion. However, domestic interventions did. CIA spying on domestic protesters led to tighter congressional oversight from the 1970s on. The chapters in A Question of Standing offer a balanced narrative and perspective on recognizable episodes in the CIA's history. They include the Bay of Pigs invasion, the War on Terror, 9/11, the weapons of mass destruction deception, the Iran estimate of 2007, the assassination of Osama bin Laden, and Fake News. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 diminished the CIA and is construed as having been the right solution undertaken for the wrong reasons, reasons that grew out of political opportunism. The book also defends the CIA's exposure of foreign meddling in US elections.

A Question of Standing Reviews

Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones's A Question of Standing: The History of the CIA (Oxford University Press) uncovers the dirty tricks of the Central Intelligence Agency after its founding 75 years ago. The account carries through to the Donald Trump era, which marked a low point in White House-CIA relations. The well researched publication also has salient points to make about President Obama's overuse of drone strikes, and how books were cooked to cover the absurdly low casualty figures of innocent people who were killed because of inaccurate strikes and false intelligence. * Martin Chilton, The Independent *
Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, a leading authority on US intelligence, has crafted an excellent history of the CIA - erudite but fluent and accessible. It engages with important issues of interpretation while at the same time driving forward a compelling narrative of events. It is concise yet wide-ranging, tracing the history of US intelligence from its beginnings to the Biden presidency. ... A commendable aspect of this book is its even-handed tone. It would be too easy for a write to portray the CIA as a wholly nefarious force - toppling governments, planning assassinations - that fuels anti-Americanism throughout much of the world. But Jeffreys-Jones also makes clear the constructive role often plated by the CIA is assisting presidents in shaping US foreign policy. The result is a perspective that is both balanced and compelling. * BBC History *
An insightful and disturbing history of an American institution. * Kirkus Reviews *
Who better to write about the CIA than a Welsh-born Scottish academic who began his career steeped in standard anti-Americanism of the European left? In a clutch of books over nearly a half century, Jeffreys-Jones has answered no one. Here, his perspective is standing: how does the CIA stand with, above all, the President but also Congress, the American public and even, on occasion, people abroad. That perspective - plus his own standing as a foreigner both detached from and deeply immersed in things American - lets him provide fresh insights on episodes from the Bay of Pigs to the creation of the director of national intelligence, to the dissing of intelligence by Trump. This book is a pleasure. * Greg Treverton, former chair of the US National Intelligence Council under President Obama *
Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones has written a thorough, engaging history of the CIA. In this wide-ranging, thoughtful narrative, he takes us from the pre-history of the agency up through the controversies of the twenty-first century. Anyone interested in intelligence history or the current role of the CIA in American politics should read this book. * Kathryn Olmsted, author of Real Enemies: Conspiracy Theories and American Democracy, World War I to 9/11 *

About Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, University of Edinburgh)

Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones is an Emeritus Professor of American history at the University of Edinburgh. He studied at the Universities of Wales, Michigan, Harvard, and Cambridge, and is the honorary president of the Scottish Association for the Study of America. He has held visiting fellowships and professorships in Harvard, Berlin, and Toronto. He is the author of a prize-winning book on the American left, and of sixteen other books published in eleven languages, mainly on US intelligence history, including The CIA and American Democracy (1989), The FBI: A History (2007), In Spies We Trust: The Story of Western Intelligence (2012), and We Know All About You (2017).

Preface and Acknowledgements 1: The Road to U-1 2: The OSS Model 3: The Founding of the CIA, 1947 4: Covert Action in the 1950s 5: Intelligence in the 1950s 6: Bay of Pigs, 1961 7: Vietnam: The Roles of the CIA 8: From Reformation to Counter Reformation in the 1970s 9: The Collapse of Soviet Communism in the 1980s 10: Iran and Iran-Contra 11: Existential Issues, 1990-97 12: Fateful Terror and 9/11 13: The Great Diminishing Reform Act of 2004 14: Estimating Anew and a Military Turn 15: Battling Al Qaeda with Assassination and Torture 16: Obama's CIA and the Death of bin Laden 17: Fake News Comes Home 18: Back to Work 19: Conclusion Appendix: CIA Directors 1947-2022 Abbreviations in Notes Bibliography

Additional information

Sku

GOR013392439

ISBN 13

9780192847966

ISBN 10

0192847961

Title

A Question of Standing: The History of the CIA by Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, University of Edinburgh)

Author

Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, University of Edinburgh)

Condition

Used - Very Good

Binding type

Hardback

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Year published

2022-08-25

Number of pages

320

Prizes

N/A

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Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.

Note

This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

A Question of Standing Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, University of Edinburgh)

A Question of Standing by Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, University of Edinburgh)

Summary

A Question of Standing Summary

A Question of Standing: The History of the CIA by Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, University of Edinburgh)

A Question of Standing Reviews

About Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones (Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, Professor Emeritus of American History and Honorary Fellow, University of Edinburgh)

Table of Contents

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Customer Reviews - A Question of Standing