Written by intelligence scholars and experts, this book chronicles the evolution of the CIA: its remarkable successes, its controversial failures and its clandestine operations. The history of the agency is presented through the prism of its declassified documents, with each being supplemented by insightful contextual analysis.

Challenging the belief that national security agencies work well, this book asks what forces shaped the initial design of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the National Security Council in ways that meant they were handicapped from birth.

The book is about the history of the Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) from the foundation in 1947 to the ultimate events. U.S. President Truman signed the National Security Act of 1947 establishing the CIA. The National Security Act charged the CIA with coordinating the nations intelligence activities and correlating, evaluating and disseminating intelligence affecting national security.

The top-secret world that the government created in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks has become so enormous, so unwieldy, and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs or exactly how many agencies duplicate work being done elsewhere. The result is that the system put in place to keep the United States safe may be putting us in greater danger. In Top Secret America, award-winning reporters Dana Priest and William Arkin uncover the enormous size, shape, mission, and consequences of this invisible universe of over 1,300 government facilities in every state in America; nearly 2,000 outside companies used as contractors; and more than 850,000 people granted "Top Secret" security clearance. A landmark exposé of a new, secret "Fourth Branch" of American government, Top Secret America is a tour de force of investigative reporting-and a book sure to spark national and international alarm.

After spending decades as an agent to the CIA, Jones unravels the blunders and grave mistakes the U.S. has made over the years and makes the case for much-needed intelligence reform.

Addresses the issue: How can the U.S. carry out effective intelligence work and still remain true to its democratic principles?