The is the memoir of George Tenet, former Director of Central Intelligence. He was appointed the Deputy Director in 1995, but served as Director after the resignation of John Deutch in 1996. Some notable instances from his career include the bombing of two United States embassies in Africa in 1998, the 1999 bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, breaking the Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire in 2001, the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and plenty during the subsequent war on terror. He officially resigned in 2004, citing wanting to be a family man. There was a lot of speculation that it had to do with disapproval from President George Bush regarding all of the missteps in the invasion of Iraq and the War on Terror, but President Bush offered public praise and support for him.

I went into this book thinking that George Tenet would laud himself as a perfect guy with a perfect track record. I was pleasantly surprised to see that he did seem accountable for a lot of the shenanagins that went on. I feel that he tried to make sure his experiences were recorded as accurately and honestly as he could have, and did not displace blame or undue criticism on other people. I appreciated the inside look into the CIA and how it was operating during this time period. I truly believe that he enjoyed this job, and tried his best at it. The book itself was written in such a way that made it an easy, engaging read, even if it was 500 pages of CIA talk. That may not be for everyone, but if you are interested in 9/11 and the Iraq and Afghanistan war era, I would strongly suggest reading this book for that purpose alone.