The murky underworld of espionage, counterespionage, double and triple agents has long fascinated author Kross, and here he presents the people and events that have formulated the CIA from its inception in 1947 to today. He provides insights into such characters as founder Bill Donovan, mole-obsessed counterintelligence chief James Angleton and J. Edgar Hoover, whose FBI often clashed with the CIA, although their goals should have been aligned. He tells the story of Operation Paperclip, wherein Nazi scientists were ushered into some of the most pivotal positions in American research and development, regardless of their past actions or existing proclivities. He reveals endless plotting against other governments and leaders involving destabilization, overthrow and assassination. He details the hunt for Osama bin Laden and the eventual deadly compound strike by Seal Team 6—whose ranks were subsequently decimated in a suspicious helicopter crash. He reveals that 35 CIA operatives were in Benghazi when the American ambassador and others were killed; they were all allegedly involved in running guns to Syria from the American mission, the real reason for the attack. Politics makes strange bedfellows, indeed. The convoluted chronicles of the CIA prove that beyond a doubt!

TALES FROM LANGLEY The CIA: from Truman to Obama By Peter Kross. 378 Pages. 6x9 Paperback. Illustrated. References.