This is probably the best memoir I have come across by a former CIA case officer. Baer is spot on when it comes to how government operates. Who could ever imagine that those in the field are often times prevented from achieving superior results by risk averse management, or that those in Washington are too concerned about politics and/or "drinking and whoring" to comprehend what's truly unfolding beyond our borders? The truth can be ugly.

Robert Baer's account illustrates how American intelligence gathering capability was decapitated by bureaocrats and politicians. The author paints a vivid picture of work in the field as humint (human intelligence)was relegated to the back bench. Our enemies could not have done better than our own political establishment in neutralising the CIA. This book tells it all.

Kingmaker

For those that think the goverment (not CIA) is here for you. This book should show you otherwise. For those conspiracy theorists...this should be right up your ally. Where is the justice in this country when such fine individuals can suffer through so much to keep us all safe....all in vain and all only so the richer can get richer. The government doesnt run this country, the "big oil" does. This will never change. Great book, great read.

Excellent story that provides an inside view of life on the ground for CIA operatives.

Much of the book revolves around the Middle East and Mr. Baer's search for those responsible for bombings in Lebanon. One name that comes up frequently was a terrorist by the name of Imad Moughniyah. This person was involved in the Beirut embassy and Marine barracks bombings, the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, kidnapping of Terry Anderson, hijacking of TWA flight 847, etc...By coincidence, Moughniyah was assassinated in Syria on the day that I finished reading this book. I must assume that was good news to Mr. Baer.

Some of the stories he tells of bureaucratic ineptness do not engender a great deal of confidence in the CIA..."As the civil war in Afghanistan started to boil, I repeatedly asked for a speaker of Dari or Pashtun...to debrief the flood of refugees coming across the border...I was told there were no Dari or Pashtun speakers anywhere...Headquarters instead offered to send out a four-person sexual harassment briefing team."

Near the end of his career, he seemed to descend into a self-destructive pattern of behavior that only got worse after he returned from the Middle East. In my opinion, he had spent so much time looking at the trees (and individual leaves) that he got lost in the forest.

His closing comments, however, are right on the mark..."It all comes down to the point that we have to start listening to people again, no matter how unpleasant the message is."

Overall a good book about very brave men who were willing to take significant risks for their country.

A rambling CIA agent's tale of working in the Middle East pre Bush Administration. Baer recently appeared on television after the 2008 car bomb death of Imad Mugniyah in Syria and clearly knows about which he speaks because, in this 2002 book, he describes his investigation of the 1983 bombing of the American Embassy in Beirut and the death of William Buckley, the CIA agent. He fingers the killer. Beyond the scattered nature of his writing, the crazy dangerous life of this CIA agent is detailed including the bureaucratic handcuffs and leg irons placed on the operational side agents from home basis at Langley. Baer, no friend of Anthony Lake, describes how the operations division of the Agency was hamstrung during the Clinton years. The Crown Book publishers editing is very poor; e.g., Aldrich Ames is Rick, Robert Hanssen is spelled Robert Hannsen. Sentences, often conversational in format, run on and off the page. The CIA editors were more exacting than the Crown editors who appear out to lunch at the time of final editing.

I originally purchased this book because it was cited as the source for the movie Siriana. However, the movie was 100% different than the book and seems unrelated to me. The book details 25 years of work for the CIA and provides good insight to the challenges of gathering intelligence. The changes in the CIA do not seem to be good for America.

This was a great novel, go buy Detained Differences by J. Robert Rowe. It is about Detainee Operations inside Afghanistan.

Baer tell's his personal stories very well and keeps them interesting...while at the same time using those stories as the back drop for the CIA's failure to pick up on the coming terrorist attacks of 9/11. His stories set a relative timeline of the agency's attitude toward increasing dependence on electronic information gathering and less on having people on the ground getting inside the bad guy's heads.

Bauer gives a compelling account of his exploits as a CIA agent. For the "ripping good yarn" three stars.

He also offers his take on the reasons for serious deficiencies by our intelligence services. No argument that there are shortcomings, but no stars for his analysis of the causes.

Why? Some major thematic defects with the book on this score.

First, the underlying genre is a familiar one: the single honest and courageous protagonist fighting against apathy, stupidity and venality. Perhaps, understandable given Mr. Bauer's experience with the Agency's appreciation of his service. But a plot line more suited to fiction than serious analysis.

Is there bureaucracy, stupidity and even venality in the CIA? No argument here. But equally there should be no argument that this condition exists in any human institution. So then the right question becomes one of degree rather than kind. Were these factors so pervasive as to compromise the mission of the Agency? Was Bauer the only dedicated, selfless intelligent operative in the Agency? Or, if not the only one, one of a mere handful of such individuals? All in all this seems a bit far fetched.

The book does shed some light on why our intelligence services may be working at a suboptimal level, particularly in the Middle East, though perhaps not in the way the author intended.

Bauer's career is in some ways a "poster child" for suboptimal behavior.

Intelligence work is a not a particularly glamorous craft. At its heart it's rather mundane meticulous analysis and the routine work of running agents rather than flamboyant action. The heroes of fiction - James Bonds or "Jack" Bauers - are not particularly useful. Grey anonymity - an absence of footprints - is the most desirable operational trait.

Intelligence work requires a cold discipline. Actions in the field are undertaken for concrete objectives. Many of Bauer's missions seem to have been highly visible personal adventures with little apparent (intelligence) utility. They exposed a valuable asset to capture or compromise. No doubt the trips to the Beka'a, the Pamirs or the Yaghob Valley were ripping good fun as was driving T-72s and parachuting with Russian troops. How these advanced US intelligence interests is questionable.

Intelligence is also a team sport, contrary to popular fiction. In this critical game, it's very important that the players let the coach call the plays. Policy is set in Washington not in the field. Bauer's disingenuous actions in Northern Iraq - his attempt to make his own foreign policy - were not appropriate and really didn't serve our national interests well.

Intelligence requires careful discretion. Agents associate with a variety of people, many of whom are rather unsavory. The trick is to use the contact rather than be used. How our national interest benefited from contact with Mr. Tamraz isn't immediately clear to me. There is another danger here: the contact spinning such association as an American imprimatur.

Bauer does highlight some structural and political problems which affect the Agency's performance. That the national interest of the USA is often conflated with business interests, particularly oil, is distressing but not surprising.

However, all these points are at the margin of the central issue.

A more fundamental failure needs to be addressed. It is the same one which dogs the crafting of our foreign policy - a failure to think coldly and rationally about issues.

When we analyze domestic policies, by and large we accept that our government is influenced by popular perceptions with results shaped by the interplay between competing groups. However, when we venture to lands foreign, we abandon this nuanced view for one much more simplistic and simple minded.

We see our own interests as the only legitimate ones. Competitors must then be evildoers. Or, if we are in a charitable mood, suffering from some other serious moral or intellectual defect. The impulse for discovering grand conspiracies follows in train. Often we fail to recognize groups of our antagonists for what they are - temporary tactical alliances of convenience among groups with disparate constituencies and often competing ideologies rather than unitary blocs controlled by some grandmaster of evil who can compel his subordinates to take actions against their own very real interests. Imagine ascribing master/servant relationships and unanimity on all points among the Allies in WWII - the USA the master, or if your politics differ, the servant of the USSR and you'll understand this fallacy.

We also fall prey to the "great man" theory. If only we can remove the wrong man or install the right one, we can engineer a change in policy even if it is contrary to the wishes of the majority of that country. To use a domestic analogy, this is equivalent to believing that Al Franken or Fred Thompson could persuade the NRA to embrace gun control. Or NOW to abandon Roe v. Wade. In some extreme cases we believe we can manufacture leaders and parachute them into power. Delusions of this sort doom our actions and also reflect the poverty of our strategic thinking. As a result, we often associate with leaders who do our cause no good. The choice of the former head of the INC - a man with no discernible political support in Iraq as well as with certain other considerable negatives - as that country's putative Thomas Jefferson is an example of this pathology. No surprise that we fail and wind up being used.

And sadly often we also fail to marry our long term strategic interests to appropriate foreign policy. Foreign policy or intelligence "quick" fixes result in unwelcome blowback as history demonstrates time and time again.

Finally, perhaps an obvious point: a rational foreign policy in the long term interests of the US will promote the work and thus the success of our intelligence services. Rowing against the tides of history while perhaps heroic is at the end of the day rather foolish and so destined for failure. This is really the issue for reflection.

Only halfway through, but this book is great. It shows you in depth how the agency worked. Reveals how training was done, how missions worked. Includes real stories not just analysis.

The stories and experiences of real life are often more gripping than fiction. Given that celebrated novels receive greater fame and publicity, it is rare to come across a book that captures the adventure of a captivating adventure novel and the benefit of a knowledgeable nonfiction author. A medley of suspense, wisdom from years experience, and formidable lessons from around the globe abound in former CIA officer Bob Baer's veracious story from the forefront of the US's struggle against international terrorism.

Baer recounts his professional life in one of the most riveting, true-life spy tales around. His first book is easy to follow and lively; even if you're not a James Bond suspense-novel junkie you'll likely appreciate "See No Evil." Baer's insight on the past and the state of current intelligence operations in a post 9/11 world with admonition for, what he sees as, the most potent gambit in the war against Middle Eastern terrorism, is vital for composing a winning strategy in the region.

The reputability of being the basis for George Clooney's character in the film "Syriana." shouldn't deter readers who actually watched the risible movie. George Clooney's Bob Barnes never amounted to the valorous character we become acquainted with in the book; his pitiful role is a real injustice to the real life Baer. There are no real parallels between the fictional movie`s plot and the book based on Baer's firsthand experiences.

With such a furtive job like a case officer, it is rare for an author to lift the shroud of secrecy for the public to behold some of these highly-speculated operations. An ordinary American youngster, full of guilelessness and vitality, finds himself leading an anything but ordinary life in an abstruse field that eventually takes him to the forefront of the nation`s interests in the Middle East. Ultimately departing an agency hampered by politicalization and putrefied by scandals, Bob holds back nothing in sharing passionate convictions, doubts, and solicitude in an earnest reflection of his entire espionage career. From the young operative's tribulation of his first assignment in India up to senior liaison orchestrating a coup against Saddam His story is gripping, his insight and perception on the challenges we face is indispensable.

After reading the book one can never be so ignorant!!!
It's pretty sad to watch these guys risk their lives for such dangerous missions and let go in the end...

Robert Baer
See No Evil
book review

The first half of this book is a great adventure story. The second reveals a personality.

We are treated to a sampling of the adventures of a vigorous, energetic, productive young case officer's (we learn that a CIA "agent" is the local who does the actual spying, "case officer" being the term for the professional recruiter and manager of agents) experiences during the birth and maturation of his productive years in southern Asia and the Middle East. For those of us interested in espionage procedurals, this part of the book is exhilarating. I couldn't put it down. It is written with vim and a touch of humor.

The second half of the book is in some ways more interesting, as it reveals through a change of style a man who needs rest. Mr. Baer's supervisors should have recognized it and brought him "in from the cold" from time to time, so that he could adjust in a healthy way back to normal life with a normal perspective. I saw this happen more than once in my own law enforcement career. Such seems to me what Robert Baer reveals to us, consciously or not, in the second half of his book.

The transition is marked by a curious re-call, which Robert Baer ("Robert Pope"?) resists vehemently, during which he is investigated as a suspect in a murder for hire. The portrayal of the burned out case officer in the movie Syriana, based on See No Evil, seems to be Robert Baer himself. The fictional character, Wilson, knows too much, or thinks he does. The fictional character in the movie blows up some bad guys, acting on his own authority in secret. The real Robert Baer in See No Evil is accused of plotting to assassinate Saddam Hussein, a weird story in itself. By is own admission, there are things he does not write up in reports.

It is as though he has arrived in the insane hell of Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (a movie Mr. Baer refers to in his book). He wonders why "they" back at headquarters don't pay more respect to his on-the-spot reporting. As the fictional character, Captain Willard, says to himself in Apocalypse Now, "They didn't know I wasn't even in their f...ing army anymore."

But, you see, Robert Baer has been in the field so long and left alone to do pretty much as he sees fit, and it begins to tell. When he and his team are sent to northern Iraq, he interprets whole world scenarios through his team's emplacement. The whole course of world history depends on him and his team's mission. He blows their role out of proportion and takes on the role of the representative of the United States. He writes that the local Kurds think of him as the Untied States Ambassador.

He is turning into Colonel Kurtz. It is he whom they rely on, and he tells them lies about what Washington thinks and commitments he thinks they should make. Whether the Kurdish leaders really believe him or not is a matter of speculation. Robert Baer seems to think they do. Everything rests on Robert Baer, and Washington just won't do what he tells them needs to be done. It is time to be brought "in from the cold." He's gone over the edge, out of control, and control is what secret operations rely on most. He needs closer supervision. He needs to be watched. (Cf. the latter career of James J. Angleton.) His bosses order him back to the home office in Washington.

From there we get a phantasmagoria of life in the most unfathomable world imaginable, Washington, D.C. Robert Baer is out of his environment. He admittedly does not understand how it works. He is still "out in the field." He proceeds to engage this strange new world in the context of what he knows how to do. He runs into roadblocks wherever he turns. Why won't they listen to me?

In sum, read this book. Mr. Baer the author is a good writer and deserves a loyal audience for this and the other books he has written. For those interested in good-humored, adventurous spy stories, it is A-number-one. For those interested in the questionable practices and questionable values of unsupervised operators left to assume roles they should not, this is a perfect example of it.

Gary Berntsen, too, in his revelation, Jawbreaker, shows us another example of self-exaggerated importance among field people. Why does the CIA allow these people to publish and appear on television? In other recent histories written about these circumstances, nary a word is mentioned about the Gary Bernstsens' or Robert Baers's exploits. "Why won't they listen to me?" "I could've got Saddam Hussein." "I could've got Osama bin Laden." "If only I had two divisions of men with the will to cut off the arms of inoculated children ...." (Colonel Kurtz)

Maybe the operational side of the CIA should be abandoned. Maybe they are loose cannons. Maybe the CIA should be kept strictly to the business of gathering and analyzing information. Mr. Baer alludes to the establishment of FBI offices overseas. Maybe the CIA or at least its operational side should be folded into the FBI. There are just too many intelligence agencies. There is nothing central about the Central Intelligence Agency. There is not enough control. There are too many Robert Baers and Gary Berntsens out there doing too many things on their own.

I say all of this with all respect due to Robert Baer, Gary Berntsen, and those like them. As young men they enter into an adventurous world and ripen into the most sincere patriots one can find. They work hard and do good things. However, as mature men, they begin to think they know more than they do and that those with other responsibility know less. "Why don't they listen to us?" Why, indeed.

I've read a few books on the subject and I have to say that this is my favorite CIA book. Baer's style of writing makes it easy even for a first time CIA history reader. The book is packed with exciting stories and was a very pleasant read. It is a nice add for anyone interested in intelligence and how that region of the world works, as well as how our internal bureaucracy interacts and makes things that much more difficult for these people doing exceptional work abroad.

And if you watched the movie "Syriana" with George Clooney, this is the book on which it was based. Of course the book is much better and full of detail. I could not put it down once I started reading it.

The story is clear, but the 'why' certain actions were taken or not taken is what got me thinking even more. Also, the Wahabis are a real source of Islamic trouble, world-wide.

Before commenting on the content, I was disappointed by the poor typesetting of this book (paperback version) - especially as the imprint is part of Random House and they should be more professional in their standards. There were enough typos to shame any copy-editor. The use of the em-dash without so much as a hair space on each side is particularly clumsy. After closing quotes, the text continues without any space, making the words appear to run into each other, and some strange font is used - I was unable to identify it - that has a question mark that looks more like a reversed 'S'.

I hoped to find something in this book that would shed light on the way the US administration shamefully conned the American public into supporting the Iraq war. I didn't find much.
Ahmed Chalabi is briefly mentioned, despite his high profile as the USA's "man in Iraq". It seems funny these days that the US government at one time made him the Deputy Prime Minister of the Iraqi government and obviously saw him as their puppet.

For some time it has been obvious that Chalabi is probably an Iranian spy of very high rank and invented all the 'WMD' nonsense precisely to persuade the US to invade Iraq and overthrow Hussein.
Perhaps Robert Baer was not a party to the double-dealings that must have gone down with Chalabi. More likely, I suspect, is that this information has been deliberately omitted.

There was far too much in the book about Baer's obsession with the blowing up of the Beirut US embassy in 1983, and far too little about Baer's adventures in the alleys and safe houses in the Middle East.

Parts of the book read like personal animosity against figures such as Sheila Heslin, who is painted as a lackey of "Big Oil", and Tony Lake of the NSA, painted as a "do nothing".
More generally, Baer states that the 9-11 horror might have been avoided if the CIA had put boots on the ground and recruited agents instead of relying on satellite intelligence.
Overall, Baer takes pains to characterise Iran as being responsible for most of the evil-doings, including the blown-up embassy. Perhaps he's right, or perhaps this book is just another piece of disinformation for the rest of us to swallow.
It's a good read but ultimately disappointing, and I suggest taking it all with a large pinch of salt.

After 9/11, we all know the CIA did not have the ability to protect America. Baer tells us why. After successive years of bureaucracy, the CIA became just another data collection point. No one recruited agents, and even if there was a threat to America, the boys in Langley didn't care. Most of the later story dwells upon the Clinton years of the CIA when the agency had a chance to support a coup against Saddam but instead did nothing. I think this book undermines Clark's book thesis that Clinton was resolute against terrorism. The CIA became just another bureaucracy.

This is a nice interesting read. I highly recommend it as a story of what the CIA should not become. More people like Baer need to employed by the agency in order to protect our country.

Buy the book read about how the politicians play dirty games that ruin lives around them.

Extremely painful to learn of the day-by-day efforts of the author and other dedicated men who had to battle Federal bureaucratic indifference and indecisiveness for decades. Although I did not go to Beirut, I was in the USMC at that time and had friends who served over there. To learn of the Federal inefficiency and indifference to the investigation and the punishments that should have taken place is maddening.

The author should be credited for being a point man for our current war on terror, more aptly described as a war on extremist jihadist totalitarianism.

Two names that recur in Robert Baer's spy memoir, SEE NO EVIL, are Ahmed Chalabi and Roger Tamraz. Tamraz, the petroleum entrepreneur, is a name no longer mentioned on the talk shows. But Ahmad Chalabi, equally colorful, was for a time "our man in Iraq" and briefly Deputy Prime Minister of the Iraqi government. Baer brings them to three dimensional life. His briefer sketches of such notables as National Security Advisors Tony Lake and Sandy Berger are also deftly and credibly done, as well as the blazingly successful CIA bureaucrat Ed Pechous who went to work for Tamraz the day he left CIA.

From 1976 to 1997 author Robert Baer was a career spy for the CIA. His personal obsession became to find out who was responsible for blowing up the US embassy and a marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon in 1983. He repeatedly shakes his head over a CIA and FBI which year after year sluggishly fail to identify those obviously skilled, dangerous terrorists. In his spare time Baer threw some light on who they were and found important connections, especially to post-Shah Iran. He also laments throughout the lack of Arabic speakers like himself in U.S. intelligence and the Government's timid replacement of on-the-ground operatives by electronic surveillance.

Robert Baer speculates that better human intelligence and stronger pursuit of the Beirut bombers might have prevented the 9/11/2001 attacks against the U.S. mainland. Better intelligence, he asserts, might, of course, have failed to prevent 9/11. But unwillingness to pursue every lead virtually insured that the terrorists would succeed. -OOO-

Don't read this book unless you want a realistic, and frightning look at the status of the CIA and the world we live in. I found this book fascinating and amazing.

I got the feeling reading this that the book more or less exploded out of Robert Baer after 9/11. In case you didn't get this from other reviews, he was a CIA officer who was frustrated (quoting him "okay, pissed off") at all the bureaucratic nonsense and politicking at the CIA, and seriously concerned that no actual job was getting done.

The tone of the book reflects this; at first, he talks about his life and indoctrination into the CIA. He talks about CIA operations and in mostly general terms, what his job was and how he went about doing it. He talks about recruiting agents and tells both very interesting and entertaining stories about things he did on assignment or things that happened to him.

As the book goes on and he gains knowledge about functional intelligence and terrorism, it picks up with a "why aren't we doing this?" kind of flavor. Examples of corruption and mind numbing inaction brought on by fear of making a mistake created an almost Office Space or Dilbert -esque feeling about the CIA. You can tell he is still angry about it, too.

There's a lot in this book. His descriptions of the job and a lot of the things he has learned are really pretty incredible. He talks about specific terrorist suspects and their relationships with various groups. Iran is all over the place. And he definitely calls out specific Americans (without being liberal or conservative... he pretty much hates everybody) for being dishonest or inefficient. It's a nice feeling.

This is a must read to anyone interested in understanding the war on terrorism and why radical Islam has gained so much momentum among Muslims. As I read Robert Baers' book, the distrust I already had toward politicians became even more concrete. Baer exposes the politics being played by those obligated to protect the United States.

Unfortunately, the stakes in their game are the lives of the U.S. Citizen. I do not believe in conspiracy theories, and Baer does not suggest anything of the sort. However, he does reveal the mistakes and blindness from the State Dept. to the CIA prior to September 11, 2001. It is unfathomable that so many decision makers in Washington do not have a full understanding of our enemy in the war on terror. I have believed, since the beginning of the war that we have the ability to win decisively. However, politicians and bureaucrats haven't the spine to face the world and do what is necessary to win.

Baer shows us how many in Washington feel they can manipulate intelligence to make it appear as they wish. Problem is, sooner or later someone is going to call them on it. Baer was obligated to have the CIA review the book before it was published. Interestingly enough, Baer left the blacked out words and paragraphs, placed there by the CIA, in the publication. You still get an idea of what is being said without compromising information.

After reading this book, I highly recommend Baer's fiction novel, "Blow the house down." These two books go hand in hand.

Scholarship and media attention on international relations necessarily focus on what is in the public domain, but Robert Baer's book shows us the murky and mysterious world of intelligence. In a day and age where technology predominates, he argues for more human intel. For example, more agents in Germany might have meant an awareness of what the "Hamburg Cell" was hatching. There's an "I told you so" ring as the author recounts how he and others on the inside knew that the U.S. government's reduction of intel budgets and personnel in the wake of the Cold War would come back to haunt the U.S.

The story is substantive but also a bit sensationalized. Overall though, a good read and an important one for those seeking to understand the roots of 9/11--not only what motivated the perpetrators, but what the U.S. might have done earlier to disrupt Al Qaeda. Finished this book last June but just now writing it up.

It was refreshing and depressing to see how petty and bureaucratic Washington, DC can be in such key areas! With all of the talk about the importance of Central Asia, Iraq et al. In reality real information and potential solutions wwere sacrificed. The politically correct atmosphere especially in the Clinton years is still operating. The lack of resolve allowing a potential "Saddam Light" to be betrayed and much worse for the Iraqi army officers supporting him is frankly revolting. The role of former FBI Director Louis Freeh in helping destroy the remaining CIA assets in Asia is not surprising. He has never responded my questions about the involvement of his "ideal agent" in an obvious frame up proven by DNA and exact crime scene evidence for murder. This former Special agent helped inspire the famous book and movie "Silence of the Lambs". See No Evil should be required reading for every American! The lack of objectivity by the media is obvious. It is indicative of how many sensitive and important duties are handled in Washington.

Started out a little slow, he gets pretty detailed about some obscure middle east players, which I wasn't terribly interested in. Toward the middle it picked up and got more interesting. Overall it was a good read. At the end he tied his work in the CIA with the things going on in the middle east currently, which I found very eye-opening. Also gave a good, candid perspective of the current state of the CIA, as well as some insight into a career as a CIA case officer.

Bob Baer has written an outstanding account of his training and experience as a case officer in CIA's clandestine service. He provides excellent insight into a shadowy world few Americans understand or appreciate. Baer is a hero akin to the old school OSS-bred Directorate of Operations officers. His account of the careerism and political correctness of the new CIA is disheartening. The lack of testicular fortitude among the new generation of intelligence officers is, I am afraid, not limited to CIA. I saw it first-hand in another agency before my retirement after 35 years in intelligence.

It is interesting to compare "See No Evil" to Lindsay Moran's "Blowing My Cover, My Life as a CIA Spy." Moran's book has some value because of its updated information on how CIA case officers are trained at "The Farm" in rural Virginia. However, her account of her short-lived and less than heroic service as a field officer is in sharp contrast to Baer's service and contributions. Moran is the embodiment of what Baer sees as having gone wrong with the DO and with the Agency as a whole. She clearly does not understand what a case officer should be. Baer got it right. He deserves a salute and another medal just for writing "See No Evil." Attaboy, Bob!

Like most readers, I picked this up based on the plug I got from Syriana. For those expecting a rendition of the movie, "Sleeping with the Devil" by the same author is closer, but even then, it misses the point. The book provides an eye opener to both the mundane and important aspects of clandestine operations, and points out where we are grossly failing in the War on Terror. (Or is it extremism nowadays?) When much of the failure in this War is due to a lack of understanding at the top, it is worth a view from the bottom.

Like many books in the genre, the facts are unverifiable, but the ideas and themes can be double checked. Many are right, some not. The book helps point the way for us to find for ourselves.

I listened to the CDs, read by the author. It was pretty good but the author's failure to get details right made me question whether he really knew what he was talking about, or if he had really done the things he claimed to have done. For example, he refers to the "PUK" as the "Popular Union of Kurdistan" several times. Everyone knows that the P stands for Patriotic, not Popular. If he really was in northern Iraq, the author would know this. Not saying it's not worth the time, just that I question the accuracy of some of what's there.

Robert Baer takes us from his experience as a new CIA recruit to the end of his career. He tells us how he learned to handle sources, and takes us to the Middle East in a tale that is well-written and engaging. His accounts of the strange alliances produced by the Lebanese civil war are enlightening and always topical. His detective work trying to get to the bottom of the Beruit embassy bombings is admirable. And the way in which he was periodically stifled by our government's prohibition on assassinations in his efforts to gather intelligence and protect American security is quite interesting.

Baer describes how field work declined in importance after the Cold War. He was stationed in Central Asia, and his stories of travelling through impoverished, civil-war-ridden former Soviet republics, and visiting border guards who had been stationed there since the Cold War and who hadn't realized that the Soviet Union had dissolved, is fascinating. He also had fantastic opportunities to develop contacts who might have given policy-makers a better view of the political situation inside Russia, who might have provided warning of a possible coup. Alas, Russia was a friendly country, off-limits to Baer's spying.

Baer also provides a great picture of Kurdistan after the Gulf War. You will likely walk away from the book with a greatly hightened respect for current Iraqi president Talabani, and some of your beliefs about other Iraqi leaders may be challenged.

Baer is careful to avoid pointing to any specific decision by the policy-makers who guided the CIA through the '80s and '90s as the moment to prevent the 9/11 attacks. However, he is able to describe several promising opportunities that were passed up for various reasons. He also points to a missed opportunity to topple Saddam Hussein without the American invasion. It's sobering.

Baer returned to Washington to a desk job after an allegation surfaced that he was involved in a plot to assassinate Saddam. Pulled from the field, he had no idea how to survive in a bureaucracy. He got out with his good name, but just barely, and after observing some disturbing things about how our political system works.

The daring, secretive life of a CIA agent, how can you go wrong? The espionage/adventure aspect of the book is strong in parts. One purpose of this book was to generate interest and even possibly recruit for the CIA. I wouldn't be surprised if this book excited and challenged some to service in the CIA or other American intelligence agencies. Though part of the book does well in telling the adventures as a spy, much of it was dry and uninteresting. I found myself lost in a sea of names, unable to follow the gist. In an overall sense, the book wasn't written that well.

The main point of the book however, is to communicate the failure of the US government in having adequate intelligence. A veteran of the CIA, Baer tells of how the Central Intelligence Agency has diminished in the past few decades, namely because of political reputations and overcautious diplomacy. If his account is true, this is alarming for American citizens and great news for terrorists. The author suggests that better intelligence lies not only in technology (which according to him has been relied upon too heavily) but also in field workers. He hints that a greater number of competent CIA spies in the Middle East could have prevented the 9/11 attacks. The slow and seemingly ineffective war in Iraq today is showing us that brute force and military intimidation may not be the best way to fight terrorism. The fact that the war in Iraq was even started may be a reflection on America's faulty intelligence (weapons of mass destruction?). On a bright note, since the writing of the book there have been several occasions where terrorist attacks have been thwarted, namely the attack on the London airplanes. Perhaps there is much more going on behind the scenes than the public or Robert Baer knows about. In an age where terrorism is a very real threat to innocent civilians of any nationality, this is an interesting book to read and ponder.

"See No Evil" is not just a worthwhile read, but an important one for anyone interested in getting what I think is an objective look at what America has on its hands in confronting Islamic terrorism. The author, ex-CIA field agent, Bob Baer, has been in so many of the key geographical locations which are central to it, and displays a passion to understand it, carefully distinguishing actual facts from his subjective attempts to piece things together, but his thoughts indeed seem reasonable.

I recently finished listening to the CD version of See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism by Rober Baer. This is a very disturbing book as it describes the evisceration of the CIA by career bureaucrats whose only interest appears to be not to rock the boat. The author, a career CIA officer, makes it abundantly clear that had the CIA been operating as it should have been in the late 1980s 1990s that 9/11 would have been detected and deflected long before it occurred. His account of inadvertently discovering the location of a kidnapped CIA station chief in Lebanon and then not having the information acted upon by brain dead superiors makes for riveting reading and listening. (That station chief later died in captivity.) Even more disturbing is the penetration of the CIA by the oil lobbies and former President Clinton turning a blind eye to funds channeled from both Russia and China to the DNC. The refusal of both liberals and conservatives to deal with Ted Kennedy and others' involvement with this scandal indicates a very deep corruption of government by private interests across the board.

Robert Baer was a sort of accidental CIA operative. His mom was a rich hippie who dragged him all over creation as a child, and he was a ski-bum. He applied to the CIA as a joke while taking Mandarin at U.C. Berkeley. One of the amusing things he left out about his background (or which he never explicitly stated) was the fact that he went to Georgetown University as an undergrad. Georgetown seems to be one of those "gimme" schools for CIA recruits; if you go to school there, you're pretty much a legacy.

In fact, many have criticized this aspect to CIA recruitment: as a result of this, the CIA is made up of graduates of a fairly narrow range of academic institutions, and as such have a narrower view of the world than a more catholic group would. Then again, considering the titanic idiocies and anti-american monstrosities taught by former vietnam-war protestors in the schools these days, perhaps there is a reason for it.

In any case, Baer is a sort of class clown type guy who managed to get into the CIA. He used to ride his Harley around the Georgetown Library, to give you an idea of what type of guy he is. Since he had extensive language skills and experience living abroad, he became an "on the ground" operative. Much of his work with the CIA was involving terrorist cells in places like Lebanon in the 80s, Tajekistan, and among the Kurds in Northern Iraq in the mid 90s.

He gives what appears to be a fair account of the ways in which politically correct bureaucracy have gotten in the way of the business of spying. He claims (with some supporting evidence from the Kurdish community) that a coup against Saddam was quite possible in 95, but the National Security Council at the time more or less told the plotters to call it off. His accounts of the thought processes of the whackjob islamicists and of middle east residents in general pretty much match my observations from work: that part of the world sees everything as a giant conspiracy theory. People still don't seem to have absorbed this important fact about international politics.

I was particularly entertained at his account of his adventures in Washington. Since he had more experience with dealing with terrorists and KGB agents overseas, he applied the same lines of thinking to figure out washington, with amusingly mixed results.

As the author relates his work in the CIA from the early seventies when the American people started challenging our government's role in world politics, to today's even more chaotic world, he's revealed an agency frought with ineptitude and inefficiency. As one of the grunts on the ground, working clandestinely, he's watched in alarm as the effectiveness of the agency has gone from a stellar one gathering behind the scenes information to being a hand-tied-behind-their-backs (dis)organization. It's a fascinating read through the eyes and ears of one who's worked some of the most dangerous parts of the world.

A well written book that helps explain why the CIA is in the shape its in today.

This book could be said to be a rougher edged, true John LeCarre novel, and it is equally hard to put down. The author served in many of the areas in the news today from the mid 70's to the mid 90's. Baer was an on the ground operative speaking Arabic and running Arab agents. He finally quit when he saw the C IA turning into the see-no evil,, hear-no evil, do-no evil spy agency that has proved so ineffective in the new century. Agents now are mostly yuppies who cannot speak local languages and are discouraged from taking any risks. The result is no reliable intelligence.
"See No Evil" is a paean and an obituary for a spy agency that has no spies. It is also a history of the CIA when it did have spies and the background for events in the Middle East today. Entertaining, and educational -- pretty good.

If you are looking for a spy novel or 007 thriller, this book is not for you! If you you interested in the truth about the world around you and the business as usual in our government, then read it!
The insider tells all is exactly what this is. Fascinating reading with colorful descirptions of the way "business" is done.

I am motivated to write this review (my first) because the last chapter was so bad. I thought I may slept through parts, so I started to re-read it. No, I handn't slept, the chapter was disjointed from the rest of the book and itself. I couldn't finish re-reading it because, like the first time, I got tired of the rambling and griping. In this final chapter, the author missed the obvious. He was the problem and would have been forced to leave regardless of national and organizational leadership.

I could not put this book down. Robert Baer's life story in the CIA is compelling and fascinating. Its very eye opening in to the politics of the war on terror and how the politics and the bureaucracy is crippling the CIA and in turn, leaving America so incredibly vunerable to another terrorist attack. He is a straight shooter and a true patriot, and talks candidly about the current state of America's war on terror - and I gotta say, I don't feel safe. The government is clearly failing to protect America on every level and the incompetence of the government agencies charged with protecting America is staggering. However, Baer goes after both democrat and republican administrations equally, which is refreshing. I think it adds to his credibility.
After reading this book I wanted to tell everyone to read it.

If you liked the movie Syriana, you won't like the book or the poorly written autobiography by Robert Baer. It's a rehash of 9/11 failures ...there is nothing new here, not even a good description of CIA tradecraft. The close is typical: "Are we not hitting the target we can rather than the target we should"

If you liked the movie Syriana, you won't like the book or the poorly written autobiography by Robert Baer. It's a rehash of 9/11 failures ...there is nothing new here, not even a good description of CIA tradecraft. The close is typical: "Are we not hitting the target we can rather than the target we should"

I thought the best line out of this book was when he was trying to get something done in Afghanistan or someplace similar. But he knew that his western way of thinking wouldn't do, so "I thought better to be pissing out of the tent than pissing in". This of course replaced if you can beat them join them. And in this book Rober Baer always had to be flexible; from the time he was challenged as a ski instructor in Colorado by the ski patrol for to the end of season ultimate jump, as well as when he arrived in India and had to lose tails like mosquitos.

I obviously love this book, and hope you read it. Robert Baer reminds me of the author of Warrior Soul (a Navy Seal book). Both authors were born for the government service, but it took 20 years to find that out. Baer as a child rode in a sports car all over Europe with his Mom. He learned to pick up languages like Shirley Temple picked up dance routines.

Unlike his boss Milt Bearden, Baer was out of the DC bees nest. And maybe thats why his career ended so quickly.

See for yourself and you may want to read Bearden's "The Main Enemy" first.

Later,

John

This book changed the way I think about our Govt. It is quite scary how they failed us. I implore you to read this book and educate your self on why 9-11 and other terrorist attacks before it happened. I would have given it 5 stars but nothing can be perfect.

One could probably say there is something here for everybody. I have some experience and knowledge regarding some topics in this book, which is what I will address rather than rehash other reviews.

On page 86 Bob talks about the application process. I had a MA regarding counterinsurgency in Vietnam and was a Level 3 Arabic speaker, having also lived in the West Bank. Bob does not talk much about the written exam, but I only missed one question. This got me nothing but heartache, as every interview started with "I never saw a score as high as yours." I did not make any friends by stating "it was an easy test," which it was. I was also sent to DO for an interview. They rent a room for one day and you drive all over the place. The man who interviewed me was really rude, sucking on a pipe and never looking at me. They also ALWAYS take your picture with a polaroid and other childish games like that. Obviously, Bob's answers were better than mine. The interviewer, for instance, asked me how I would get information and recruit. I said you train me. He said take a shot at it. I said you need to know the language and, in the Middle East, get good background information from coffee shops and taxi drivers. The man scoffed. I said, "well, you didn't even know who Khomeini was and all you had to do was ask the man on the street." He also made the remark about "how do you feel about dealing with traitors." I answered "maybe he isn't a traitor and wants to overthrow a dictatorship for a better democracy." Boy, was I stupid. Bob said they only had three Arabic speakers at that time. And you wonder why?

I wish they had asked me about Pearl Harbor. My grandmother's sister was living in Japan with her weapons' producing husband and son. He spoke fluent Japanese. A couple of days before Dec. 7 they were in a restaurant and the Japanese admirals, hearing them speak English, remarked how surprised the Americans will be when they attack. The son told his parents but they did nothing. The son and mother were sent packing on the last boat out and the father was held in Japan for the duration. See what I mean about coffee shops and taxi drivers?

Page 87-88 is not true about the Sudanese, who I also know. He is not a Muslim Brother.

Bob also has a real prejudice against Arabs. On page 128-31 he goes on about Arafat, etc., being terrorists and tied to extremists. Ever since Begin every PM has needed settler support--or you wind up like Rabin. Mossad also started Hamas as a fundamentalist counterweight to the PLO (about the same time we back bin Laden). Like al-Qaeda, Hamas became independent and is now a real problem. Sure Arafat was hooked into the Nazi thing (all Arab nationalists, like Sadat and Nasser were), but so was the Stern Gang, of which Begin belonged to. The Israeli extremists tried to get Nazi support to fight the common enemy, England. Begin was a former terrorist who blew up the King David and Shamir took part in the murder of Count Bernadotte. I think Bob Baer really missed the point.

Bob writes another gaffe on page 178. He states some Arabs believed Saddam was on the CIA payroll. Hello!! Yes he was, in the 1950s, while plotting in Egypt. It's how he got his start. This is absolutely no secret and in any number of biographies on Saddam.

Bob's remark about money corrupting everything in Washington and hence America is sadly very true. I think Bob Baer is a patriot, not mistake about it, and he paid a price. Many people are naive enough to think the press really cares, like his experience when he tried to blow the whistle on corrupt congressmen.

What is best about this book is the last part. We should all take a look on the history of Chalabi and Talabani and others he writes about prior to the 2003 invasion.

I have not read much of the book yet but, so far I am intrigued.

Service was excellent and product as advertised.

This is a great inside account of a CIA operative. It explains how he started out as an ambitious eager to fight terrorism, but eventually became disillusioned by the beuracratic control in Washington. The details of his operations are very entertaining, but without prior knowledge of the history and players in middle-easter terrorism, it can be very difficult to keep all the names and places straight. It's also sometimes unclear when stories have been modified or parts are omitted. After all, the stories all feature lying and deceiving to reach a desired outcome, and it's unclear if this is applied to the reader as well. Overall though still a fascinating read, especially if you're looking for an inside account of the CIA ahow how it has recently been influenced by Washington.

One night, sitting up late, I was intrigued when I saw George Clooney on the Charlie Rose show discuss his film Syriana and how Bob Baer's book played a pivotal role in the screen play. Although I hadn't seen the film yet the trailers were very captivating. To follow up on this I bought "See No Evil" by Robert Baer.

This is a true 21st century spy novel about the inner workings (and not workings) of the CIA. A real eye opener into a glimpse of how the geopolitics of the world really works. Unfortunately, the major network or cable television channels would be much too afraid to touch on any of this stuff.

If you want to know why the Muslim nations are opposed to us read Tom Friedman (editorials in the New York Times), Michael Schearer (Imperial Hubris published under Anonymous) and William Blum (Rogue State). If you want to know why we were blind sided on 9/11 and why the "weapons of mass destruction" were never found in Iraq read this.

It also explains how one of the world's best foreign information services has fallen into a state of disrepair. And it started happening well before George Bush, Jr. came on the scene. Frighteningly, as the world is becoming more dangerous, we are unfortunately being left out of the loop of the clandestine global events that matter to us most.

Interestingly, more detail would have been revealed if not for the fact that the CIA redacted certain passages. Without giving away too much, I had to look up and see the fate of Jalal Talabani since, curiously, the name rang a bell. And for good reason. He is now the President of Iraq.

This one is definitely a page turner.

Robert Baer is an excellent author and brings intense credibility to writings. Highly recommend this book.

Saw this guy on TV and thought I'd give his biography a whirl. Former CIA agent who spent more than two decades chasing around the underworld of terror long before it was popular. He exposes some things everyone in this country should be aware of ... some sad things about our government but not surprising things. He'll take you through Chinese and Russian money ending up in Presidential campaigns and how he was drummed out when he tried to blow the whistle. He tells of Senators he tried to go to who buried him as well. Important read.