The spymasters : how the CIA directors shape history and the future / Chris Whipple.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 339-356) and index.

Introduction: "There's something going on." -- "Stay the hell away from the whole damned thing" Richard Helms, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon -- "You know he's one of them, don't you?" James Schlesinger, William Colby, and Gerald Ford -- "We were just plain asleep" George H.W. Bush, Stansfield Turner, and Jimmy Carter -- "That's the most frightening thing I've ever heard" William Casey and Ronald Reagan -- "Never go home at night without wondering where the mole is" William Webster, Robert Gates, and George H.W. Bush -- "A jungle full of poisonous snakes" James Woolsey, John Deutch, and Bill Clinton -- "They're coming here" George Tenet, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush -- "It's a slam dunk" George Tenet and George W. Bush -- "He died quickly" Porter Goss, Michael Hayden, and George W. Bush -- "You just have to hope that ultimately God agrees with you" Leon Panetta and Barack Obama -- "Everyone thinks this stuff is easy. None of this stuff is easy" David Petraeus, John Brennan, and Barack Obama -- "I would like you to do us a favor though" Mike Pompeo, Gina Haspel, and Donald Trump.

"Only eleven men and one woman are alive today who have made the life-and-death decisions that come with running the world's most powerful and influential intelligence service. With unprecedented, deep access to nearly all these individuals plus several of their predecessors, Chris Whipple tells the story of an agency that answers to the United States president alone, but whose activities--spying, espionage, and covert action--take place on every continent. At pivotal moments, the CIA acts as a brake on rogue presidents, starting in the mid-seventies with DCI Richard Helms's refusal to conceal Richard Nixon's criminality and continuing to the present as the actions of a CIA whistleblower have ignited impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump. Since its inception in 1947, the Central Intelligence Agency has been a powerful player on the world stage, operating largely in the shadows to protect American interests. For The Spymasters, Whipple conducted extensive, exclusive interviews with nearly every living CIA director, pulling back the curtain on the world's elite spy agencies and showing how the CIA partners--or clashes--with counterparts in Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Russia. Topics covered in the book include attempts by presidents to use the agency for their own ends; simmering problems in the Middle East and Asia; rogue nuclear threats; and cyberwarfare"--