31 01 07 From The Shadows
The Ultimate Insider's Story Of Five Presidents And How They Won The Cold War by Robert M. Gates, Simon & Shuster 1996 ISBN 0684810816Written by the new US Secretary of Defense, this book details his time at CIA and the NSC from the mid 1960's through his appointment as DCI in late 1991 and his view of the events and men who fought the Cold War. While there is an undercurrent through much of the book which leads you to believe it may be in response to an earlier autobiography by long time Reagan Secretary of State George Schultz, on the whole it was very informative. Gates, in addition to climbing the ranks of CIA, also served twice in the NSC and hence had direct access at the highest levels to both political decision makers as well as the most important military and economic intelligence on the USSR. Ironically, we had just finished the section dealing with the Ford presidency at the time of his death and because of this book knew Ford had much more on his plate than Watergate and cleaning up loose ends in Viet Nam. Beyond the historical importance, this is also a valuable resource into the thinking of the man now in charge of (hopefully) extracting some degree of success out of Iraq.
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