Honorable Men; My Life in the CIA
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. 493, [3] pages. Illustrations. Index. DJ has no price, is soiled, worn: with small tears, small chips missing. Stamp on bottom edge. William Egan Colby (January 4, 1920 – April 27, 1996) was an American intelligence officer who served as Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from September 1973 to January 1976. During World War II Colby served with the Office of Strategic Services. After the war he joined the newly created Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Before and during the Vietnam War, Colby served as chief of station in Saigon, chief of the CIA's Far East Division, and head of the Civil Operations and Rural Development effort, as well as overseeing the Phoenix Program. After Vietnam, Colby became director of central intelligence and during his tenure, under intense pressure from the United States Congress, adopted a policy of relative openness about U.S. intelligence activities to the Senate Church Committee and House Pike Committee. Derived from a Kirkus review: As Director of Central Intelligence, Bill Colby spent most of his time testifying before Congressional investigation committees on CIA malpractices. Colby's main aim is to argue his case that the CIA must figure out a way to disseminate the information it gathers to the public without giving away its trade secrets. There is a big chunk of pragmatism underlying this open stance, since Colby feels that, in the then political climate, the CIA has no choice but to open up and show everyone what a good job it does. In Colby's case, the jobs have included channeling money to center parties in Italy in the mid-1950s and advocacy of a ""people's war"" strategy in Vietnam, which included the infamous Phoenix project. Colby's classic CIA background--Princeton, Columbia Law School and a curious ability to endorse virtually any act on the basis of Communist "subversion" without recognizing the subversiveness of the CIA itself--give the book more than headline-grabbing interest. Condition: Very good / Good.
Keywords: Intelligence, CIA, Memoirs, William Colby, Assassinations, Bay of Pigs, Richard Helms, Richard M. Nixon, Vietnam War, Central Intelligence, Strategic Services, James Schlesinger
ISBN: 0671228757
[Book #71999]
Price: $70.00