Spies For Hire

Reveals the formidable organization of intelligence outsourcing that has developed between the U.S. government and private companies since 9/11, in a report that reveals how approximately seventy percent of the nation's funding for top-secret tasks is now being funneled to higher-cost third-party contractors. 35,000 first printing.

In Spies for Hire, investigative reporter Tim Shorrock lifts the veil off a major story the government doesn't want us to know about -- the massive outsourcing of top secret intelligence activities to private-sector contractors. Running spy networks overseas. Tracking down terrorists in the Middle East. Interrogating enemy prisoners. Analyzing data from spy satellites and intercepted phone calls. All of these are vital intelligence tasks that traditionally have been performed by government officials accountable to Congress and the American people. But that is no longer the case. Starting during the Clinton administration, when intelligence budgets were cut drastically and privatization of government services became national policy, and expanding dramatically in the wake of 9/11, when the CIA and other agencies were frantically looking to hire analysts and linguists, the Intelligence Community has been relying more and more on corporations to perform sensitive tasks heretofore considered to be exclusively the work of federal employees. This outsourcing of intelligence activities is now a $50 billion-a-year business that consumes up to 70 percent of the U.S. intelligence budget. And it's a business that the government has tried hard to keep under wraps. Drawing on interviews with key players in the Intelligence-Industrial Complex, contractors' annual reports and public filings with the government, and on-the-spot reporting from intelligence industry conferences and investor briefings, Spies for Hire provides the first behind-the-scenes look at this new way of spying. Shorrock shows how corporations such as Booz Allen Hamilton, Lockheed Martin, SAIC, CACI International, and IBM have become full partners with the CIA, the National Security Agency, and the Pentagon in their most sensitive foreign and domestic operations. He explores how this partnership has led to wasteful spending and threatens to erode the privacy protections and congressional oversight so important to American democracy. Shorrock exposes the kinds of spy work the private sector is doing, such as interrogating prisoners in Iraq, managing covert operations, and collaborating with the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans' overseas phone calls and e-mails. And he casts light on a "shadow Intelligence Community" made up of former top intelligence officials who are now employed by companies that do this spy work, such as former CIA directors George Tenet and James Woolsey. Shorrock also traces the rise of Michael McConnell from his days as head of the NSA to being a top executive at Booz Allen Hamilton to returning to government as the nation's chief spymaster. From CIA covert actions to NSA eavesdropping, from Abu Ghraib to Guantánamo, from the Pentagon's techno-driven war in Iraq to the coming global battles over information dominance and control of cyberspace, contractors are doing it all. Spies for Hire goes behind today's headlines to highlight how private corporations are aiding the growth of a new and frightening national surveillance state.

Ex-CIA station chief Mark Sava has a new life in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, making easy money as a spy for hire. His girlfriend, Daria Buckingham discovers the company he works for smuggled a young boy into one of the orphanages for which she arranges funding-- and that Saudi and CIA forces are interested in the boy. Sava uncovers a secret war being waged for control of the Middle East.

Harriet M. Welsch has just received the best news of her eleventh year—Ole Golly is coming back! Harriet can still remember how sad she was when her beloved nanny married George Waldenstein and moved away. But the circumstances of Ole Golly’s return remain unclear. Where is George Waldenstein? With Mr. and Mrs. Welsch living in France for three months, Sport confiding that he has a crush on a girl at school, and the arrival of a mysterious new neighbor, who’s going to require a whole lot of spying, Harriet already has her hands full. Then she overhears Ole Golly saying she’s innocent—but innocent of what? Harriet the Spy is on the case and ready to help Ole Golly in any way she can. Praise for Harriet the Spy® and Her Friends Harriet the Spy® “Harriet is . . . wholly relatable whether you’re eleven or several times that age.”—EW.com Harriet Spies Again By Louise Fitzhugh and Helen Ericson Winner of the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Novel “Ericson has perfectly captured the voice and pacing of Fitzhugh’s original novel in a seamless rendering of a fresh, enjoyable story for today’s readers.” —School Library Journal Harriet the Spy, Double Agent By Louise Fitzhugh and Maya Gold “Harriet the Spy is back, and Gold does a credible job of maintaining the special character and her crusty charm.” —Booklist The Long Secret [STAR] “Written with subtlety, compassion, and [Louise Fitzhugh’s] remarkable ability to see inside the minds of children.” —School Library Journal, Starred Sport [STAR] “A worthy successor to Harriet the Spy—and that is high tribute.” —Booklist, Starred

Meet Blackwater USA, the private army that the US government has quietly hired to operate in international war zones and on American soil. Its contacts run from military and intelligence agencies to the upper echelons of the White House; it has a military base, a fleet of aircraft and 20,000 troops, but since September 2007 the firm has been hit by a series of scandals that, far from damaging the company, have led to an unprecedented period of expansion. This revised and updated edition includes Scahill's continued investigative work into one of the outrages of our time: the privatisation of war.

Parallel to the physical space in our world, there exists cyberspace. In the physical space, there are human and nature interactions that produce products and services. On the other hand, in cyberspace there are interactions between humans and computer that also produce products and services. Yet, the products and services in cyberspace don’t materialize—they are electronic, they are millions of bits and bytes that are being transferred over cyberspace infrastructure.

This revealing memoir from a 34-year veteran of the CIA who worked as a case officer and recruiter of foreign agents before and after 9/11 provides an invaluable perspective on the state of modern spy craft, how the CIA has developed, and how it must continue to evolve. If you've ever wondered what it's like to be a modern-day spy, Douglas London is here to explain. London's overseas work involved spotting and identifying targets, building relationships over weeks or months, and then pitching them to work for the CIA--all the while maintaining various identities, a day job, and a very real wife and kids at home. The Recruiter: Spying and the Lost Art of American Intelligence captures the best stories from London's life as a spy, his insights into the challenges and failures of intelligence work, and the complicated relationships he developed with agents and colleagues. In the end, London presents a highly readable insider's tale about the state of espionage, a warning about the decline of American intelligence since 9/11 and Iraq, and what can be done to recover.

The Middle East is a center of ceaseless global attention. Since 2011, the long awaited and much celebrated Arab Spring uprisings portended a major shift in the politics of the Arab World. Notably, a number of Arab states witnessed institutional and constitutional shifts that put them on the path of transition to liberalization and democracy. Nevertheless, the Arab Spring followed a violent and unpredictable course. Although its events marked a break in the continuity of authoritarian dominance, most of its changes have not ultimately proved to be turning points in democratic development. The Arab Spring phenomenon witnessed a set of uprisings and even would-be-revolutions, but no great revolutionary change. Edited by Professor Philipp Amour of prestigious Sakarya University, this volume presents the work of numerous distinguished scholars, including many native to the region, who explore the fascinating variety of factors behind the rise and fall of the Arab Spring. As they establish, regional polarization and rivalries are the principal accompanying phenomena and side effects of the Arab Spring, and they will demand the world's attention for decades to come. Power dynamics between and among regional great powers have invited proactive, protracted, and very topical military and diplomatic involvement in domestic and regional politics. Some of these interventions will uphold the status quo, while others seem more likely to modify it for the powers' strategic advantage. Authored by leading world experts in Middle Eastern politics, this collection explores foreign and security policy of regional great powers such as Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and their roles in the construction of the new Middle East.