While much has been disclosed about the CIA's cloak-and-dagger
activities during the Cold War, relatively little is known about
the origins of this secret organization. David Rudgers, a
twenty-two-year CIA veteran, has written the first complete account
of its creation, revealing how the idea of a centralized
intelligence developed within the government and debunking the myth
that former OSS chief William J. Donovan was the prime mover behind
the agency's founding.
"Creating the Secret State" locates the CIA's origins in
government-wide efforts to reorganize national security during the
transition from World War II to the Cold War. Rudgers maintains
that the creation of the CIA was not merely the brainchild of "Wild
Bill" Donovan. Rather, it was the culmination of years of
negotiation among numerous policy makers such as James Forrestal
and Dean Acheson, each with strong opinions regarding the agency's
mission and methods. He shows that Congress, the Departments of
State and Justice, the Joint Chiefs, and even the Budget Bureau all
had a hand in the establishment of this "secret state" that
operates nearly invisibly outside the American political
process.
Based almost entirely on archival and other primary sources,
Rudgers's book describes in detail how the CIA evolved from its
original purpose-as a watchdog to guard against a "nuclear Pearl
Harbor"-to the role of clandestine warriors countering Soviet
subversion, eventually engaging in more forms of intelligence
gathering and covert operations than any of its counterparts. It
suggests how the agency became a different organization than it
might have been without the Communist threat and also shows how it
both overexaggerated the dangers of the Cold War and failed to
predict its ending.
Rudgers has written an accurate and balanced account that brings
America's undercover army in from the cold and out from under the
cult of personality. An indispensable resource for future studies
of the CIA, Creating the Secret State tells the inside story of why
and how the agency was called into existence as it stimulates
thinking about the future relevance of the CIA in a rapidly
changing world.
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