Prados, John

New York. 1986. Morrow. 1st Printing. Very Good in Dustjacket . 068805384x. 480 pages. hardcover. Jacket design by One Plus One Studio. keywords: CIA History Presidents America Covert Action. FROM THE PUBLISHER - Here, for the first time, is an overview of the abilities of the President, the CIA, and the Pentagon to mount secret wars - operations aimed at altering the destinies of nations and the course of global politics. In reality, the National Security Act of 1947, which created the CIA, nowhere mentions covert operations, but merely ‘such other function and duties. affecting the national security as the National Security Council may from time to time direct.' In Presidents' Secret Wars, we see how ‘such other functions' has come to include a range of paramilitary techniques astonishing in both its size and scope. We see how, in the early days after World War II, the CIA mounted extensive operations involving partisans in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China to overthrow those governments. There are the successful CIA operations of the 1950s in Iran and Guatemala, where the governments were actually brought down, but there were also the later embarrassing paramilitary fiascos in Cuba and Indonesia. One of the largest operations of today is virtually unknown: the CIA effort to aid the Tibetans in their struggle against the mainland Chinese. We see the phenomenal role that covert activities played in the Vietnam era, in Cambodia and especially in Laos, where CIA ‘paramilitary action and political manipulation attained heights never achieved before or since.' Also examined are the controversial actions of the Reagan era in Central America and Africa. Using many newly declassified documents, intelligence writer John Prados opens a vital window on this most secret aspect of U. S. foreign policy. Presidents' Secret Wars is certain to become a landmark book about U.S. intelligence agencies in the postwar era. inventory #23990 ISBN: 068805384x.