Spymaster: My Life in the CIA

Shackley, Ted; Finney, Richard A.

ISBN 10: 1574889222 / ISBN 13: 9781574889222

Published by POTOMAC BOOKS, 2006

About this Item

[Interesting provenance, from the library of Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa.] Good binding and cover. "Ion Mihai Pacepa was a top Romanian intelligence officer who became the highest-ranking defector from the Soviet bloc when he fled Romania and sought asylum in the United States. Pacepa joined the Securitate intelligence agency in 1951 and rose in its ranks. At the time of his defection in 1978, Pacepa was a top general in Romania's much-feared Securitate secret police. He was also an adviser to dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and he held other top security posts in the government.".

Seller Inventory # 2602050085

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Spymaster: My Life in the CIA
• Publisher: POTOMAC BOOKS
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1574889222
• ISBN 13: 9781574889222
• Binding: paperback
• Condition: Very Good
• Weight: 17 ounces
• Seller catalogs:
  • International Relations and Security Policy

About this title

Synopsis

Lively and informative . . . It is also a good story of how an operative actually works in the field. — Military

The death of CIA operative Theodore G. "Ted" Shackley in December 2002 triggered an avalanche of obituaries from all over the world, some of them condemnatory. Pundits used such expressions as "heroin trafficking," "training terrorists," "attempts to assassinate Castro," and "Mob connections." More specifically, they charged him with having played a major role in the Chilean military coup of 1973.

But who was the real Ted Shackley? In Spymaster, he has told the story of his entire remarkable career for the first time. With the assistance of fellow former CIA officer Richard A. Finney, he discusses the consequential posts he held in Berlin, Miami, Laos, Vietnam, and Washington, where he was intimately involved in some of the key intelligence operations of the Cold War. During his long career, Shackley ran part of the inter-agency program to overthrow Castro, was chief of station in Vientiane during the CIA's "secret war" against North Vietnam and the Pathet Lao, and was chief of station in Saigon. After his retirement, he remained a controversial figure. In the early eighties, he was falsely charged with complicity in the Iran-Contra scandal.

Ted Shackley's comments on CIA operations in Europe, Cuba, Chile, and Southeast Asia and on the life of a high-stakes spymaster will be the subject of intense scrutiny by all concerned with the fields of intelligence, foreign policy, and postwar U.S. history. 

About the Author

Ted Shackley's final CIA position was as associate deputy director for operations. He died in December 2002, weeks after completing this book.