During the Cold War, the Central Intelligence Agency's biggest and longest paramilitary operation was in the tiny kingdom of Laos. Hundreds of advisors and support personnel trained and led guerrilla formations across the mountainous Laotian countryside, as well as running smaller road-watch and agent teams that stretched from the Ho Chi Minh Trail to the Chinese frontier. Added to this number were hundreds of contract personnel providing covert aviation services. It was dangerous work. On the Memorial Wall at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, nine stars are dedicated to officers who perished in Laos. On top of this are more than one hundred from propriety airlines killed in aviation mishaps between 1961 and 1973. Combined, this grim casualty figure is orders of magnitude larger than any other CIA paramilitary operation. But for the Foreign Intelligence officers at Langley, Laos was more than a paramilitary battleground. Because of its geographic location as a buffer state, as well as its trifurcated political structure, Laos was a unique Cold War melting pot. All three of the Lao political factions, including the communist Pathet Lao, had representation in Vientiane. The Soviet Union had an extremely active embassy in the capital, while the People's Republic of China - though in the throes of the Cultural Revolution - had multiple diplomatic outposts across the kingdom. So, too, did both North and South Vietnam. All of this made Laos fertile ground for clandestine operations. This book comprehensively details the cloak-and-dagger side of the war in Laos for the first time, from agent recruitments to servicing dead-drops in Vientiane.

For most Americans, Cambodia was a sideshow to the war in Vietnam, but by the time of the Vietnam invasion of Democratic Kampuchea in 1978 and the subsequent war, it had finally moved to center stage. Kenneth Conboy chronicles the violence that plagued Cambodia from World War II until the end of the twentieth century and peels back the layers of secrecy that surrounded the CIA's covert assistance to anticommunist forces in Cambodia during that span.
Conboy's path-breaking study provides the first complete assessment of CIA ops in two key periods-during the Khmer Republic's existence (1970-1975), in support of American military action in Vietnam, and during the Reagan and first Bush presidencies (1981-1991), when the CIA challenged Soviet expansion by supporting exiled royalists, Republicans, and even former Communists trying to expel the Vietnamese from their country. Through interviews with dozens of CIA Cambodia veterans-as well as special forces officers from Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Australia-he sheds new light on the contributions made by foreign intelligence services. Through information gleaned from the U.S. Defense Attache's Office in Phnom Penh, he offers a detailed look at the development of the Khmer Rouge military structure, while his use of Vietnamese-language histories released by the People's Army of Vietnam helps more fully illuminate the PAVN's participation in the Cambodian wars.
More than a simple expos of CIA activities, however, The Cambodian Wars is also an authoritative history of that country's struggles over half a century. Conboy examines Cambodia as kingdom, colony, republic, revolutionary state, and Vietnamese satellite, and offers fresh insight into the actions of key players-Norodom Sihanouk, Lon Nol, Sisowath Sirik Matak, Son Ngoc Thanh, and others-that will enlighten even those who think they know that country's history.
Three decades in the making, The Cambodian Wars tells a little known chapter in the Cold War in which non-communists pulled off a surprising victory. Featuring dozens of photos covering events from 1970 to the trial of Pol Pot in 1997, it is must reading for anyone interested in contemporary Southeast Asian history, CIA covert operations, and the Vietnam War.

In the towering mountains of northern India, a chilling chapter was written in the history of international espionage.

After the Chinese detonated their first nuclear test in 1964, America and India, which had just fought a border war with its northern neighbor, were both justifiably concerned. The CIA knew it needed more information on China's growing nuclear capability but had few ways of peeking behind the Bamboo Curtain. Because of the extreme remoteness of Chinese testing grounds, conventional surveillance in this pre-satellite era was next to impossible.

The solution to this intelligence dilemma was a joint American-Indian effort to plant a nuclear-powered sensing device on a high Himalayan peak in order to listen into China and monitor its missile launches. It was not a job that could be carried out by career spies, requiring instead the special skills possessed only by accomplished
mountaineers. For this mission, cloaks and daggers were to be replaced by crampons and ice axes.

"Spies in the Himalayas" chronicles for the first time the details of these death-defying expeditions sanctioned by U.S. and Indian intelligence, telling the story of clandestine climbs and hair-raising exploits. Led by legendary Indian mountaineer Mohan S. Kohli, conqueror of Everest, the mission was beset by hazardous climbs, weather delays, aborted attempts, and even missing radioactive materials that may or may not still pose a contamination threat to Indian rivers.

Kept under wraps for over a decade, these operations came to light in 1978 and have been long rumored among mountaineers, but here are finally given book-length treatment. Spies in the Himalayas provides an inside look at a CIA mission from participants who weren't agency employees, drawing on diaries from several of the climbers to offer impressions not usually recorded in covert operations. A host of photos and maps puts readers on the slopes as the team attempts repeatedly to plant the sensor on a Himalayan summit.

An adventure story as well as a new chapter in the history of espionage, this book should appeal to readers who enjoyed Jon Krakauer's "Into Thin Air" and to anyone who enjoys a great spy story.

During the Vietnam war, the United States sought to undermine Hanoi's subversion of the Saigon regime by sending Vietnamese operatives behind enemy lines. A secret to most Americans, this covert operation was far from secret in Hanoi: all of the commandos were killed or captured, and many were turned by the Communists to report false information.

"Spies and Commandos" traces the rise and demise of this secret operation-started by the CIA in 1960 and expanded by the Pentagon beginning in1964-in the first book to examine the program from both sides of the war. Kenneth Conboy and Dale Andrade interviewed CIA and military personnel and traveled in Vietnam to locate former commandos who had been captured by Hanoi, enabling them to tell the complete story of these covert activities from high-level decision making to the actual experiences of the agents.

The book vividly describes scores of dangerous missions-including raids against North Vietnamese coastal installations and the air-dropping of dozens of agents into enemy territory-as well as psychological warfare designed to make Hanoi believe the "resistance movement" was larger than it actually was. It offers a more complete operational account of the program than has ever been made available-particularly its early years-and ties known events in the war to covert operations, such as details of the "34-A Operations" that led to the Tonkin Gulf incidents in 1964. It also explains in no uncertain terms why the whole plan was doomed to failure from the start.

One of the remarkable features of the operation, claim the authors, is that its failures were so glaring. They argue that the CIA, and later the Pentagon, was unaware for years that Hanoi had compromised the commandos, even though some agents missed radio deadlines or filed suspicious reports. Operational errors were not attributable to conspiracy or counterintelligence, they contend, but simply to poor planning and lack of imagination.

Although it flourished for ten years under cover of the wider war, covert activity in Vietnam is now recognized as a disaster. Conboy and Andrade's account of that episode is a sobering tale that lends a new perspective on the war as it reclaims the lost lives of these unsung spies and commandos.

Defiance against Chinese oppression has been a defining characteristic of Tibetan life for more than four decades, symbolized most visibly by the much revered Dalai Lama. But the story of Tibetan resistance weaves a far richer tapestry than anyone might have imagined.
Kenneth Conboy and James Morrison reveal how America's Central Intelligence Agency encouraged Tibet's revolt against China-and eventually came to control its fledgling resistance movement. While the CIA's presence in Tibet has been alluded to in other works, the authors provide the first comprehensive, as well as most compelling account of this little known agency enterprise.

The CIA's Secret War in Tibet takes readers from training camps in the Colorado Rockies to the scene of clandestine operations in the Himalayas, chronicling the agency's help in securing the Dalai Lama's safe passage to India and subsequent initiation of one of the most remote covert campaigns of the Cold War. Establishing a rebel army in the northern Nepali kingdom of Mustang and a para-commando force in India designed to operate behind Chinese lines, Conboy and Morrison provide previously unreported details about secret missions undertaken in extraordinarily harsh conditions. Their book greatly expands on previous memoirs by CIA officials by putting virtually every major agency participant on record with details of clandestine operations. It also calls as witnesses the people who managed and fought in the program-including Tibetan and Nepalese agents, Indian intelligence officers, and even mission aircrews.

Conboy and Morrison take pains to tell the story from all perspectives, particularly that of the former Tibetan guerrillas, many of whom have gone on record here for the first time. The authors also tell how Tibet led America and India to become secret partners over the course of several presidential administrations and cite dozens of Indian and Tibetan intelligence documents directly related to these covert operations. Ultimately, they are persuasive that the Himalayan operations were far more successful as a proving ground for CIA agents who were later reassigned to southeast Asia than as a staging ground for armed rebellion.

As the movement for Tibetan liberation continues to attract international support, Tibet's status remains a contentious issue in both Washington and Beijing. This book takes readers inside a covert war fought with Tibetan blood and U. S. sponsorship and allows us to better understand the true nature of that controversy.

In a nation where the military has played an influential social and political role since its founding, perhaps no unit has wielded more power-and seen more action-than Kopassus, Indonesia's Special Forces. From the jungles of Irian Jaya to the backrooms of Jakarta's most powerful political figures, this elite group of commandos has influenced nearly every major policy decision taken since its inception in 1952. Here, for the first time, this secretive and controversial unit is exposed in KOPASSUS: Inside Indonesia's Special Forces by acclaimed author Ken Conboy. In this new age of terrorism and counter-terrorism, and especially in the wake of the October 2002 Bali bombing, understanding Kopassus is an integral part of understanding the politics of modern Indonesia. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in unconventional warfare, contemporary Indonesian history, and the brushfire wars that have swept the Indonesian archipelago over the past fifty years. KEN CONBOY is country manager for Risk Management Advisory, a private security consultancy in Jakarta. Prior to that, he served as deputy director at the Asian Studies Center, an influential Washington-based think tank, where his duties including writing policy papers for the U.S. Congress and Executive on economic and strategic relations with the nations of South and Southeast Asia. The author of a dozen books about Asian military history and intelligence operations, Conboy's most recent title, Spies in the Himalayas, has earned praise as an intriguing account of high-altitude mountaineering and covert missions. A graduate of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and of Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies, Conboy was also a visiting fellow at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and has lived in Indonesia since 1992.

Decades before al-Qaeda took shape, religious radicals in Southeast Asia were laying the groundwork for a struggle to achieve a backward-looking utopia. This is the story of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the secretive organization that spans no less than half a dozen nations and seeks the full implementation of their intolerant take on Islam. In The Second Front: Inside Asia's Most Dangerous Terrorist Network, best-selling author Ken Conboy pieces together the planning and execution of JI's most deadly terrorist acts from exclusive interviews and classified reports. In details never before revealed, it delves into the minds of the group's leaders - from the professorial bomb expert Azhari to the al-Qaeda proxy Hambali. From the shadows of the Hindu Kush to battlefields on the Spice Islands, The Second Front peels back the veil of secrecy and chronicles the successes in bringing down this network, as well as exposes the missed opportunities by regional governments to prevent terrorist acts and sectarian violence that have taken the lives of thousands. About the author Ken Conboy, the bestselling author of INTEL: Inside Indonesia's Intelligence Service and KOPASSUS: Inside Indonesia's Special Forces, is country manager for Risk Management Advisory, a private security consultancy in Jakarta. Prior to that, he served as deputy director at the Asian Studies Center, an influential Washington-based think tank, where his duties including writing policy papers for the U.S. Congress and Executive on economic and strategic relations with the nations of South and Southeast Asia. A graduate of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and of Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies, Conboy was also a visiting fellow at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and has lived in Indonesia since 1992.

IN A COUNTRY where talk of conspiracies is often a national pastime, the deepest, sometimes darkest, secrets have long been held by Indonesia's State Intelligence Agency (Badan Intelijen Negara, or BIN). Whether targeting communist diplomats, foreign terrorists, or domestic dissidents, BIN and its precursor organizations have been the covert spearhead of the nation's security policy. Here, for the first time, this secretive agency is exposed in INTEL: Inside Indonesia's Intelligence Service by noted author Ken Conboy. Drawing from exclusive access to BIN's personnel and operational archives, Conboy examines the agents and their operations since BIN's founding fifty years ago, and sheds new light on Indonesia's role in the Cold War with case studies of North Korean, Soviet, and Vietnamese operations across the archipelago and BIN's current position at the forefront on the war against terrorism. From the activities and subsequent captures of both Faruq and Hambali to the Indonesian operations of al-Qaeda, this book provides far more detail and insight than previously available. Understanding BIN is an integral part of understanding the politics and security of Indonesia, and INTEL is essential reading for anyone interested in intelligence operations, contemporary Indonesian history, and international terrorism. KEN CONBOY is country manager for Risk Management Advisory, a private security consultancy in Jakarta. Prior to that, he served as deputy director at the Asian Studies Center, an influential Washington-based think tank, where his duties including writing policy papers for the U.S. Congress and Executive on economic and strategic relations with the nations of South and Southeast Asia. The author of a dozen books about Asian military history and intelligence operations, Conboy's most recent title, Spies in the Himalayas, has earned praise as an intriguing account of high-altitude mountaineering and covert missions. A graduate of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and of Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies, Conboy was also a visiting fellow at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok and has lived in Indonesia since 1992.

Today the vast archipelago of Southeast Asia islands known as Indonesia is in the headlines because of political instability, religious tension, and violence in the streets. Forty years ago similar conditions led the Central Intelligence Agency to mount a top-secret covert action campaign designed to hold that nation's left-leaning President Sukarno's feet to the fire and prevent a strategic crossroad from falling into the communist camp. The Agency supported rebels with weapons, planes, and a memorable cast of bigger-than-life American agents. In a fast-paced, engrossing narrative evoking the novels of John LeCarré and Graham Greene, the authors provide the first unclassified, detailed case study of an operation that has escaped public scrutiny for decades. Their work adds significantly to our understanding of the CIA and American involvement in Asia. Drawing on declassified documents and an extraordinary number of interviews with CIA and Indonesian participants, Kenneth Conboy and James Morrison reconstruct the delicate, dangerous game played by American intelligence agents across the Indonesian archipelago. This is a story of ideologues and soldiers of fortune--historic CIA legends like Allen Dulles and Franklin Wisner, and notorious special operators like Tony ""Poe"" Poshepny, whose reputation reached mythic proportions later in Laos, and Allen Pope, an indefatigable B-26 pilot who was captured and sentenced to die. But it also includes the transfixing exploits of Montana smokejumpers, Polish aircrews, Muslim anti-communist guerrillas, U.S. Navy submarine crews, and Filipino mercenary pilots flying P-51 Mustangs. With the problems in today's Indonesia far from solved and the complex U.S.-Indonesian relationship coming under close scrutiny, this fascinating account of an American covert operation gone bad will play a significant role in shedding new light on the CIA's efforts in Southeast Asia.