The Spymasters: How the CIA Directors Shape History and the Future Kindle Edition

One of the many reasons that Chris Whipple’s book, “The Spymasters” is so good is that Whipple is himself a masterful interrogator. When he was interviewing Michael Hayden, CIA Director under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Whipple asked him about presidential candidate Donald Trump’s statement during the 2016 campaign, “I’d bring back waterboarding . . . and a hell of a lot worse.” Hayden responded, “If a president wants to bring back waterboarding, he’d better bring his own bucket.”As one of the executive producers of the documentary, “The Spymasters,” for Showtime, I was lucky to watch Whipple at work as he interviewed all of the former CIA directors, and John Brennan while he was President Obama’s director. That’s where the idea of a book took shape. Whipple conducted extensive follow-up discussions after the making of the film, and came up with even more extraordinary material. In the book’s epilogue, Whipple talks about President Trump’s failure to heed the intelligence community’s warnings about COVID-19, and his ambivalence toward the CIA and other agencies in general. This is an important book, and Whipple has done a brilliant job unraveling some of the mysteries of our spying establishment.

Gives a good overall account and Historic Insight to the CIA.I think it's also fair, largely unbiased and honest.A good value for money read.

I am an avid reader of spy fiction and nonfiction. As a result, I looked forward to reading Chris Whipple’s history of the CIA through its directors from Richard Helms in the 1960’s through Gina Haspel of today. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. Simply put his words do not come off the page and at times I was reluctant to pick up the book. The drama is not there.The book is an outgrowth of a Showtime documentary written by Whipple with the same title. To be sure he covers the history highlighting the CIA’s initial success in Afghanistan and its massive failure to predict the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and the disclosure of the “family jewels” during the congressional hearings of the 1970s. He interviews directors George Tenet of “slam dunk” fame, John Brennan, Leon Panetta, and David Petraeus along with numerous high-level staffers.A strength of the book is that he highlights the tension between the CIA with its masters in the White House and the Congress. In my opinion the two directors that successfully navigated those shoals were George H.W. Bush and Leon Panetta, both master politicians. Thus aside from being a master spy the CIA director has to be a master politician.My problem with Whipple is that I believe he does not fully understand the how difficult the job is. There is so much information, much of it bad, coming at a CIA director making it extraordinarily difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff. It would have been a far better book for him to sit in the shoes of a director during a period of crisis trying to evaluate the incoming information and then to deal with the process of presenting it to the president.

There he goes again! Chris Whipple is the writer for our times. His intellect, insights, and journalistic mastery bring a level of transparency to the most mysterious agency in our government never before seen. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants an unvarnished look at the inner workings of the CIA and it’s relationship to the governing of our country.A great companion to his first wonderful book, “The Gatekeepers,” about all the Chiefs of Staff.

Not only is Whipple's book a joy to read, it provides cogent analyses of CIA directors through the years and how their skills, personalities, and leadership qualities shaped the world's most powerful intelligence agency. In this sense it's an important book as well as an enjoyable one, as a Biden administration gets ready to decide who will run the agency that will have an outsized effect on all our lives.

CW's level of intelligence, professionalism and perspective of a niche documentary filmmaker makes for one hell of a read into the real and gritty world of intelligence. How he got these people to open up to the extent they were allowed is amazing. By all means watch the accompanying film as well. Both book and film ought to be mandatory reading for anyone worldwide seeking to serve their country in this field.

I read as much as I can on the CIA...this book reads like a novel.....I excuse the cover for Brennan...who tried to bring down a duly-elected President on the basis of one whistle-blower.......Mueller Report found nothing.......having said that I recommend the book as it traces the early days of the CIA.....especially the 60's into the 70's with Vietnam and Watergate........good read.

I thought it would be difficult for Chris Whipple to top The Gatekeepers, his remarkable book about the White House chiefs. I was wrong. This intriguing study of the men and one woman who have led the CIA with varying degrees of success is hard to put down. I did stop to sleep and eat, but everything else went on hold until, sadly, I reached the end. Buy it now. You won’t be disappointed.

Fabulous in-depth book. Informative but the writing flows.