The first time I read this book was immediately after it was published. After another read, I have come to the conclusion that as with many other things, this should be required reading by all red blooded Americans. What's not to believe? The people that don't believe it are the direct descendents of the ones chanting "Peace in our time" after Neville Chamberlain returned from his meeting with der furher and are doing it again every time Bin Laden goes on the air. Bamford continues to tell the truth and if that gets a little close to home so be it. Without the spooks who knows where we'd be or be going.

An illuminating look behind the curtain at an agency that was unknown for so long. Bamford's history of the NSA reveals so many AMAZING secrets that were classified until shortly before his book was published:

- Eisenhower frequently sent fighter/bomber formations into Soviet airspace to see how far they could get before being detected, and how quickly the Soviet air defenses could react. This provocative action led to aircraft being shot down on several occasions before they could get out of Soviet airspace, and lives were lost. This finally ended when Gary Powers' U-2 was shot down.

-The reason we wanted the UN in New York? To make spying on everyone easier!

-The USS Liberty saw Israelis massacre 150 Egyptian POWs... so the Israelis tried to sink it, fully knowing it was a U.S. gov't ship.

All in all, a very readable, very informative book. While every page doesn't have jaw-dropping secrets from US history, there are enough to ensure you'll have fun while learning a bit of history.

One excellent point of education was the many disasters in our history resulting from agencies not sharing information. One thing Bush did right was making sure that something like 9/11 will never happen again because of this inter-service rivalry.

A very enjoyable book. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that it's not as cutting edge as when I first read it. (Body of Secrets was published within one-two years of many classified documents being made public.)

As intriguing as a lot of the subject matter is, this was a terribly written book in my opinion and i think two stars is really stretching it. Some of the historical incidents were interesting, but i really don't find descriptions of the offices, parking lots, sewage systems, etc. of the NSA. This is a great example of how a good idea translated into a boring, hard to digest book.

Horribly exaggerated by a journalist that tries to present personal insight as historical fact. He makes outrageous allegations that are wildly misguided and unproven. He is persuasive in his arguments, which make his assertions even more dangerous and outright foolishness.

It is a compelling read. Just be careful what you perceive as storytelling, what is attempted journalism, and what is fact.

Jeffrey W. Bennett, author of ISP Certification-The Industrial Security Professional Exam Manualand Under the Lontar Palm

This book is well written and an easy read of one of the most fascinating agencies of all time. Mr. Bamford has performed exhaustive research into the workings of the super-secret NSA. Personally, I have a long history as a intelligence analyst during the Cold War and reading this book brings back a lot of memories of the history and working of the world at the time. Thanks for putting this work together.

This was a worthwhile read. It covers several of the key intelligence operations that were spearheaded by the NSA during the close of the cold war and during the beginning of the middle-eastern anti-terrorism campaign. While this book is informative and entertaining, it is not about just the NSA. Many of the intelligence missions detailed in this work can be accredited to other agencies. But that isn't a major issue. Overall it is a very interesting read that should be required for anyone interested in the basic foundations of the field of modern SIGINT or the broad impacts of signals intelligence analysis.

I would hardly call it an anatomy but nevertheless it provided great insight for those without a clue on what the NSA does. The book focused primarily on the years between 1960-1975 on gathering of intelligence aboard on foreign nations particularly Russia and Vietnam. Bamford is sometimes controversial and comes to conclusions that to me warranted a much more careful examination; for instance, the claim the USS Liberty was purposely ambushed by Israel (rather than a mistake) and U.S. administration knew but in short let it slide. Other times the author examines how officials in U.S. administration(s) would be willing to clandestinely kill its own in plots that would rally the people and justify war.

Only in the last couple chapters does the reader get a glimpse of the inside of the NSA. And it is merely a glimpse. This book is much more focused on history and operations of gathering intelligence without getting technical. Certainly worthwhile for those never privy to the NSA.

The author, an intelligence expert, has
written this book on the National Secur-
ity Agency that contains a lengthy and
very detailed section on the Israeli at-
tack on the USS Liberty, the 41st anniv-
ersary of which has just past. It shows
that Israel clearly, deliberately inflic-
ted the brutal assault on the 172 man
crew that killed 34 of the US sailors, 5
of which were jewish Amer-I-cans! Israel,
the UN'S 'lil pet country, has a terrible
human rights record since 1948. It is usually
not easy to find such frank discussion by an
established figure on these matters, but aut-
hor Bamford lets it all hang our for the pub-
lic to see. Pick up on this winner!

This book is, like the author's previous book about signals intelligence and the National Security Agency (NSA), simply excellent, well researched, and very interesting.

It explores the U.S. government's intelligence activities as it relates to the acquisition of foreign government and foreign military communications and signals. It discusses Echelon, and the USA, UK, and New Zealand partnership to collectively acquire/intercept, collect, decode/decypher, and interpret communications and signals.

It is the definitive open-source study on signals intelligence and the NSA. It is by the foremost public expert on the NSA and signals intelligence (SIGINT).

If you are interested in learning about the NSA, cryptology, cryptanalysis, codebreaking, the U.S. governments interception of signals, and fascinating tour-de-force of world-wide signals interception, then this book (as well as the author's previous book The Puzzle Palace) are required reading.

Having been attached to the National Security Agency I appreciate how difficult it must have been for the author to obtain permission to present previously classified top secret code word material about such sensitive issues as Vietnam, the capture of the USS Pueblo, and the Isreali attack on the USS Liberty.

Although he is still constrained and unable to reveal all that went on I appreciate his courage in taking on the task of educating the general public as to the far reaching capabilities of NSA and it's three letter friends in the intelligence communities.

Having served in Asia I can say with surity that he is dead-on in his discriptions of what transpiried and edges the public far closer to the truth then they have ever been.

Enough said. Very good read for all those willing to accept the ruth.

Tremendous read for anyone interested in espionage, cryptology, significant historic world events, etc.

Simply stated, for history buffs, this type of knowledge of what goes on behind the scenes is truly fascinating. From the events surrounding the Cuban missle crisis, the reckless mass flyover of Russian airspace by spy planes, oceanic and other listening posts, and the sinking of the Liberty, this book is a veritable library documenting the history and development of the NSA.

as a relative newcomer to books on our intelligence community, Body of Secrets is an excellent choice for those of us who are looking for a substantive, easily comprehended history of the NSA, as well as the juicy scoops mentioned by Mr. Steele below.

Especially interesting are the challenges that the NSA faces from the mutiplying growth of telecommunications- i.e. in fiber optic networks, which have created a shift from our traditional tether-based eavesdropping activity. Alot of food for thought here, and a very satisfying read.

This book was like an American history lesson of the 20th century, telling the side of the news that was always hidden buy always an integral part of world affairs. Many of the tales are "war stories" told from sources who clearly are retired intellence officers, so there is a focus on the dramatic events where boats were sinking or lives were on the line, although the book notes that much of the work of the NSA was dilligently listening to distinctive radar pings and other telltale signals intellegence throughout the cold war. Fascinating and eye-opening book ~ highly recommended, especially in light of recent world events that have focused so much attention on how important our secret intellegence services really are!

This book explains the functioning of the ultra-secret spy organization, the National Security Agency (NSA = No Such Agency), in a more or less hagiographic way: its enormous budget (equals a Fortune 50 company), its employees (still a shortage of linguists), its recruitment system, its information storage capacity (5 trillion pages, 1.6 million data tapes, of which some are kept eternally), its information gathering (can intercept electronic mail sent by Cisco routers, a former Cisco engineer is an NSA technical advisor), its computer brain.

The author criticizes the NSA for eavesdropping on the international communications of US citizens (already in 1975!) and for spying on US citizens (protests against the Vietnam war).
Its ultra-secrecy can create Kafkaeske situations: an immigrant was arrested and put illegally in solitary confinement for three years without knowing exactly why (the reason was a secret).

The author is heavily critical for the military ('Restless from a decade of peace, out of touch with reality, the Joint Chiefs of Staff were desperate for a war, any war.') and for the Pentagon, because it deceives the public ('trumping up wars for Americans to fight and die was standard, approved policy at the highest levels of the Pentagon.')
These authorities together with intelligence agencies created or proposed to create incidents to provoke war (the Tonkin Gulf incident, the Pueblo affair or operation Northwoods - a proposition to organize a secret campaign of terrorism within the US in order to blame Castro!).

James Bamford's work contains excellent information but it is far too detailed (e.g. the USS Liberty affair) and far too long.

This expose of THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY is MUST reading for ALL thinking Americans.That eliminates the 29% of the population that still back Prez. Bush-Especially read about the "Kennedy era OPERATION NORTHWOODS" proposed by The Joint Chiefs of Staff.That alone should make doubtful the Governments explaination of 9-1-1.

A decade ago, one usually thought of the NSA as a place full of brilliant mathematicians and the fastest computing machines on the planet. Hollywood movies complemented the picture with portrayals of the NSA as being slightly intrusive but at the same time comical to a large degree, but slightly behind the times technologically. A realistic look at the NSA was lacking, and those curious about the agency assumed that the lack of information about it was due to the constraints of security.

The goal of this book is to satisfy this curiosity, and give a view of the NSA that is as close to the truth as possible, and yet still not violate its security. It is a fascinating overview, and readers with a mathematical background will have an even deeper appreciation of the some of the activities of the NSA after reading the book. The technological prowess of the NSA is impressive, and no doubt the people who work there are fascinated by the projects they are involved in.

But as in any large organization, the NSA has its share of internal discord and petty fiefdoms. The author discusses this in the book, wherein he describes senior managers as being "warlords", with the effect that it was impossible to obtain consensus on anything. Given the mission of the NSA this is particularly troublesome, as such pettiness only thwarts the ability to protect the United States from its enemies. One can only wonder if these internal problems were responsible for the failure of the NSA to gain useful information about the attacks on 9/11. The author discusses 9/11 in the afterword of the book, and his discussions are very disconcerting. The inability of the NSA to find the perpetrators of 9/11, before and after the attacks, is flabbergasting considering the technology that the NSA deploys.

If the NSA was respected in the past then this respect has diminished in recent years, due in part to the news reports that it has been engaged in unauthorized eavesdropping on American citizens. Even if these reports are untrue one must still maintain or develop an extreme diligence regarding the activities of the NSA. If it is engaging in illegal acts, and if governmental checks are not put in place or followed by the Congress of the United States, each citizen then is morally justified in making sure that the NSA is not able to eavesdrop or interfere with personal privacy. Citizens should not attempt to interfere with any of the activities of the NSA, but should only use certain methodologies and strategies to guard their personal information from its prying eyes.

But how could one do this, given the incredible computational power that is harnessed by the NSA, along with its formidable staff of highly competent mathematicians? The answer is that citizens will have to use more ingenuity and creativity, and reject the idea that it takes lots of money or resources to successfully protect privacy. It is easy to become lackadaisical when one is given large amounts of money or computing resources, and become seduced by the idea that no one can compete with you if you have these resources. Creativity usually suffers when this is the case, and this situation is to be contrasted with those who must work under severe cost constraints, which requires a high degree of innovation, along with technical skill. Indeed, the history of computing shows what can be accomplished "in the garage."

It has not yet been shown that the NSA has stepped beyond its bounds of legal authority, despite clamoring in the popular press. But if it does, and if it is not held accountable by our government, we are morally obligated to protect ourselves from its intrusions. This is especially true for those of us who have background in science and technology. We must offer our help to our fellow citizens and come together in mutual resolve. Our quarrel will not be with the people who work with the NSA. They have their own reasons for being there, and their motivations are irrelevant. Instead our goal should be to protect our private information, telephone calls, and other methods that we use to transfer information from the technological behemoth of the NSA. This will take pertinacity and determination but we can do it. To paraphrase a line from a popular science fiction movie, our goal is not to beat their people...but we can beat their machines.

This is an excellent history of the NSA full of fascinating -- and sometimes frightening -- facts. The book is especially strong on NSA, and some other covert, activities during the Cold War years. The book's one real weakness is that, as it gets into the late 1980s, the 1990s and early years of the 21st century, it gets much less detailed, presumably because the more current information is sensitive enough that no one wants to talk about it. The result is that you learn very little about the NSA role in the Persian Gulf War, the Balkans wars, and the rise of the current wave of terrorism. Osama bin Laden does merit a number of mentions, though, and Bamford has also tacked on a truly compelling, if oddly superfluous, narrative of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which, frankly, doesn't have that much to do with the NSA. Still, "Body of Secrets" provides some truly important insights into what was really going on behind the scenes during the Cold War era and provides at least some hints about what might really be going now.

It's hard to criticize a well-researched book on a topic like the NSA because there is so little information out there and ANY public disclosure is a boon. But that being said, this is a very frustrating book to read. The organization into "body parts" such as "heart, soul, etc" may be cutesy but it gives the content a zig-zag flavor that is more often than not a distraction to the reader.
But, it is a book that should be read by a great majority of Americans -- both to build some appreciation for the vast numbers of people who labor heroically at a critical occupation (as another reviewer put it) as exciting as growing alfafa and to better understand the furor over the powerful capabilities of the NSA being directed at citizens of the US here at home.
In a democaracy, secrecy carries a heavy burden of trust but that trust must always be tempered by the risk of abuse and the need for oversight.

This is the best book on No Such Agency--period. Bamford's update of his previous Puzzle Palace is controversial, information dense, and an exciting read. For those of us who served in Sigint during the Cold War, it'll bring back "fond" memories. (Thanks, Mr. Bamford for mentioning my unit at Mount Eckstein). Communications intelligence, and related collection endeavors are the backbone of our collection and analysis, and while we have recently come up short in the area of HUMINT, (Human intelligence) the plugged in man in the little black van is still getting the goods on the bad guys, and providing us with the right stuff. Bravo Bamford!

James Bamford has been writing about the American Intelligence Community for over two decades. His book is one of the few that describe the computing power of the NSA. There is a higher ranking intelligence group called NiCaD which is a union of the NSA, CIA and DIA that is connected mainly by Artificial Intelligence and some Human Americans. If you told people you worked for NICAD Intelligence they would think you were nuts because noone has ever heard of it. Eventually there will be American cyborgs given information directly from NSA computers. Its the old story, if the other guy is planning to do it then America and their powerful ally Britain are doing it too. A computer attached to the human brain is hinted at in Bamfords book so all of this information is in the public domain anyway. King George VI of great Britain called for cooperation between America and Britain and I will support that belief. Thank God that the Windsors and the Bush families are friends and share SIGINT.

Mr. Bamford has done an enormous job in his extraordinary book "Body of secrets." He clearly and copiously dissected the most powerful spying agency on the face of the earth. His research is opulent and his writing is excellent. "Body of secrets" will provide the reader with a fascinating analysis of the most surreptitious spying agency that has ever been assembled.
I would highly recommend this book and gives it a definite two thumbs up !!

I worked in this area in a peripheral way for many years. Bamvord didn't go into details because he did not know any. I was disappointed in most of the book. His little political asides smacked of Democrat talking points. He could have covered the downsizing of intelligence gathering during the Clinton administration, but didn't. I enjoyed reading about Crypto City and the references to Seymour Cray and the super computers. All of the two hundred references cited here saved the book from being a total loss.There could be a great book on this subject but this wasn't it.

~Body of Secrets : Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency~ is an intriguing look into national security apparatus of the NSA. This less-than-known history of political intrigue and power play intel-games in the 20th century is enthralling. The chapters on the U-2 spy missions against the Soviets and the Cuban Missile Crisis are really interesting. Another chapter captures the tragedy of the intelligence ship, the U.S.S. Liberty, which in the heat of the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, was attacked by Israel and a debacle ensued thereafter. The circumstances surrounding the attack have never been fully probed, but the implication is foul play. A fascinating chapter documents the NSA cat-and-mouse games in a trawler off the coast of North Korea in the midst of the Cold War. Another chapter called Heart gives walkthrough of the Crypto City in Maryland-the elaborate intelligence complex, which remains the core of the NSA machine-and Bamford delves as deep in detail as the NSA will publicly allow. The author discusses the UKUSA agreement that brings America's WWII ally and Commonwealth countries like Australia, New Zealand, and Canada into our nation's cooperative intelligence sphere. (The NSA operates a huge SIGINT installation in the UK and much to the chagrin of the continental European Union states.) Bamford captures the successes of the NSA with clarity and admiration, but shows its bureaucratic bungling on occasion and its conflicts with other agencies for power and funding.

The NSA of the 21st century is faced with new challenges. The focal point of its SIGINT and espionage operations during the Cold War was the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union's byzantine intelligence structure with its fixed bureaucracy advanced in technology at a snail's pace even with technological espionage and leaks. Every so often some turncoat politician or a bureaucrat in the U.S. State Department acquiesced in loosening technology transfer controls on exports, and Soviet technology would get a shot in the arm. Otherwise, the NSA didn't have to move very fast. But times have changed, and the communications revolution that has reached critical mass. So with the advent of fiber-optic connections, broadband and wireless technologies, the NSA is in a frenzied race to upgrade its technologies. NSA remains an albatross bureaucracy and concessions have been made that all 38,000 employees couldn't even receive an e-mail from the Director because there were so many separate e-mail systems. Yet with a focused target, the NSA has the most advanced electronic surveillance practices and capabilities in the world. A post 9/11 follow-up chapter was added analyzing the oversight that lead up to that terrifying day and the subsequent shake-up thereafter. At times Bamford really captivates the reader and overall this book makes for a fascinating weekend read.

After 9/11, with the advent of Homeland Security, the concern for civil liberties abuse is obvious, as private citizens could become targets of surveillance. Also revelations have been made about the Clinton Administration utilizing the NSA for corporate espionage to help American interests against Airbus. More innovations like the Patriot Act provide the impetus for the NSA being more closely integrated with CIA, FBI, DIA, DEA, and other intelligence or law enforcement agencies. The Patriot Act leaves the NSA's previous prohibition against operating domestically in limbo, and it sets the stage for their counterintelligence and counter-terrorism activities within the U.S.

"Quis ipsos custodiet custodes?"
-Juvenal

The title of this book in pretty misleading. The "anatomy" of the NSA isn't really the focus until the final 25% of the book, the rest is mostly on the history of the various activities of the agency. Still, this is a mighty ambitious and impressive volume that I found fairly engrossing in places (especially the harrowing attack on the USS Liberty by Israel in 1967). I learned a bunch, but I'd say this one is best suited to military history and espionage buffs. Definitely more info than I needed.

What is the NSA? and what does it do? This book is an effort to describe and explain the history of an agency that most Americans have never heard of until recently. The Reader is given much information about its role in the past and present. But in the shadowy land that the NSA seems to occupy, such 'information' is not necessarily the same as fact or truth or even recorded non-events.
Diversions, double agents, disinformation and outright deception are what the NSA does on a daily basis and one has to wonder just how much of the information 'released' or 'leaked' about this agency is close to what it appears to be. And that is of of itself is very troubling because if there is ANY agency in the United States that has the alleged ability (or at least the potential) to be "Big Brother", the NSA is the one. The ability to intercept ,monitor, and manipulate just about every type of modern communication is staggering in its implications.
In the post 9/11 world of 'The Patriot Act' (face it, a loyal citizen can now get a reward for 'turning in' a neighbor for undefined 'suspicious acts'), The NSA's seeming ability to 'monitor' everyone as spelled out in this book is very alarming. The spying capability is there and use (or misuse)should be a concern of everyone.

Although some of the historical events covered in the book should lend themselves to the thrilling type of stuff other reviews seem to say exists, I find the whole book as boring as it must be to sit for hours eavesdropping on meaningless conversations. Its interesting to learn how electronic eavesdropping is done for about 100 pages then........

I was very surprised by Mr. Bamford's new book. The book was suggested to me by a friend who had enjoyed his last book, The Puzzle Palace, which was a 'landmark' book in my mind. At first I did not think I would like it because I felt that it would be too technical. But I was wrong. Rather than being a dry history filled with technical data, it reads like a thriller.

He does this by focusing not on the spy machines but the people behind them. I am very surprised that he was able to get so many former NSA officials to cooperate with him.

Having read the TOP books in the Government Cover-up Genre; "Unconventional Flying Objects" (NASA UFO Investigator for 30 years) by the scientist Dr. Paul Hill; my FAVORITE is "Alien Rapture" by Edgar Fouche (Top Secret Black Programs Insider) and Brad Steiger (Great fiction-soon to be a movie); "Alien Agenda" by the best selling author of 'Crossfire' Jim Marrs (Best reference on UFOlogy); and "The Day After Roswell," by Colonel Corso - I'd say this book is a MUST READ also!

Why would a respected, decorated, connected Military Officer (Corso) swear in a Court of Law that the UFO Conspiracy is real and that the facts and agenda in these books ARE TRUE? Why did NASA try to ban Dr. Paul Hill's book? Why were Fouche's home, car, and hotel rooms broken into? Why did he go underground after delivering his `insider presentation to the International UFO Congress? Why has the great researcher and bestseller, Jim Marrs, been slandered? Why are there still questions about the deaths of Corso and Hill? Were their sudden demise a product of this conspiracy?

Why? If you read this excellent book and the others, you will know that they are indeed true. Two well-respected American Astronauts have come forward to proclaim they had seen evidence of the Roswell UFO crash and stated they know the cover-up is real. You be the judge. Read this book and check out the reviews of the other TOP books I have mentioned.