Denial and Deception - An Insider's View of the CIA

Melissa Boyle Mahle risked her life as a CIA field officer in the Middle East until her departure from the Agency in 2002. As a former clandestine operative, she has a unique vantage point from which to view the political and operational culture of the agency in the post-Cold War climate, and to reveal how the CIA failed to anticipate the 9/11 attacks. 

From Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, Mahle provides a vivid personal and historical narrative of how the CIA became a rudderless organization, lost in the post-Cold War world.  Afraid to take risks that might offend Congress and European allies after overstepping its legal bounds in the Iran-Contra era, gutted of the clandestine operators who knew how to run secret wars, 

exhausted from reform whiplash, and demoralized by criticism and poor performance, the CIA simply became unable and unwilling "to get down and dirty to do the hard part to fight a real war on terrorism."  

In addition, the book chronicles what it is like to be a woman in the CIA. Within the agency culture, where career advancement for women—from advanced language training to choice assignments— requires overcoming hurdles that male colleagues do not face.

Denial and Deception is an unparalleled history of the CIA’s last two decades and is a unique contribution to our understanding of the secret world of intelligence.