With the CIA at the core of the war on terror, no agency is as important to preserving America's freedom. Yet the CIA is a closed and secretive world-impenetrable to generations of journalists-and few Americans know what really goes on among the spy masters who plot America's worldwide campaign against terrorists.
Only Ronald Kessler, an award-winning former "Washington Post" and "Wall Street Journal "investigative reporter, could have gained the unprecedented access to tell the story. Kessler interviewed fifty current CIA officers, including all the agency's top officials, and toured areas of the CIA the media has never seen. The agency actively encouraged retired CIA officers and officials to talk with him as well. In six years as director, George J. Tenet has never appeared on TV shows and has given only a handful of print interviews, all before 9/11, but Tenet agreed to be interviewed by Kessler for this book. He spoke candidly and passionately about the events of 9/11, the war on terror, the agency's intelligence on Iraq, and the controversies surrounding the agency.
"The CIA at War" tells the inside story of how Tenet, a son of Greek immigrants, turned around the CIA from a pathetic, risk averse outfit to one that has rolled up 3,000 terrorists since 9/11, was critically important to winning in Afghanistan and Iraq, and now kills terrorists with its Predator drone aircraft.
The book portrays Tenet as a true American hero, one who overcame every kind of Washington obstacle and the destructive actions of previous director John Deutch to make the agency a success. As Tenet said in a recent speech, "Nowhere in the world could the son of an immigrant stand before you as the director of Central Intelligence. This is simply the greatest country on the face of the earth."
"The CIA at War "discloses highly sensitive information about the CIA's unorthodox methods and its stunning successes and shocking failures. The book explores whether the CIA can be trusted, whether its intelligence is politicized, and whether it is capable of winning the war on terror. In doing so, the book weaves in the history of the CIA and how it really works. It is the definitive account of the agency.
From the CIA's intelligence failure of 9/11 to its critical role in preventing further attacks, "The CIA at War" tells a riveting, unique story about a secretive, powerful agency and its confrontation with global terrorism.
Ronald Kessler is the bestselling author of several works of non-fiction, including "The Sins of the Father, Inside the CIA, Inside Congress, The Season, "and "Inside the White House. "He began his career as an investigative journalist in 1964 and has since worked for "The Wall Street Journal "and "The Washington Post, "winning many awards for his journalism, including two George Polk awards and the Associated Press's Sevellon Brown Memorial Award. In this urgent and most timely study, veteran" "investigative reporter and "New York Times "bestselling author Kessler" "discloses much highly sensitive information about the Central Intelligence Agency's unorthodox methods, its stunning successes, and its shocking failures.
"The CIA at War" explores, moreover, whether this agency can or should be trusted, whether its intelligence is politicized, and whether it is capable of winning the war on terror. In doing so, Kessler weaves into his multi-faceted inquiry--which draws on interviews with some fifty current CIA officers, and all of its top officials--a full history of the agency as well as an account how it really functions. From the CIA's 9/11-related intelligence failures to its critical role in preventing further attacks, "The CIA at War" offers a riveting and unique investigation into a secretive and powerful organization and its ongoing confrontation with global terrorism. "Through numerous interviews with both agents and operatives, Kessler brings to life a world generally described only in fiction . . . Kassler had unprecedented access to the agency, which is reflected in his up-to-date commentary on the war and administration policy."--"Booklist"

The Sins of the Father is the definitive new biography of Joseph P. Kennedy. Based on extensive research and interviews with Kennedy family members and their intimates speaking on the record for the first time, it offers an outstanding personal history - and provides shocking revelations about one of the most influential figures of our time. To the mythmakers of his day, Joseph P. Kennedy, like his glamorous and doomed presidential son Jack, led a charmed existence. He was celebrated as the son of an East Boston saloonkeeper who rose to become one of the richest men in the country. He served as the wartime ambassador to Great Britain, the chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, and the chairman of the United States Maritime Commission. He was also a major legitimate liquor distributor, a moviemaker in Hollywood, and a master manipulator of the stock market. Yet his fortune, estimated at $100 million, traced its beginnings to his career as a bootlegger in partnership with organized crime during the Prohibition era. Even more disturbing, he was a documented anti-Semite and an appeaser of Adolf Hitler. The beaming family portraits and admiring newsmagazine prose never portrayed any of his many mistresses - or hinted at his seemingly unlimited corruption and duplicity.

The Secrets of the FBI by New York Times bestselling author Ronald Kessler reveals the FBI’s most closely guarded secrets and the secrets of celebrities, politicians, and movie stars uncovered by agents during their investigations.

Based on inside access, the book presents revelations about the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound, the recent Russian spy swap, Marilyn Monroe's death, Vince Foster’s suicide, and J. Edgar Hoover’s sexual orientation. For the first time, it tells how the FBI caught spy Robert Hanssen in its midst and how the FBI breaks into homes, offices, and embassies to plant bugging devices without getting caught.

From Watergate to Waco, from congressional scandals to the killing of bin Laden, The Secrets of the FBI presents headline-making disclosures about the most important figures and events of our time.

Never before has a journalist penetrated the wall of secrecy that surrounds the U.S. Secret Service, that elite corps of agents who pledge to take a bullet to protect the president and his family. After conducting exclusive interviews with more than one hundred current and former Secret Service agents, bestselling author and award-winning reporter Ronald Kessler reveals their secrets for the first time.
Secret Service agents, acting as human surveillance cameras, observe everything that goes on behind the scenes in the president's inner circle. Kessler reveals what they have seen, providing startling, previously untold stories about the presidents, from John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson to George W. Bush and Barack Obama, as well as about their families, Cabinet officers, and White House aides.
Kessler portrays the dangers that agents face and how they carry out their missions-from how they are trained to how they spot and assess potential threats. With fly-on-the-wall perspective, he captures the drama and tension that characterize agents' lives.
In this headline-grabbing book, Kessler discloses assassination attempts that have never before been revealed. He shares inside accounts of past assaults that have put the Secret Service to the test, including a heroic gun battle that took down the would-be assassins of Harry S. Truman, the devastating day that John F. Kennedy was killed in Dallas, and the swift actions that saved Ronald Reagan after he was shot.
While Secret Service agents are brave and dedicated, Kessler exposes how Secret Service management in recent years has betrayed its mission by cutting corners, risking the assassination of President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and their families. Given the lax standards, "It's a miracle we have not had a successful assassination," a current agent says.
Since an assassination jeopardizes democracy itself, few agencies are as important as the Secret Service-nor is any other subject as tantalizing as the inner sanctum of the White House. Only tight-lipped Secret Service agents know the real story, and Ronald Kessler is the only journalist to have won their trust.

"From the Hardcover edition."