So-and-so armed and relying on his '.375' caliber pistol. Assistance from Kennedy is believable, but he was never a LtCol (he was in the Navy). For example: - Reference to assistance from 'Lieutenant Colonel John F. Unfortunately, I believe she put a bit too much trust into the veracity of one or two of her first-hand-account sources. This is my first opportunity to enjoy this author and, based on her comments in the prologue, I was encouraged by the evident thorough research and numerous credible references. Having spent 40+ years in the military and intelligence community, I was looking forward to reading (listening to) this book. Good book excellent subject needs additional substantiation.

Lots of facts, offset by too much fiction PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio. Is the CIA's paramilitary army America's weaponized strength or a liability to its principled standing in the world?Įvery operation reported in this audiobook, however unsettling, is legal. Jacobsen's exclusive interviews - with members of the CIA's Senior Intelligence Service (equivalent to the Pentagon's generals), its counterterrorism chiefs, targeting officers, and Special Activities Division's Ground Branch operators who conduct today's close-quarters killing operations around the world - reveal, for the first time, the enormity of this shocking, controversial, and morally complex terrain. Written with the pacing of a thriller, Surprise, Kill, Vanish brings to vivid life the sheer pandemonium and chaos, as well as the unforgettable human will to survive and the intellectual challenge of not giving up hope that define paramilitary and intelligence work. Despite Hollywood notions of off-book operations and external secret hires, covert action is actually one piece in a colossal foreign policy machine. With unprecedented access to 42 men and women who proudly and secretly worked on CIA covert operations from the dawn of the Cold War to the present day, along with declassified documents and deep historical research, Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen unveils - like never before - a complex world of individuals working in treacherous environments populated with killers, connivers, and saboteurs. Almost every American president since World War II has asked the CIA to conduct sabotage, subversion, and yes, assassination. Originally known as the president's guerrilla warfare corps, SAD conducts risky and ruthless operations that have evolved over time to defend America from its enemies. When diplomacy fails and war is unwise, the president calls on the CIA's Special Activities Division, a highly classified branch of the CIA and the most effective black-operations force in the world. Vanish.without a trace.įrom Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen, the untold story of the CIA's secret paramilitary units.

Surprise kill vanish by annie jacobsen