Tim Weiner recently completed a history of the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) entitled “A Legacy of Ashes” which was based on access to new files and documents just now made public.

Mr. Weiner’s opus is a devastating expose of witlessness, arrogance, stupidity and grandiosity – all of which lead to the loss of untold lives. After reading this, it’s very difficult not to chortle every time a somber “intelligence” report is read into the political record as being an important, if not vital contribution, to the critical debate of the day.

The startling facts are, according to Tim Weiner, that the Agency (and its World War II predecessor – the OSS) have had little if any successes accompanied by so many failures which include the loss of a multitude of lives. The situation would be utterly laughable if it wasn’t so serious. Apparently, the U.S. Intelligence Service:

1. Had no knowledge of the impending fall of the Soviet Union or the Berlin Wall
2. At the height of the Cold War, when we were all shivering in our fall-out shelters (or at the cinema, laughing at Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove”), the Russians had exactly 4 nuclear missiles capable of intercontinental striking! Of course, we were led to believe that they had hundreds while we were constructing thousands (score one for the aerospace industry!)
3. The CIA never successfully penetrated the Kremlin at any meaningful level
4. Meanwhile the KGB successfully ran moles within the Agency and the FBI at the highest possible levels
5. This type of Agency failure and Soviet success was repeated across all of the areas of conflict
6. During the OSS days its leader, “Wild Bill” Donovan conceived of mad plans and missions and sent some 50 or so badly trained agents to parachute behind enemy lines, never to be heard from again
7. This crazed practice continued into the CIA days re Eastern Europe with the same disasterous results

And the above is all I can remember off the top of my head without going back into this excellent book.

“A Legacy of Ashes: The history of the CIA” by Tim Weiner.

Movie Review:

Breach

Directed byDirected by Billy Ray — Universal 2007
Starring: Chris Cooper, Ryan Philippe

An extremely good film, again made even better by “A Legacy of Ashes.” This is the story of Robert Hanssen – the highest place mole in the history of, in this case, the FBI – but the overall irony was not lessened for me.

Robert Hanssen being captured after months of surveillance.

The story of the movie is the cat and mouse game being played by his assistant/would-be captor, Ryan Philippe.

It seems that Hanssen was in it for the money – 1.5 million dollars over the years – but also anger concerning management and policies but not ideology like, say, Kim Philby who was a Communist.

Chris Cooper plays the creepy Hanssen extremely well – he is totally believable in all his extremities (sexual to religious).

Hanssen is now serving life imprisonment in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison in Colorado.

Again, the movie is available from Netflix.

Movie Review:

13 Rue Madeleine

Directed byDirected by Henry Hathaway — Fox 1947
Starring: James Cagney, Richard Conte

I remember being stirred to great heights of patriotism by this film – I saw it at the Colonial Theatre when I was eleven years old. I was so impressed by the courage and the daring of James Cagney as he parachuted behind Nazi occupied territory to carry out a seemingly impossible mission. 

Of course, according to Weiner it was impossible and poor old Jimmy Cagney, in reality ill-trained and unprepared met his death. However, “13 Rue Madeleine” is a very good movie of its day – made even better by the publication of “A Legacy of Ashes.”

Henry Hathaway directs a taut and suspenseful story of espionage – available from Netflix.