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The secret sentry : the untold history of the National Security Agency / Matthew M. Aid.

By: Contributor(s): Publisher: New York : Bloomsbury Press, 2009Edition: 1st U.S. edDescription: viii, 423 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type:
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ISBN:
  • 9781596915152
  • 1596915153
Other title:
  • Secret sentry, the untold history of the NSA
  • Untold history of the National Security Agency
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Contents:
Prologue: The origins of the American cryptologic effort against Russia -- Roller-coaster ride: The travails of American communications intelligence: 1945-1950 -- The storm breaks: Signals intelligence (SIGINT) and the Korean War: 1950-1951 -- Fight for survival: The creation of the National Security Agency -- The inventory of ignorance: SIGINT during the Eisenhower administration: 1953-1961 -- The crisis years: SIGINT and the Kennedy administration: 1961-1963 -- Errors of fact and judgment: SIGINT and the Gulf of Tonkin Incidents -- The wilderness of pain: NSA and the Vietnam War: 1964-1969 -- Riding the whirlwind: NSA during the Johnson administration: 1963-1969 -- Tragedy and triumph: NSA during the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations -- Dancing on the edge of a volcano: NSA during the Reagan and Bush administrations -- Troubles in paradise: From Desert Storm to the War on Terror -- Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory: 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan -- A mountain out of a molehill: NSA and the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction scandal -- The dark victory: NSA and the invasion of Iraq: March-April 2003 -- The good, the bad, and the ugly: SIGINT and combating the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan -- Crisis in the ranks: The current status of the National Security Agency.
Summary: Peering from space via satellite, tapping telephone lines, computer networks, and cell phone frequencies around the globe, the National Security Agency monitors enemy states, terror suspects, and friendly nations alike. Some 60 percent of the presidents daily intelligence briefing comes from this one agency. From Eastern Europe to Korea to Iraq and Afghanistan, the NSA has played a key role in America's geopolitical successes, and some of its failures. This book follows the NSA from the tense days of the Cold War through its controversial role in the War on Terror. The Secret Sentry reveals hidden chapters of the NSA's history, including its party in dramatic events such as the Six-Day War, the Soviet downing of Korean Airlines flight 007, and the pursuit of al Qaeda, where agency intercepts were vital in capturing top lieutenants of Osama bin Laden. Aid explores the agency's involvement in the 2003 Iraqi intelligence debacle, where evidence that NSA officials called "ambiguous" was used as proof of Iraqi WMD capacity, and reveals the intense debate within the NSA over its unprecedented role, pressed by the Bush-Cheney administration, in spying on U.S. citizens since 9/11.
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Item type Home library Collection Shelving location Call number Status Barcode
Book Book Buhl Public Library Adult Nonfiction Adult Nonfiction Nonfiction Politics Classified (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 33316000265539

Includes bibliographical references (pages 314-408) and index.

Prologue: The origins of the American cryptologic effort against Russia -- Roller-coaster ride: The travails of American communications intelligence: 1945-1950 -- The storm breaks: Signals intelligence (SIGINT) and the Korean War: 1950-1951 -- Fight for survival: The creation of the National Security Agency -- The inventory of ignorance: SIGINT during the Eisenhower administration: 1953-1961 -- The crisis years: SIGINT and the Kennedy administration: 1961-1963 -- Errors of fact and judgment: SIGINT and the Gulf of Tonkin Incidents -- The wilderness of pain: NSA and the Vietnam War: 1964-1969 -- Riding the whirlwind: NSA during the Johnson administration: 1963-1969 -- Tragedy and triumph: NSA during the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations -- Dancing on the edge of a volcano: NSA during the Reagan and Bush administrations -- Troubles in paradise: From Desert Storm to the War on Terror -- Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory: 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan -- A mountain out of a molehill: NSA and the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction scandal -- The dark victory: NSA and the invasion of Iraq: March-April 2003 -- The good, the bad, and the ugly: SIGINT and combating the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan -- Crisis in the ranks: The current status of the National Security Agency.

Peering from space via satellite, tapping telephone lines, computer networks, and cell phone frequencies around the globe, the National Security Agency monitors enemy states, terror suspects, and friendly nations alike. Some 60 percent of the presidents daily intelligence briefing comes from this one agency. From Eastern Europe to Korea to Iraq and Afghanistan, the NSA has played a key role in America's geopolitical successes, and some of its failures. This book follows the NSA from the tense days of the Cold War through its controversial role in the War on Terror. The Secret Sentry reveals hidden chapters of the NSA's history, including its party in dramatic events such as the Six-Day War, the Soviet downing of Korean Airlines flight 007, and the pursuit of al Qaeda, where agency intercepts were vital in capturing top lieutenants of Osama bin Laden. Aid explores the agency's involvement in the 2003 Iraqi intelligence debacle, where evidence that NSA officials called "ambiguous" was used as proof of Iraqi WMD capacity, and reveals the intense debate within the NSA over its unprecedented role, pressed by the Bush-Cheney administration, in spying on U.S. citizens since 9/11.

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