Why did the CIA overthrow Iran's democratically elected government? And why has the United States treated Iran as one of its biggest enemies for four decades? Is the Trump administration's "Maximum Pressure" campaign working, or will it precipitate a war with Iran? In The CIA Insider's Guide to Iran: from CIA Coup to the Brink of War, former CIA Officer John C. Kiriakou and investigative journalist and historian Gareth Porter explain how and why the United States and Iran have been either at war or threatening such a war for most of the forty years since Islamic Republic of Iran was established. The authors delve below the surface explanations for the forty-year history of extreme U.S. hostility toward Iran to blow up one official U.S. narrative after another about Iran and U.S. policy. Against the background of Iran's encounters with heavy-handed British and Russian imperialist control over its resources, this book shows how the U.S. began its encounter with Iran by clearly siding with British imperialism against Iranian aspirations for control over its oil in its 1953 overthrow of the Mossadegh government, then proceeded to actively support the Saddam Hussein regime's horrific chemical war against Iran. The book shows how a parade of politically-motivated false narratives have taken U.S. Iran policy progressively farther from reality for three decades and have now brought the United States to the brink of war with Iran. It explains how Donald Trump's trashing of the nuclear deal with Iran and seeking to cut off Iran's oil exports creates a very high risk of such a war, demanding major public debate about changing course. The CIA Insider's Guide to the Iran Crisis also includes appendices with key official documents on U.S. policy toward Iran, with particular emphasis on the major official statements of the Trump administration's "Maximum Pressure" strategy.

Have you ever thought you were being followed or watched? Have you ever needed to follow or observe someone and not be seen? In the world of espionage, surveillance and surveillance detection are a way of life. It is the job of every CIA operations officer to make sure he or she is not under surveillance—that is, being followed to the commission of an “operational act.� It is also the job of every CIA operations officer to surveil his own targets, whether they are terrorists or terrorist suspects, foreign intelligence officers, hostile actors, or even sometimes his own agents for vetting purposes.   In everyday life, many people from all walks of life need to know how to perform similar operations. Whether avoiding a stalker, checking up on an unfaithful partner, or just securing one’s own privacy, a working knowledge of modern surveillance and surveillance detection techniques is a critical skill to possess. And there is nobody better to teach that skill than someone trained by the CIA. From former CIA counterterrorism officer John C. Kiriakou, Surveillance and Surveillance Detection: A CIA Insider's Guide takes you through the CIA's surveillance and surveillance detection program. It will teach you to apply CIA surveillance techniques to your own everyday life. You’ll learn how to stay safe, to ensure your privacy, and to keep the honest people honest—the CIA way.