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Body of Secrets is a fascinating history of the Cold War as viewed through the lens of cryptography, as well as a time capsule of the foremost US intelligence agency in a pre-9/11 mindset.
As any decent history of World War 2 notes, codebreaking played a key role in winning that war. As the battlelines of the Cold War firmed up along the Iron Curtain, the frontiers of space and science, and brushfire wars across the third world, the National Security Agency formed to manage a secret army of cryptographers, linguists, and analysts, among more abstruse specializations. Bamford tells a thrilling story of very dangerous missions in the 50s and 60s, like penetration of Soviet air defense systems by RB-47 and U-2 spyplanes, along with spy ships like the USS Liberty and Pueblo, and outposts manned in the most unforgiving locations on Earth.
Bamford blends this tales with accounts of bureaucratic warfare for budgets, over secrets, and the covert power of the agency to listen in on the communications of Americans and nominal allies. A secret army is expensive, and even with its massive budget for technology and analysis, the NSA failed to provide the President with necessary analysis in time to forestall disaster, or to manage complex negotiations. Even in the 1980s, the NSA was listening in on every international phone call, with the FISA courts the only real protection of American communications. And morale and organization seems to be a recurring problem, with feuding deputy directors holding the real power below political appointees, and a human resource system that has trouble acquiring and holding onto the baroque specialists needed for the job.
Bamford keeps it breezy, talking about SIGINT and cryptography in layman friendly metaphors. And of course, this is a book before 9/11 changed the US intelligence community, and before the internet changed everything else. The leaks revealed by NSA contractor Edward Snowden show an agency more powerful than ever before, yet we seem at the mercy of botnets and lone wolves. Still, the Cold War history is solid, and includes original research revealing some of the tensest moments in that conflict. It's impossible not to be impressed by the NSA, but Bamford is not seduced by his subject, and offers a critical and nearly-objective review.
As any decent history of World War 2 notes, codebreaking played a key role in winning that war. As the battlelines of the Cold War firmed up along the Iron Curtain, the frontiers of space and science, and brushfire wars across the third world, the National Security Agency formed to manage a secret army of cryptographers, linguists, and analysts, among more abstruse specializations. Bamford tells a thrilling story of very dangerous missions in the 50s and 60s, like penetration of Soviet air defense systems by RB-47 and U-2 spyplanes, along with spy ships like the USS Liberty and Pueblo, and outposts manned in the most unforgiving locations on Earth.
Bamford blends this tales with accounts of bureaucratic warfare for budgets, over secrets, and the covert power of the agency to listen in on the communications of Americans and nominal allies. A secret army is expensive, and even with its massive budget for technology and analysis, the NSA failed to provide the President with necessary analysis in time to forestall disaster, or to manage complex negotiations. Even in the 1980s, the NSA was listening in on every international phone call, with the FISA courts the only real protection of American communications. And morale and organization seems to be a recurring problem, with feuding deputy directors holding the real power below political appointees, and a human resource system that has trouble acquiring and holding onto the baroque specialists needed for the job.
Bamford keeps it breezy, talking about SIGINT and cryptography in layman friendly metaphors. And of course, this is a book before 9/11 changed the US intelligence community, and before the internet changed everything else. The leaks revealed by NSA contractor Edward Snowden show an agency more powerful than ever before, yet we seem at the mercy of botnets and lone wolves. Still, the Cold War history is solid, and includes original research revealing some of the tensest moments in that conflict. It's impossible not to be impressed by the NSA, but Bamford is not seduced by his subject, and offers a critical and nearly-objective review.