Surprise, Kill, Vanish

By Annie Jacobsen

Surprise, Kill, Vanish - Annie Jacobsen
  • Release Date: 2019-05-14
  • Genre: Military History
Score: 4
4
From 391 Ratings

Description

From Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen, the untold USA Today bestselling story of the CIA's secret paramilitary units.
Surprise . . . your target. Kill . . . your enemy. Vanish . . . without a trace.
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.
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. Almost every American president since World War II has asked the CIA to conduct sabotage, subversion and, yes, assassination.
With unprecedented access to forty-two 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.
Despite Hollywood notions of off-book operations and external secret hires, covert action is actually one piece in a colossal foreign policy machine.
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. 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. Is the CIA's paramilitary army America's weaponized strength, or a liability to its principled standing in the world? Every operation reported in this book, however unsettling, is legal.

Reviews

  • Exhilarating

    5
    By Tj3133
    This book dives into the abyss of what the clandestine services is all about. Reading this now you can still see the underhand things which have been conducted by not just foreign governments but also the United States. All in the name of freedom. To which I humbly agree with. Thank you all.
  • Great Book

    5
    By Jreasner
    Incredibly interesting and very well written.
  • Very informative

    5
    By JDW-68
    Now I know what was happening behind the scenes while serving in Special Forces units in Asia.
  • Perfect title

    5
    By Tsumac
    The word courage doesn’t cover what these men possess as character traits . Eye popping actions that surely shaped the modern world. Great read !
  • Amazing

    5
    By Sksodbbdkkxnbd
    Really opens your eyes.
  • Surprise, Kill, Vanish

    4
    By Gumshoe Sticky
    The writing is America from a different angle. I will recommend it highly. Minor detail misguidance kept the rating to four stars. In reference to the billboard celebrity of Che, the lack of explanation of why Fidel is noticeably missing but from decades old side street murals needed to be explained.
  • Mostly about Billy W. — and that’s plenty

    5
    By joegunter99
    I was lucky enough to talk with Billy in his home on my 55th birthday, something I’ll never forget. As the author notes, it’s wall-to-wall with awards and personal notes from VIPs, including Bush 43. I’d visited with him twice before, but that time I soaked it all in for 3 hours. We’d had coffee together earlier at a nearby McDonald’s. I’ll always cherish that receipt :) This is an important book, the first of its kind as far as I know. The OSS and SOG guys—the pioneers of American black ops—surely have a modern equivalent, but John Plaster’s books, Billy’s own memoir (Hunting the Jackal), and this outstanding inside look, prove those men, as far as recorded history is concerned, were peerless.