Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones's Books

A Question of Standing

The History of the CIA

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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A Question of Standing

The History of the CIA

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

A Question of Standing deals with recognizable events that have shaped the history of the first 75 years of the CIA. Unsparing in its accounts of dirty tricks and their consequences, it values the agency's intelligence and analysis work to offer balanced judgements that avoid both celebration and condemnation of the CIA. The mission of the CIA, derived from U-1 in World War I more than from World War II's OSS, has always been intelligence. Seventy-five years ago, in the year of its creation, the National Security Act gave the agency, uniquely in world history up to that point, a democratic mandate to pursue that mission of intelligence. It gave the CIA a special standing in the conduct of US foreign relations. That standing diminished when successive American presidents ordered the CIA to exceed its original mission. When they tasked the agency secretly to overthrow democratic governments, the United States lost its international standing, and its command of a majority in the United Nations General Assembly. Such dubious operations, even the government's embrace of assassination and torture, did not diminish the standing of the CIA in US public opinion. However, domestic interventions did. CIA spying on domestic protesters led to tighter congressional oversight from the 1970s on. The chapters in A Question of Standing offer a balanced narrative and perspective on recognizable episodes in the CIA's history. They include the Bay of Pigs invasion, the War on Terror, 9/11, the weapons of mass destruction deception, the Iran estimate of 2007, the assassination of Osama bin Laden, and Fake News. The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 diminished the CIA and is construed as having been the right solution undertaken for the wrong reasons, reasons that grew out of political opportunism. The book also defends the CIA's exposure of foreign meddling in US elections.

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313

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0192847961

ISBN 13

9780192847966

In Spies We Trust

The Story of Western Intelligence

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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In Spies We Trust

The Story of Western Intelligence

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

In Spies We Trust reveals the full story of the Anglo-American intelligence relationship - ranging from the deceits of World War I to the mendacities of 9/11 - for the first time. Why did we ever start trusting spies? It all started a hundred years ago. First we put our faith in them to help win wars, then we turned against the bloodshed and expense, and asked our spies instead to deliver peace and security. By the end of World War II, Britain and America were cooperating effectively to that end. At its peak in the 1940s and 1950s, the 'special intelligence relationship' contributed to national and international security in what was an Anglo-American century. But from the 1960s this 'special relationship' went into decline. Britain weakened, American attitudes changed, and the fall of the Soviet Union dissolved the fear that bound London and Washington together. A series of intelligence scandals along the way further eroded public confidence. Yet even in these years, the US offered its old intelligence partner a vital gift: congressional attempts to oversee the CIA in the 1970s encouraged subsequent moves towards more open government in Britain and beyond. So which way do we look now? And what are the alternatives to the British-American intelligence relationship that held sway in the West for so much of the twentieth century? Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones shows that there are a number - the most promising of which, astonishingly, remain largely unknown to the Anglophone world.

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312

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OUP Oxford

Published Date

ISBN 10

0191651702

ISBN 13

9780191651700

Cloak and Dollar

A History of American Secret Intelligence

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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Cloak and Dollar

A History of American Secret Intelligence

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, a leading expert on the history of American espionage, here offers a lively and sweeping history of American secret intelligence from the founding of the nation through the present day. Jeffreys-Jones chronicles the extraordinary expansion of American secret intelligence from the 1790s, when George Washington set aside a discretionary fund for covert operations, to the beginning of the twenty-first century, when United States intelligence expenditure exceeds Russia's total defense budget. How did the American intelligence system evolve into such an enormous and costly bureaucracy? Jeffreys-Jones argues that hyperbolic claims and the impulse toward self-promotion have beset American intelligence organizations almost from the outset. Allan Pinkerton, whose nineteenth-century detective agency was the forerunner of modern intelligence bureaus, invented assassination plots and fomented anti-radical fears in order to demonstrate his own usefulness. Subsequent spymasters likewise invented or exaggerated a succession of menaces ranging from white slavery to Soviet espionage to digital encryption in order to build their intelligence agencies and, later, to defend their ever-expanding budgets. While American intelligence agencies have achieved some notable successes, Jeffreys-Jones argues, the intelligence community as a whole has suffered from a dangerous distortion of mission. By exaggerating threats such as Communist infiltration and Chinese espionage at the expense of other, more intractable problems--such as the narcotics trade and the danger of terrorist attack--intelligence agencies have misdirected resources and undermined their own objectivity. Since the end of the Cold War, the aims of American secret intelligence have been unclear. Recent events have raised serious questions about effectiveness of foreign intelligence, and yet the CIA and other intelligence agencies are poised for even greater expansion under the current administration. Offering a lucid assessment of the origins and evolution of American secret intelligence, Jeffreys-Jones asks us to think also about the future direction of our intelligence agencies.

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Page Count

388

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300101597

ISBN 13

9780300101591

The FBI

A History

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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The FBI

A History

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

This “penetrating and remarkable history of the FBI” examines its operations and development from the Reconstruction era to the 9/11 attacks (M. J. Heale, author of McCarthy's Americans). In The FBI, U.S. intelligence expert Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones presents the first comprehensive portrait of the vast, powerful, and sometimes bitterly criticized American institution. Setting the bureau’s story in the context of American history, he challenges conventional narratives—including the common misconception that traces the origin of the bureau to 1908. Instead, Jeffreys-Jones locates the FBI’s true beginnings in the 1870s, when Congress acted in response to the Ku Klux Klan campaign of terror against black American voters. The FBI derives its character and significance from its original mission of combating domestic terrorism. The author traces the evolution of that mission into the twenty-first century, making a number of surprising observations along the way: that the role of J. Edgar Hoover has been exaggerated and the importance of attorneys general underestimated; that splitting counterintelligence between the FBI and the CIA in 1947 was a mistake; and that xenophobia impaired the bureau’s preemptive anti-terrorist powers before and after 9/11.

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488

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300138873

ISBN 13

9780300138870

American Left

Its Impact on Politics and Society since 1900

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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American Left

Its Impact on Politics and Society since 1900

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

Details the achievements of left-wing politics in the USA, from effective opposition to militarism to the winning of racial justice and from the socialists of the 1960s to President Barack Obama.

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Page Count

264

Publisher

Edinburgh University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0748668896

ISBN 13

9780748668892

A Question of Standing

The History of the CIA

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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A Question of Standing

The History of the CIA

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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313

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0192847961

ISBN 13

9780192847966

The Nazi Spy Ring in America

Hitler's Agents, the FBI, and the Case That Stirred the Nation

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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The Nazi Spy Ring in America

Hitler's Agents, the FBI, and the Case That Stirred the Nation

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

In the mid-1930s, just as the United States was embarking on a policy of neutrality, Nazi Germany launched a program of espionage against the unwary nation. Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones’s fascinating history provides the first full account of Nazi spies in 1930s America and how they were exposed in a high-profile FBI case that became a national sensation.

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320

Publisher

Georgetown University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1647120055

ISBN 13

9781647120054

Peace Now!

American Society and the Ending of the Vietnam War

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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Peace Now!

American Society and the Ending of the Vietnam War

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

How did the protests and support of ordinary American citizens affect their country's participation in the Vietnam War? This engrossing book focuses on four social groups that achieved political prominence in the 1960s and early 1970s--students, African Americans, women, and labor--and investigates the impact of each on American foreign policy during the war. Drawing on oral histories, personal interviews, and a broad range of archival sources, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones narrates and compares the activities of these groups. He shows that all of them gave the war solid support at its outset and offers a new perspective on this, arguing that these "outsider" social groups were tempted to conform with foreign policy goals as a means to social and political acceptance. But in due course students, African Americans, and then women turned away from temptation and mounted spectacular revolts against the war, with a cumulative effect that sapped the resistance of government policymakers. Organized labor, however, supported the war until almost the end. Jeffreys-Jones shows that this gave President Nixon his opportunity to speak of the "great silent majority" of American citizens who were in favor of the war. Because labor continued to be receptive to overtures from the White House, peace did not come quickly.

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Page Count

332

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300089201

ISBN 13

9780300089202

The CIA & American Democracy

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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The CIA & American Democracy

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

This edition of the “brief, yet subtle and penetrating account” of the CIA includes a new prologue covering the agency’s more recent history (Christian Science Monitor). Now in its third edition, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones’s comprehensive history of the Central Intelligence Agency is widely acclaimed for its thorough and even-handed analysis. A renowned U.S. intelligence expert, Jeffreys-Jones chronicles the evolution of the agency from its beginning in 1947 to the present day. With clarity and acuity, he examines the CIA’s activities during some of the most dramatic episodes in American history, from McCarthyism to the Bay of Pigs, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Iran-Contra affair, and many others. A new prologue by the author also covers the CIA’s history from the end of the Cold War to the terror attacks of September 11th, 2001. A landmark of intelligence history since its first edition in 1989, The CIA and American Democracy is “a judicious and reasonable...sophisticated study” (David P. Calleo, New York Times Book Review).

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361

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300208502

ISBN 13

9780300208504

We Know All About You

The Story of Surveillance in Britain and America

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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We Know All About You

The Story of Surveillance in Britain and America

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

We Know All About You shows how bulk spying came of age in the nineteenth century, and supplies the first overarching narrative and interpretation of what has happened since, covering the agencies, programs, personalities, technology, leaks, criticisms and reform. Concentrating on America and Britain, it delves into the roles of credit agencies, private detectives, and phone-hacking journalists as well as government agencies like the NSA and GCHQ, and highlights malpractices such as the blacklist and illegal electronic interceptions. It demonstrates that several presidents - Franklin D. Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon - conducted political surveillance, and how British agencies have been under a constant cloud of suspicion for similar reasons. We Know All About You continues with an account of the 1970s leaks that revealed how the FBI and CIA kept tabs on anti-Vietnam War protestors, and assesses the reform impulse that began in America and spread to Britain. The end of the Cold War further undermined confidence in the need for surveillance, but it returned with a vengeance after 9/11. The book shows how reformers challenged that new expansionism, assesses the political effectiveness of the Snowden revelations, and offers an appraisal of legislative initiatives on both sides of the Atlantic. Micro-stories and character sketches of individuals ranging from Pinkerton detective James McParlan to recent whisteblowers illuminate the book. We Know All About You confirms that governments have a record of abusing surveillance powers once granted, but emphasizes that problems arising from private sector surveillance have been particularly neglected.

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Page Count

267

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0191066559

ISBN 13

9780191066559

Changing Differences

Women and the Shaping of American Foreign Policy, 1917-1994

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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Changing Differences

Women and the Shaping of American Foreign Policy, 1917-1994

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones offers the first comprehensive overview of women's influence on US foreign policy since the First World War ... It is an important contribution to international historical literature". -- The International History Review

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308

Publisher

Rutgers University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813524490

ISBN 13

9780813524498

In Spies We Trust

The Story of Western Intelligence

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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In Spies We Trust

The Story of Western Intelligence

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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312

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OUP Oxford

Published Date

ISBN 10

0191651702

ISBN 13

9780191651700

American Left

Its Impact on Politics and Society since 1900

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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American Left

Its Impact on Politics and Society since 1900

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

Details the achievements of left-wing politics in the USA, from effective opposition to militarism to the winning of racial justice and from the socialists of the 1960s to President Barack Obama.

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Page Count

264

Publisher

Edinburgh University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0748668896

ISBN 13

9780748668892

We Know All About You

The Story of Surveillance in Britain and America

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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We Know All About You

The Story of Surveillance in Britain and America

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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Page Count

267

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0191066559

ISBN 13

9780191066559

The Nazi Spy Ring in America

Hitler's Agents, the FBI, and the Case That Stirred the Nation

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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The Nazi Spy Ring in America

Hitler's Agents, the FBI, and the Case That Stirred the Nation

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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320

Publisher

Georgetown University Press

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ISBN 10

1647120055

ISBN 13

9781647120054

Ring of Spies

How MI5 and the FBI Brought Down the Nazis in America

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

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Ring of Spies

How MI5 and the FBI Brought Down the Nazis in America

By: Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones

In 1935-37 America passed several Neutrality Acts, vowing never again to take sides in a European conflict. In 1938 public attitudes changed, with the American people beginning to favour Britain and turn against Germany - but what caused this shift of opinion?One reason was the tip-off received by the FBI on the eve of the Second World War, which led to the exposure of a Nazi spy ring operating right there in America. The FBI was able to bring the group to justice and launch a campaign to warn the American people about the Nazi threat to their shores and society.In Ring of Spies, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones reveals how this case helped to awaken America to the Nazi menace, and how it skewed American opinion, thus spelling the end of US neutrality. Using evidence from FBI files he uncovers a story straight out of a detective novel, featuring honey traps, fast cars and double agents.

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