Book Review - The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America by James Bamford
Category Book Review James Bamford The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America
There's no question that over the last eight years, we as a society have undergone a major shift towards more comprehensive and invasive monitoring and surveillance. James Bamford outlines the NSA's role in this shift in his book The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America. From a readability standpoint, there's quite a bit of slogging that took place for me. It's not like reading a spy thriller. On the other hand, Bamford presents more than enough material to make you rethink the government's role in society (or confirm your worst fears).
The story starts out by following the lives of the 9/11 terrorists as they come over to the US and start to receive flight training. There were a number of opportunities to stop this early on, but at the time there was still a general attitude with the government that drew strict lines (and followed them) about what could and couldn't be monitored within US borders. But this electronic curtain, while preserving privacy for US citizens, also gave the terrorists room to maneuver, and as such they were able to pull off the World Trade Center attack. That single act flipped the entire mindset of the government and the heads of the NSA, and now there was a full-out attack on the laws preventing internal listening. Bamford documents many of these decisions and secret agreements, as well as the outright abuses that have occurred since then, and it's not a stretch to imagine that he only knows a fraction of what's actually going on.
This didn't turn out to be one of those books that I couldn't put down because the material was too compelling. A number of the chapters, especially later on in the book, seem to bog down with endless names and places that become hard to follow after awhile. On the other hand, these are facts and details that will never make it into the evening network news, much to the detriment of the general population. There is obviously a line that needs to be drawn somewhere between privacy and security, and I feel we trampled that line in the last few years. While you may not find it an exciting read, it's worth it in order to get a glimpse of what we've allowed ourselves to become.
There's no question that over the last eight years, we as a society have undergone a major shift towards more comprehensive and invasive monitoring and surveillance. James Bamford outlines the NSA's role in this shift in his book The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America. From a readability standpoint, there's quite a bit of slogging that took place for me. It's not like reading a spy thriller. On the other hand, Bamford presents more than enough material to make you rethink the government's role in society (or confirm your worst fears).
The story starts out by following the lives of the 9/11 terrorists as they come over to the US and start to receive flight training. There were a number of opportunities to stop this early on, but at the time there was still a general attitude with the government that drew strict lines (and followed them) about what could and couldn't be monitored within US borders. But this electronic curtain, while preserving privacy for US citizens, also gave the terrorists room to maneuver, and as such they were able to pull off the World Trade Center attack. That single act flipped the entire mindset of the government and the heads of the NSA, and now there was a full-out attack on the laws preventing internal listening. Bamford documents many of these decisions and secret agreements, as well as the outright abuses that have occurred since then, and it's not a stretch to imagine that he only knows a fraction of what's actually going on.
This didn't turn out to be one of those books that I couldn't put down because the material was too compelling. A number of the chapters, especially later on in the book, seem to bog down with endless names and places that become hard to follow after awhile. On the other hand, these are facts and details that will never make it into the evening network news, much to the detriment of the general population. There is obviously a line that needs to be drawn somewhere between privacy and security, and I feel we trampled that line in the last few years. While you may not find it an exciting read, it's worth it in order to get a glimpse of what we've allowed ourselves to become.
| Permalink |
