Enemies: A History of the FBI

I read this immediately following reading Weiner's _Legacy of Ashes: The Story of the CIA_. As jaundiced as his view was about the CIA, he seems to be a fan of J. Edgar Hoover. In spite of the way Hoover conducted his own fiefdom outside the law and continually thumbed his nose at the law and the Justice Department, Weiner seems to support Hoovers actions as 'necessary'. Weiner seems to credit the FBI's success to its very disregard of law and rights. While not up to the standards of _Legacy of Ashes_, it is still a very interesting read. There are those who would say the clear lawbreaking that Hoover conducted and which the FBI seems to embrace still, leave every American and foreigner vulnerable to gross violations of human rights. Once the laws and rights are ignored, they are never reclaimed - not after Korea, the Cold War or 9/11. Others would say such a trade off is necessary in order to ensure security. I think citizens continue to make decisions regarding the loss of rights in the quest for security and who is above the law answering to no one. I would therefore recommend this book.

If you're interested, you might enjoy reading the book "Enemies: A History Of The FBI," by Tim Weiner. It was released on February 14, 2012, so it's current as of this reviews writing. The book is not about the FBI's law enforcement and policing role, but rather about their role in safety and security, secrecy and subterfuge, scanning and scouring for spies -- domestically and internationally. If you've ever been someone who believed that The Constitution and The Bill Of Rights are relevant for life in America, then it will blow your mind wide open. Although I'm three-quarters of the way through it so far, I already know that I'll have to reread it when I finish it in order to really grasp all the concepts. The Courts (District Court through Supreme Court) and their processes are seldom relevant. When they do become relevant, the FBI is so powerful that they usually get their way regardless.

While reading it, one begins getting the deep sense that personal rights and liberties are entirely inconsequential. The book is heavily documented, with about 60 pages of footnotes. In essence, one comes to understand that for the FBI rules and regulations, laws and liberties are merely a shadowy sideshow. It's been like this since the FBI's inception -- and it's remaining unchanged. Although there are restrictions on Presidents and Judges, on Congressmen and Senators, on Policemen and on Military Personnel, the FBI is practically omnipotent.

While it's one thing to hear about it and imagine it, it's quite another to read about it in detail. The endless stream of case stories and events is fascinating. The implications are absolutely alarming.

I was hesitant to read this book, because I thought that putting together a complete history of the FBI in a short volume was overly ambitious. Weiner generally does a good job. The book is really about the dysfunction in, and misuse of, our intelligence services. Good discussions surrounding Watergate and 9/11. I think the book is a bit flawed by the author's apparent political leanings. He spends very little time on the Carter years, managing to avoid completely any discussion of the takeover of the US embassy in Iran. He also closes the book by fawning over the Obama administration and its supposed protection of civil liberties, without discussing AP wiretaps, surveillance of US citizens, drone warfare, and so forth. All in all, though, the book is interesting and worth reading.

This book details not just the arrogance of power but the abuse of it. The facts in this book are not something Americans like to think about but we need to know about them. An easy and fascinating read.

Great FBI history if one is interested in the engendering of the secret service. Focuses more on espionage, sedition, and counter terrorism ( think Red scares) rather than murder investigation. Great historical read!

All in all an interesting read. However, I found that the latter part of the book wasn't as interesting as it's more recent history. That said, if you're interested in J. Edgar, read Curt Gentry's biography.

I lived through a great deal of the times covered in this book , and I caught myself saying , wow , so that's what happened . A must read , for even though this was written before the present administration took power in DC . The players on the FBI side and the rest of Washington are very much current events .

The author, writing from some 70,000+ documents that have been recently declassified, writes the history of the FBI from a standpoint that has never really been told. Much of what we know from previous histories of the FBI deal with Hoover and his personality or of the crime busting G Men of yesterday who were fighting mobsters and the Mob. You will not find any of that history present in this book, with the exception of the rare mention on the side.

This book focuses on the FBI's more hidden history of spying on foreigners and US citizens alike and the use of various techniques that have been ruled by the courts to be clearly illegal (wiretapping, breaking and entering, etc.). That, however, never stopped Hoover....he just buried the material he uncovered deeper in the labyrinth of the files kept by the Bureau and by Hoover himself.

The book begins with a history of the beginnings of the Bureau and how Hoover came to be the powerhouse that he was. There is some (but very little) biographical information about Hoover....just enough to tell the story of his rise in the Justice Dept. Interestingly, the FBI has no Charter from Congress, which the author described as a birth certificate, so in essence, the FBI does not really even exist. We know it does, but it has no legal basis to operate.

That Hoover saw Reds everywhere would be an understatement. In fact, I think it would be safe to say that Hoover believed that anyone who disagreed with him on any subject of substance was most likely a Communist, or worse.

I would say that about 1/2 of the book is dedicated to the years when Hoover was in power while the remainder deals with the Bureau since the death of Hoover and what has changed and what has not changed. The "not changed" is the more common operational technique and the information shows that the Bureau was still looking for communists long after they had become immaterial, yet they were blind to the possibility of Islamic extremists', even when the information was smacking them in the face.

I could go on for pages with this review, but that would give away some intersting material from the book and I feel confident that the reader who is reading this review would much rather read the book than my synopsis of what I believe the book contains.

Overall, this is a fascinating read. It is detailed and complete, covering the subject in great detail. I know I will never think of the FBI in the same light as I used to. This should be a must read for anyone interested in history of law enforcement.

Enemies: A History of the FBI, since its inception is a tale of wonderful talents, great investigative skills, building the world's most respected crime busting organisation, married to rank incompetence, where politics and bizarre personalities and misguided loyalties served to damage the organisation and delay the prime object of many obligations the FBI was set up to address.
President Clinton and Monica take precedence in this tale over less important targets, such as chasing terrorists and newly arrived bombers. Did the FBI really weight these modest infidelities over major threats to the country? He describes an unbelievable world where FBI chiefs and the President divided the country for their own needs, or in recent times where the FBI chief would not speak to the President for years for fear of tarnishing a case.

At times some of this History staggers belief. Has it been as bad as this? Did FBI and the White House really believe for years that the anti Vietnam protests were a highly successful program of the KGB and Moscow? Who bugged who makes the world of human rights look like a reject proposition for a fast food sales campaign.

I am not sure how much is solid fact here, but if most is, the story needs a very wide audience and attentive discussion. Beats most spy novels. Unwrapping documents that have been sealed for decades shows how the public view of many historic events was a mixture of distortion and planned misinformation.

Worth a read? Yes and yes again. Believe it all? Not sure. Same author did a similar job on the CIA.

The author deserves acclaim by foregoing the cheap shots or fawning awe of so many books about the bureau. Rather, the reader gets an even-handed, well-written narrative firmly rooted in fact and solid reporting. Unbelievably, Weiner dispatches lurid curiosity about J. Edgar Hoover's sexuality with a handful of sentences. But that's refreshing as it keeps the emphasis on what's really important. Expect to have your eyes opened.

This book is definitely for history buffs because others would become bored. It is long but short on some information. What I realized, if the book is accurate, is how much influence Hoover had on U.S. history and policy. He hinged on being a dictator despite several presidents dislike for him. Hope this does not happen again.

Until the second World Trade Center bombing, the FBI seemed as though it behaved the way J. Edgar Hoover's publicists presented it. Clean-cut well-dressed men out there fighting off all sorts of people bent on destroying our society, etc., etc.

True, the organization was an outgrowth of movements against German sympathizers, "radicals" and unionizers during and after WW 1, but they achieved the approbation of the public with their efforts to counter the well-known gangsters of the 20s and 30s. Their chief, however, was obsessed with continuing the way of thinking he had learned under his unfortunate boss, Palmer, and eventually became a rabid anti-Communist. Of interest, much of what he thought was correct, but his lack of subtlety helped destroy whatever good relations we might have had with Mao and Ho after WW2.

Hoover ended up being a blackmailer and a gossip to preserve his own idea of power, to the detriment of democracy.

Weiner's book shows the FBI as a troubled organization, often led by troubled men. I think anyone interested in contemporary history ought to read this book, and hope that matters have improved.

Perhaps the FBI will work better with its counterparts, and will again continue to uphold our democratic way of life. National security ought not trump civil liberties in our society.

100% political bias revision of history, much like the CIA book by Mr Weiner. The entire book was focused on Hoover as the villain with little attention to the actual good things he accomplished. He wasn't as good guy by any stretch, but not the heel portrayed here. Mr. Weiner might need to have a more balanced approach in the future.

At the end of the book, he gushes over Obama and seems tone deaf to the abuses of power in his administration while criticizing every other prior president from the turn of the century forward. On looking further into Mr. Weiner, he was on of the first to editorialize on the Russians/Putin fixed the election, that has been proven false. Both books trashed least some unsuspecting person might read this biased garbage..

Based on earlier works, I have found Tim Weiner to be a reliable historian. This book has not shaken that view, but I would not conclude, as Weiner seems to, that J. Edgar Hoover was just a competent bureaucrat. The roots of American disdain for its civil liberties is revealed in detail in this account of Hoover's career. From before WW I, Hoover was looking for his niche and found it early in "Red Chasing". The consequence of those decades of oppressing any notion that J.Edgar felt was subversive deprived us of a more sophisticated political tradition among the majority of Americans. The stunning ignorance of the Tea Party is, I think, a direct consequence of Hoover's generational campaign to demonize ideas like public health, Wall Street regulation, environmental regulation, racial equality and gender equality. This is a worthy read for anyone that truly wants to understand us.

Acquaintances ask me whether this is a conservative or a liberal book? It seems like a strange question; I mean I wrote a book about Vietnam that I wrote for everyone; I had no political agenda when I was writing my book. I feel the same with this book. I tell people that Weiner worked as a journalist for the New York Times, but it appears that he is striving to write an honest book, without any hidden agenda. That being said, this is a very readable book; the author writes in a captivating and gripping style -- it's hard to put down. Most of us simply associate the FBI with the life of J. Edgar Hoover, but this is not just another biography of that powerful person, rather this is an insightful history, which begins with the establishment of the Bureau in 1908 under the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt and continues up to present times.

It addresses my interest as to the interaction of the FBI with the CIA. I am aware of the fact that the CIA has no legal domestic police authority, and therefore, in regards its narcotics findings, it sends this intel on to the FBI and other law enforcement organizations for action, yet both the FBI and the CIA are involved with counter-terrorism operations. In fact, according to Weiner, the FBI was more successful in countering the KGB than the CIA, and it was the FBI, rather than the CIA, that succeeded in placing "a spy inside the highest councils of the Soviet Union." Hoover considered "intelligence operations as more crucial than any law enforcement work." By the middle of the Eisenhower years the "Intelligence Division was .. the most powerful force within the Bureau, commanding the most money, the most manpower, and the most attention from the director." Weiner draws attention to Hoover's extraordinary longevity on the job -- presidents would come and go, so would CIA directors and the heads of military intelligence, but Hoover would remain, and as a consequence, he was provided the singular opportunity to develop a remarkable degree of patience, and he did. It was LBJ who got Hoover to go after the Klan after three civil rights workers went missing in Mississippi during the summer of 1964; LBJ was a force. Following the Watergate break-in under the Nixon presidency, it was a high-ranking FBI individual, known as "Deep Throat" who leaked info to Bob Woodward in order to counter obstruction of justice by the White House. Hoover died in 1972. In 1975, after Nixon had resigned, Congress began its investigation into past practices of the FBI

More recently, with the enactment of the Patriot Act during October 2001, the FBI has gained even greater powers in the realm of counter-terrorism, enabling it to search for terrorist connections by gathering information on thousands of Americans. Are we Americans prepared to give up more of our civil rights for greater safety? This is an issue that all Americans need to be concerned about. Tim Weiner has provided an even-handed assessment of these critical questions and has written a thorough and excellent history of the FBI.

I am only halfway through. I thought it was great but to find out that our government is so corrupt and so much money is wasted on spying and people's personal wishes is very disappointing. I am losing faith in our government and just wonder what our future children will have to look forward to.

This book is an eye opener. I had always thought that the FBI was mainly a law enforcement agency, but at the height of its powers, the FBI was an intelligence gathering organ of the government.

Basically, J. Edgar Hoover alone in many instances kept the Communist fifth column in check. That the Left in America has been an agent of foreign powers and subversion for years. That we were able to destroy them early in the 20th Century was the main reason we won the Cold War. If they had let Hoover alone take care of American Secrets we would have had a monopoly on the Atom Bomb for much longer. J. Edgar Hoover alone knew the Leftist menace in this country. Would we had his leadership today?

Think about 9/11. That was a direct result of the FBI being unable to do black bag jobs and was a result of the horrific attitudes of the Left for Civil Liberties, which are really just a way for the Left to undermine our American way of life. Indeed the entire goal of the Left is subversion and destruction of Western Civilization. And even if that means terrorist attacks, the Left will still go along with it. What America needs now is a return to COINTELPRO of the Occupy movement, Islamic people, and in the end if we do these things, will America achieve victory in the War on Terror. The Left, in all its horrid forms is the enemy of America. We need to restore the FBI to its glory. We need to finally destroy the subversive element in America, which is the reason we got hit on 9/11. In 1950 had Islam had the ability to hit us, the FBI would have infiltrated every mosque in America, and brought them to their knees. That is what we need now. And Weiner helps bring the history to inform us of what we need in the future.

Ever wanted a true picture of America's FBI? Take a good look at this book written by Tim Weiner. The title gives you an idea about how the author of the FBI. As I have said in other books, if you want to know anything about the powers-that-be in government, find something by Mr. Weiner —he does not hesitate to call 'em like he sees 'em!

Tim Weiner proves the old saw that those who fail to learn from history are bound to repeat it. In his book Enemies: A History of the FBI, Weiner presents a solid overview of the life and times of the FBI from its earliest days through the Obama administration. While it is generally popular to rail against the continued abuses of the U.S. government's spying on its own citizens, Weiner provides an excellent backdrop with a big-picture view based on the institutionalized belief of the FBI that it is their prerogative to do so.

The dilemma of the moral and legal arguments that are necessarily raised by Weiner's book is that the FBI (and its ilk) have largely reacted to threats, both real and perceived, that threaten the safety and security of the nation. Weiner doesn't run from or downplay these threats, but in this book he does not really take up the arguments about how much surveillance is too much surveillance. In that sense, Weiner presents a largely balanced and unbiased history of the FBI and the people who have most impacted it.

Tim Weiner won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on secret intelligence and national security. As a reporter he covered terrorism in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Sudan, and other nations. This is the first definitive history of the FBI's secret intelligence operations. It has 450 pages, Notes, and an Index. This book concentrates on the FBI as a secret intelligence service, and complements other books. It is based on declassified information (p.xv). The FBI owes it power as an agent of the President (p.xvi). [It was created in 1908 so the Justice Department would have its own investigators instead of using Secret Service agents from the Treasury Department.] Presidents, attorneys-general, and the FBI directors abused its power in the name of national security. If you give up liberty for promises of security you will be less free and less secure (p.xvii).

Part I is about "Spies and Saboteurs". War began in April 1917, the Justice Department interned and watched foreigners in the US. J. Edgar Hoover's hard work earned him promotions (p.3). He was a skilled debater in high school (p.4) and earned a law degree from George Washington University. President Wilson gave the Justice Department the power to arrest and jail any foreigner (p.5). By 1900 American industry produced nearly one-quarter of the world's manufactured output (p.7). Did "anarchists" shoot McKinley (p.8)? Wilson began repression against any criticism (Chapter 3). A dragnet caught tens of thousands (p.16). Crude forgeries were used for propaganda (p.17). 1919 saw strikes and unemployment, which was called the "Red threat". Mail bombs threatened people (p.19). The FBI was in the business of creating lists of suspects (p.23). Inhumane working conditions continued to generate strikes (p.28). The Palmer Raids rounded up suspects (p.34). The public turned against these wholesale raids which caught the innocent (p.37). [That Wall Street explosion of 9/16/1920 was an accident, that is why it was never solved (p.46). Weiner is wrong to claim it as revenge for the recently arrested Sacco & Vanzetti.] FBI informers were part of the Communist Party since its beginning (Chapter 6). The Harding scandals led to change (p.59). Hoover changed policies to law enforcement from intelligence gathering (Chapter 7).

Part II is about "World War". FDR asked Hoover to investigate American fascism (p.75). This was coordinated with the Army, Navy, and State Department. Wiretapping became widespread (p.77). FDR gave more power to Hoover (p.81). FDR authorized "listening devices" (p.88). This was used against FDR's enemies (p.89). A secret intelligence service was planned in 1940 (p.94). Chapter 12 tells how it worked. The Army and Navy did not share information with Hoover (p.102). FDR gave more power to Hoover (Chapter 13). Background investigations were done for any government job, passport and immigration, censorship of the press, telegrams, and first-class mail. The FBI became aware of spying at Berkeley Radiation Laboratory (Chapter 14).

Part III is about "Cold War". Harry Truman received information from Hoover's wiretaps. Truman planned a new Central Intelligence organization (Chapter 17). Hoover did not cooperate (p.145), but did work with HUAC investigating suspects (Chapter 18). They planned to open "detention centers" for twelve thousand citizens (p.161). One arrest was overturned because of illegal wiretaps (p.165). The worst spy was a high level official, Kim Philby (p.169). Chapter 21 tells of new laws to oppress suspects (whose names were on a list). The 1950s saw the power of Hoover at its peak (Chapter 22). Senator Joseph McCarthy investigated the CIA (p.184) then the Army (p.185) using FBI files. They struck back (p.186). Was McCarthy done in by his own personality as revealed on television (p.187)? The growing power of the FBI was stymied by Supreme Court decisions (p.194). COINTELPRO was a more ambitious operation (p.195). The FBI recruited a high-level Communist Party official (Chapter 25). Eisenhower did not approve the plans to invade Cuba (p.210). Hoover ignored organized crime (Chapter 26) and corrupt US Sentors (Chapter 27). There was a deep personal conflict between Hoover and Robert F. Kennedy (Chapter 28).

Hoover investigated the civil rights movement (Chapter 29). The assassination of JFK was done by a lone gunman (p.237). Oswald was never on the FBI security list. Chapter 30 tells about the war on the Klan in the 1960s. LBJ sent over 20,000 troops to the Dominican Republic (Chapter 31). The vote was "free and fair" (p.263). The war in Vietnam was followed by protests (Chapter 32). Hoover's law-breaking came under challenge (p.268). Did Nixon sabotage LBJ's plan for a ceasefire in Vietnam (p.275)? [If so, it resulted in over 25,000 more deaths.] Hoover had performed illegal searches for every president since FDR, and knew how to lie to Congress without being caught (p.278). Chapter 34 tells about Nixon's desire for intelligence that resulted in Watergate (p.295). Nixon wanted to be rid of Hoover (p.300).

Part IV is about "War on Terror". Just after the Watergate burglary the Supreme Court banned warrantless wire-tapping (Chapter 35). Nixon's appointment of Pat Gray was resented by FBI officials (p.314). They leaked the scandal to ruin Nixon (p.315). The history of FBI burglaries became public (Chapter 37). Secret intelligence against Americans ended (Chapter 38). The first terrorist killing occurred in September 1976 in Washington by agents of Pinochet of Chile (p.341). The FBI never had a charter defining its role (p.344). Reagan sold weapons to Iran and terrorists in Central America (p.363). [Was a senile President a puppet controlled by unelected advisors (p.364)?] Is the CIA inherently lawless (p.365)? Chapter 40 tells about investigating the Lockerbie bombing. Chapter 41 tells about the 1993 World Trade Center bomb. There was a problem with Louis Freeh as director of the FBI (Chapter 42). Chines, Russian, and Cuban intelligence had all penetrated the FBI in the 1990s (p.383). There were many terrorist attacks in the 1990s. Freeh investigated Clinton while Al Qaeda agents toured America (p.394).

Chapter 43 discusses the disorganization of the FBI. Neither the FBI or CIA shared information about Al Qaeda, who planned to strike inside the US (p.403)! The FBI had outdated technology, personnel, and equipment in 2000 (p.410). A man warned of the hijacking of a 747 in April 2000 (p.411). They should have known about 9/11 (p.417)! "Stellar Wind" would eavesdrop freely on Americans "without probable cause or search warrants" (p.421). Torturing prisoners led to false information that would waste the time of FBI agents (p.425). Were these "War Crimes" (p.426)? Saddam Hussein had no "weapons of mass destruction" (p.431). Global eavesdropping had not saved a life, stopped an imminent attack, or discovered an Al Qaeda member in the US (Chapter 45). Should the FBI be rebuilt (p.437)? Most of the accused terrorists were victims of a sting operation (p.444). The lack of investigation into Wall Street's crimes led to the current depression (p.445). Obama ordered the hunting and killing of members of Al Qaeda (p.446). There was a new set of guidelines for the FBI that placed limits on intelligence searches (p.447). Would these principles be violated (p.448)?

Enemies: A History of the FBI by Tim Weiner

"Enemies: A History of the FBI" is an encyclopedic and fair and even-handed chronicle of the first 100 years of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a secret intelligence service. Pulitzer prize-winning author and correspondent Tim Weiner provides the public with a superbly researched account of the agency's conflict over its conduct of secret intelligence in an open democracy. Weiner makes revelations that can only result from exhaustive and intelligent research. This informative 560-page book is broken out by the following four parts: I. Spies and Saboteurs, II. World War, III. Cold War, and IV. War on Terror.

Positives:
1. An exhaustively researched, well-written, even-handed and accessible book on the history of the FBI.
2. A fascinating topic in the hands of a Pulitzer-prize winning author. At its heart is how the mission of the agency creates a conflict between security and liberty. "Over the decades, the Bureau has best served the cause of national security by bending and breaking the law. A secret police is anathema in a democracy."
3. The book is broken out in into four logical major parts that makes for easy future reference.
4. Hoover's life in the agency. The book captures beautifully Hoover's indelible mark on the history of the agency. "Within a year, Hoover became the public face of the war on crime, the star of a show that captured the imagination of the American people, the name in the headlines, an icon in the American political theater."
5. The birth of the agency. "On July 26, 1908, Bonaparte signed a formal order establishing a new investigative division with a thirty-four-man force of "special agents." He would have to beg, borrow, or steal the money and the men the president wanted. He appointed one Stanley W. Finch--a clerk unqualified to practice law in Washington, D.C.--as the first chief of the Bureau of Investigation."
6. An interesting look at the Red threat. "On January 21, 1919--the day that the Senate took its first testimony on the Red threat--thirty-five thousand shipyard workers in Seattle walked off their jobs."
7. The evolution of the FBI. The book will help you follow the changing missions as it correlates to the politics of the time. "PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT DELIVERED his first battle orders to Hoover on May 8, 1934. FDR said he wanted `a very careful and searching investigation' of American fascism."
8. There are many interesting subplots in the book, one are the recurring battles between Hoover and Attorney Generals. "Their confrontation deepened. Attorney General Jackson was appalled to learn about Hoover's Custodial Detention Program."
9. Another key subplot, the relationship between Hoover and the Presidents. Throughout the book, Weiner does a fantastic job of capturing those relationships in the context of the history.
10. The evolution of spying in the Bureau. Hoover's obsession with fighting the Communist threat.
11. Hoover's rise in power. "It was a dangerous moment in American democracy. Hoover was no longer listening to the president."
12. A fascinating look at the Cold war. "IN THE SUMMER OF 1950, Americans realized that the Cold War was a real war and the survival of the world was at stake. Hoover's FBI fought hard on the home front: his force was felt in every branch of the government, every court, and every college in America."
13. The battles between the FBI and CIA.
14. Fascinating stories involving the Kennedys. "RFK began to grasp the ubiquity of Hoover's power. He saw that Hoover had wired the national security establishment of the United States. The director had more information and power than the attorney general."
15. A look at Watergate. "Nixon wanted political intelligence so badly that he created his own secret squad of burglars and wiretappers. He authorized the creation of a secret White House unit that had the capability to conduct those kinds of missions. The group was nicknamed the Plumbers, because in the beginning they sought to plug the leaks that plagued the president. They would carry out black-bag jobs, wiretaps, and disinformation campaigns on his behalf."
16. Post Hoover, attempts to control the Bureau. "The court's purpose was to approve wiretapping and electronic surveillance requests by American intelligence officers--and to do it under law. For sixty years, from the start of Hoover's era, the FBI had made its own laws on taps and bugs. The court was not an obstacle to the Bureau--it approved more than seventeen thousand requests without once saying no over the next two decades. But the target had to be an agent of a foreign power. The FBI's ability to carry out secret intelligence operations was now governed by rules of law."
17. The spies that hurt our country.
18. A fascinating look at the war on terror. The impact that 9/11 had on the Bureau. "The testimony that the 9/11 Commission heard left many of the commissioners thinking that the Bureau should be rebuilt."
19. A look at the Patriot Act. "The Patriot Act, written swiftly, in a state of fear, had greatly expanded the force of national security letters, a tactic rarely used before 9/11."
20. Notes included.

Negatives:
1. It requires an investment of your time.
2. It's not what I would consider dry reading but some topics vary in interest and will feel like so. The book is more informative than entertaining (some may consider that a positive).
3. The book called for a timeline of major events but none is present.
4. A formal bibliography never hurts. I understand that the author based a lot of the book on declassified material but more reading material would have been helpful.

In summary, this is an excellent reference book. Weiner provides the public with a high-quality account of the first 100 years of the FBI. His treatment is fair, comprehensive and accessible. The book requires an investment of your time but I'm happy to say that though more informative than entertaining it's worth your time. I highly recommend it!

Further recommendations: "Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA" by the same author, "Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to Al-Qaeda" by Robert Wallace and H. Keith Melton, "The Shadow Factory: The NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America" by James Bamford, "Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden from 9/11 to Abbottabad" by Peter L. Bergen, "Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001" by Steve Coll, "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror" by Richard A. Clarke, and "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America" by Chris Hedges.

Forget about criminal investigations; this book is not about John Dillinger or Mafia dons. It is the history of the FBI as a secret intelligence service. According to the author, secret intelligence against terrorists and spies has been the Bureau's primary mission since its formation over 100 years ago, when Teddy Roosevelt covertly created a Bureau of Investigation over the objection of Congress. This mission creates an inevitable conflict over the conduct of secret intelligence in an open democracy, and it is this ongoing conflict that Weiner explores.

In order to reveal this secret history, Weiner relies extensively on thousands of documents declassified under the Freedom of Information Act and on oral histories complied by the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI. The book is amply footnoted. It also manages to be amazingly unslanted. Weiner acknowledges the need for domestic intelligence but doesn't gloss over FBI abuses in the name of domestic security.

Everything is here, from WWI action against suspected German subversives and the anti-Red Palmer Raids of the 1920's to the latest set of guidelines for FBI intelligence investigations in response to the war on terror. As a result the book at times feels a mile wide and an inch deep. This is an awful lot to cover, even in 450 pages, and the treatment sometimes seems rushed or lacking in depth.

As you would expect, J. Edgar Hoover stands at the center of this story. Weiner admits the variety of opinions on Hoover, from those who saw him as an unmitigated monster to those who saw him as a visionary genius, to those who saw him as a cross-dressing caricature. The book reveals the good, the bad and the ugly about Hoover. He successfully spied on the leaders of the the Soviet Union and China before the CIA existed, he kept secret dossiers on hundreds of thousands of American citizens, he tried to sabotage dissent, and he manipulated public opinion. He acted under presidential orders to persecute pacifists as well as terrorists and civil rights workers as well as the KKK. Yet he also ignored presidential orders at will, undermined more than one President, and finally refused to undertake Richard Nixon's plumbing operations. It's all here.

The book is interesting throughout, and it is necessary history. We need to know the varieties of this constant conflict between the guarantees of liberty and the need for security so that we can judge when we are giving up too much of one for the other, and we need books like this to show us where and why we have gone wrong in the past.

If any of you read & loved Pulitzer Prize winner Tim Weiner's National Book award winning book, "Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA", then you are in for a another fascinating and in depth treatise, this time on the FBI.

Weiner calls the FBI "America's Secret Police" . We often think that the FBI's main job is crime fighting but it's actually more anti-terrorism and counter-intelligence. Weiner has been able, again, to base a definitive book upon recently declassified documents, thus there is a lot here which may be news even to FBI buffs.

One of the things I didn't know about (and is revealed here) is that the FBI actually engaged in overseas intelligence work, such as when J. Edgar installed a FBI informant as the President of the Dominican Republic!

It's been commonplace to demonize J. Edgar, but here Weiner is careful to note that the Director wasn't "a monster" but instead compares him to "an American Machiavelli" (still hardly a compliment).

It really reads much like a sequel to his earlier book on the CIA, but this time concentrating on how the FBI works in that same arena.

Solid, readable, meticulously researched... and more than a little controversial.

Weiner's book has one great strength. It rests entirely on on-the-record statements and recently declassified FBI documents. There is no questionable Bob Woodward secret sourcing going on.

Weiner's book is also well-written and moves quickly - perhaps too quickly when one comes across an area where more detail is sought. However, that's where the extensive footnotes come in with a great deal of the declassified documents to be found online. And this is, after all, a one volume history with a great deal of ground to cover: the existence of the FBI as a secret intelligence and security service. This book is not at all interested in the FBI investigating conventional crimes.

The FBI came into existence in July 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation in the Justice Department - after Congress had refused to appropriate money for keeping tabs on anarchists, foreign-born radicals, and politicians and developers looting public lands. In typical fashion, Theodore Roosevelt simply waited until Congress adjourned, dipped into a Justice Department's expense account, and created the agency anyway. It was never created by a Federal charter and still doesn't have one to this day. From its beginnings, it was there to gather intelligence on suspected and actual subversives.

J. Edgar Hoover, the man synonymous with the FBI, joined the Justice Department in July 26, 1917 at age 22. At age 23, he was overseeing the thousands of Germans interned in government camps during World War One and surveillance of hundreds of thousands of U.S. residents. On August 1, 1919, the 24 year old Hoover was made head of the Justice Department's new Radical Division which, under the guise of the 1917 Espionage Act - still on the books but rarely enforced - spied on thousands of Americans thought to be violent anarchists or members of a "Red" communist conspiracy. It was in the time of a massive Wall Street bombing and the attempted assassination of several government officials via mailed bombs. The government responded with the famous Palmer raids, massive arrests followed, in the case of the foreign-born citizens, by occasional deportation. But those raids were actually directed and organized by Hoover.

While not a biography, a large part of this book is about Hoover, how he molded the FBI until his death - still as head of the FBI because he had been exempted from a mandatory retirement provision - on May 2, 1972. To his credit, Weiner, on the first page of the book, quickly dismisses nonsense about Hoover as a transvestite or closet homosexual. (Those seem to be rumors spread by William Donovan, head of the OSS, and a political rival of Hoover's.) What he was, says Weiner, was an "American Machiavelli". The relationship that many presidents had with him was summed up by the one that relied on him the most, Lyndon Johnson, "a pillar of strength in a city of weak men". What Hoover's organization did was provide information on domestic subversion and terrorism, penetrated the link between the American Communist Party (indeed, it had an agent at its first meeting) and its Soviet masters, and, perhaps most astonishingly, provided real-time battlefield intelligence during the forgotten American invasion of the Dominican Republic in 1965.

But there were embarrassments that Hoover buried. These weren't always matters of illegal activity. Hoover sincerely maintained his wiretaps and letter interceptions and buggings and "black bag" jobs (illegal break-ins) were legally ordered by presidents, and Weiner covers the ever changing legal interpretations the Bureau has operated under. They were things like losing track of one Lee Harvey Oswald - exactly the sort of Marxist agitator with Soviet ties that the Bureau was interested in or the pathetic early attempts to run its own intelligence operations in Latin American countries starting in 1940.

Weiner rightly supports the notion that Hoover had a particular idea of America and regarded anyone threatening that as a subversive worth keeping an eye on. The notorious COINTELPRO program was about that - specifically not only monitoring groups regarded as subversive but destroying them through propaganda campaigns and by sowing dissension within them. While the Ku Klux Klan was targeted along with left wing groups, Weiner does establish that Hoover was far less interested in the latter.

And Hoover was always interested in perpetuating the legend of the spyhunting FBI, wanted the agency to be highly regarded. It was the possible fear of exposure and the attendant public relations damage he feared, and not any legal squeamishness, that made him pull back on domestic spying operations as early as 1966 and 1967. And Weiner is quite good on the wars between the CIA and the FBI and notes the times that the FBI scooped the former with correct information.

The book's first three parts, "Spies and Saboteurs", "World War", and "Cold War", cover the Hoover years. The last 142 pages of text cover the FBI's recent efforts on fighting terrorism and its general patheticness in internal communication, intelligence analyses, cybernetic resources, and focus, and it how was penetrated by several double agents. It is here that we get the second major figure of the book, Robert Mueller, who is clearly Weiner's ideal of an FBI director, the figure who squared the circle of reconciling security with constitutional freedoms. As someone who was an adult during most of those years, it was still good to have various news stories of recent FBI activity put in a context or, in some cases, hearing about them for the first time.

For those interested in the history of American counterintelligence, this is essential as a one volume resource for the FBI. However, it is not without some questionable elements and omissions. Weiner insinuates that the Industrial Workers of the World simply practiced rhetoric against World War One. In fact, some of the organizations leaders did conspire with members of German intelligence to foment rebellion in parts of America. It is implied that Director Louis Freeh was wrongly obsessed with President Clinton's sexual misconduct and investigating Chinese influence pedaling instead of investigating terrorism. Freeh's tenure certainly was not good for the FBI, but you could argue that Clinton's perjury was probably as serious a crime as Nixon's Watergate cover-up - the scandal that continues to fascinate journalists like Weiner and makes for the only boring reading in the book. (In Weiner's defense, Watergate did play a large role in creating disarray in the FBI and is integral to the book's theme.) As for Chinese espionage, that country's intelligence operations seem to use no neat division between military and political operations, government agents and private citizens seeking favor with their government. I note that no mention is made of the controversial FBI investigation of Israeli espionage in America, specifically the charging of Larry Franklin by the FBI under the 1917 Espionage Act in the so-called AIPAC spy scandal. Since Weiner makes a point of noting that Vides Casanova, the El Salvadoran National Guard general suspected of ordering the murder of four American church workers, was granted U.S. residency by President Reagan, why not also note that President Clinton gave pardons to 16 members of the FALN, the Puerto Rican terrorist group involved in over a hundred bombings as well as at least six murders and an armored car robbery and that is mentioned in the book several times?

Finally, the name of Jamie Gorelick appears nowhere in the book though she is sometimes blamed for the "wall" that inhibited the sharing of intelligence between FBI agents working criminal matters and those working intelligence cases. Weiner portrays it as purely an institutional misunderstanding on the part of the FBI, not the result of a dictum from a Justice Department superior.

Still, in that matter, as well as his favoring liberty and civil rights over security, Weiner's book is also a useful counterargument to many prevailing political currents these days. Even if you don't agree with his conclusions, his data's validity must be acknowledged however incomplete the context is at times.

[Review copy supplied by publisher.]

Before reading the book, I watched few video clips on youtube where Tim Weiner talks about FBI and his books. Lately, it became a hot topic and the title was appealing, I decided to read the book well knowing Tim's views would precipitate in his book. It is clear that author simplifies historical events for the reader and makes no distinction between ruthless NKVD/KGB/GRU and FBI. To the book that appears as a "History", the historical settings should serve as a backdrop for the history of the most powerful agency in the world. As a result, FBI looks weak and incompetent agency incapable to capture terrorists from WUO or unable to investigate the simple crime. As the dozen of other liberal scholars, Tim doesn't talk about the destructive left ideology and millions who perished in the most horrific social experiment ever staged in the history of the human race - USSR.
The biggest gaffe in the book is a depiction of Mueller and Comey as most prudent FBI solders.

A fair minded history of the FBI, sure to disappoint ideologues of both the right and left. J. Edgar Hoover emerges as a very shrewd operator, with a certain degree of competence and integrity, but also the most wanton disregard for constitutional law, especially the Fourth Amendment limits on searches and seizures. He built what has in reality been a secret police force operating well beyond the law, in pursuit of real and imagined subversives. While he succeeded in gutting the US Communist Party, which, let us recall, answered to Stalin, he also ended up seeing communist conspiracies where they most definitely were not: the antiwar movement and the civil rights movement. On the other hand, he said no to Nixon, which is why Nixon formed his own secret police - the Plumbers, who were caught and exposed at the Watergate Complex in DC. The biggest weakness I found in this book is the author's adulation of current director Robert Mueller. Weiner briefly mentions that it took many years for the FBI to identify the real source of the 2001 anthrax terrorist attacks, while the bureau publicly accused an innocent man. But he fails to state the reason for this travesty: Robert Mueller personally supervised the investigation, and repeatedly directed subordinates to continue trying to nail the innocent suspect even as a postal inspector and a brave FBI agent accumulated far more compelling evidence pointing to the real perpetrator.

This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.
Of course readers enter into a dialogue with authors, but I do not usually find myself arguing with them from the onset. In Tim Weiner's excellent book, nicely produced by Random House, on J. Edgar and the FBI he states, on the very first page of his opening note, that Hoover was seen by his opponents as a 'goddam sewer' and that most of us know him "only as a caricature; a tyrant in a tutu..." none of this, Weiner claims, was true. Oh yes it was I challenged and found that this excellent and fairly balanced life seemed to prove that Hoover was exactly that.

Targeting homosexuals - as well as Shirley Temple and John Lennon - this is a man who lived with his Mummy until she died, and was then `very close' to his life partner and chief assistant Clyde Tolson for more than 40 years, even sunbathing, vacationing and lodging with each other. They were both lifelong bachelors and are buried side by side.

No tutus perhaps but an evil Machiavelli who created the closest thing to a black-mailing, corrupt and illegally operating secret police like the Gestapo, Stasi or KGB this country should ever have. From his obsession with communism, and the infamously illegally operating CoinTelPro Hoover helped create the climate of the attitudes that supported McCarthy's "un-American" vendetta of harassment and slanders.

Not until the stand and threatened resignations ... offered against the Bush and Cheney domestic spying initiative after 9/11 that would have by-passed all constitutional oversights ... by Attorney General Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller was the FBI returned to a legal operating footing and was headed by a respecter of US citizens rights under the Constitution.

Robert Mueller has said he wants no historian to be able to write, of his reconstructed FBI "You won the war on terrorism, but you sacrificed your civil liberties.

An excellent fascinating and frightening book.

Pulitzer Prize winner Tim Weiner knocks one out of the park with this encyclopedic but readable account of the FBI as a domestic intelligence agency. Beginning long before the actual birth of the bureau, Weiner provides an in depth background of the political and national security concerns that led to the creation of the FBI. Following on the heels of his stunning Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, this book is almost a companion volume, providing a history of those left out of the OSS/CIA/Special Ops birth of the CIA and creating an alternative domestic intelligence apparatus thaat became the FBI, purportedly a law enforcement agency, but in actuality an arm of national intelligence. The detail in this book is so overwhelming, and it's sourcing so complete, it is best read a chapter or so at a time to avoid getting bogged down. My suggestion would be to do what I did by accident: read Kessler's The Secrets of the FBIfor a high level, easily digestible overview of each of the successive directors and the organizational imprint they left on the Bureau. This quick read will set a context for the in depth treatment that Weiner provides. Weiner's focus on "black bag jobs" and other clearly illegal activities during the hieght of Hoover's reign will leave you with a far greater understanding of the concern voiced by civil rights groups over post 9/11 activities by the Bureau. The revelation of so-called Continuity of Government (COG), Watch lists, and FEMA since then make me wonder just how paranoid the paranoid fringe really is. Read it, and discover some unsettling and well documented facts.