State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration

by James Risen

State of War is an explosive book, filled with revelations, about the secret scandals of the Bush administration and a national-security bureaucracy run amok. With relentless media coverage, breathtaking events, and extraordinary congressional and independent investigations, it is hard to believe that we might not know some of the most significant facts about the presidency of George W. Bush. Yet beneath the surface events of the Bush presidency lies a secret history — a series of hidden events that makes a mockery of many of the stories on the surface.

This hidden history involves domestic spying, abuses of power, and outrageous operations. It includes a CIA that became caught in a political crossfire that it could not withstand, and what it did to respond. It includes a Defense Department that made its own foreign policy, even against the wishes of the commander-in-chief. It features a president who created a sphere of deniability, in which his top aides were briefed on matters of the utmost sensitivity — but the president was carefully kept in ignorance. State of War reveals this hidden history for the first time, including scandals that will redefine the Bush presidency.

Under the guise of wartime secrecy, the CIA, the Pentagon, and the White House have trampled on all checks and balances. In the wake of the WMD scandal, of George Tenet's departure from the CIA, and of the reorganization of our intelligence agencies, an unprecedented number of current and former employees of the CIA and the White House have been willing to talk to the author. The book will reveal criminal scandals, far worse than anything previously reported. The author's unparalleled access to the intelligence community has uncovered stories that are guaranteed to dominate headlines for many weeks, including: The CIA knew there were no WMDs. The author tells the unknown story that the CIA had incontrovertible proof that Saddam's WMD programs had been abandoned. He also shows that careers were made or broken based on enthusiasm for the war effort. In frightening, specific detail, the author reveals the leads to terror in Saudi Arabia that have been overlooked or suppressed by the CIA and other investigators.

Product Details
Subtitle: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration
Author: Risen, James
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2006
Binding: HARDCOVER