Covert Action in the Cold War: U.S. Policy, Intelligence, and CIA Operations

Covert Action in the Cold War: U.S. Policy, Intelligence, and CIA Operations. By James Callanan. (New York: Tauris, 2010. xvi, 268 pp. $89.50, isbn 978-1-84511-882-2.)

This book is a critique of covert operations ran by the Central Incelligence Agency (cia) from its creation in 1947 eo the death of Presidenc John F. Kennedy in 1963. Its auchor, James Callanan, has caughc at a cluster of universities in che norcheasc of England and dedicates his work eo "che pioneers of Americas cold war incelligence community." He describes che cia's conservative counterinrelligence chief James Angleeon as having been "prescient" abour the communist menace and sees che agency's eariy dirty cricks in Iealy as both necessary and successful (p. 6).

Callanan brings an acute critical mind to che scudy of his subjece. He opens wich a...