Scan barcode
A review by dragonbonechair
Enemies: A History of the FBI by Tim Weiner
4.0
“ the government should not break the law to enforce the law.” - Attorney General Edward Levi
Enemies: A History of the FBI by reporter and author Tim Weiner is a comprehensive look at the FBI from its creation in 1908 to the beginning of the Obama administration. Weiner’s book tells the story of the FBI,not as a police force, but an institution of counter intelligence. The book is divided into four eras, anchoring the history of the FBI through the scope of the domestic and foreign policies of the United States throughout the 20th and early 21st century. The efforts of the agency to go after communists and people it perceived, justified or not, of being “reds” is the primary focus of this history. Though the last quarter of his book is on the War on Terror.
Looming over the majority of this book is J Edgar Hoover, whose 40 plus year career as the bureau’s director, helped to shape the FBI into an intelligence institution.
We see through Hoover, the oscillating relationship between the bureau and Presidential administrations. It was fascinating to see which Presidents and Hoover were adversarial and which ones developed into great partnerships, using the apparatus of the FBI towards their national security goals. Weiner continues to explore this thread even after the death of Hoover. Relationships between President and Director ran the gamut of speaking daily to not speaking for four years.
Additionally, at various points in its history, the Bureau worked in conjunction with Congress and the Courts while other times kept them in the dark about their methods of intelligence gathering. One thing you can say is it was never static, often changing with the culture and needs of the time.
Weiner devotes a lot of time on how Hoover and the bureau challenged the rule of law and engaged in illegal surveillance, via black bag jobs, wiretapping, opening up of mail, and bugging in their effort to keep America safe from subversive individuals, real and imagined, often times trampling on the civil liberties of citizens. In doing this, Weiner argues the bureau went against the values and ethics of the nation in an effort to preserve them. If I were to pick a theme of this book it would be the ways in which the FBI violated the Constitutional rights of citizens in the name of security.
Weiner also writes about the FBI’s rivalry with the CIA, often times the two organizations undermined or withheld information from the other. He lays out how often the failures and breaches in national security that have happened stemmed from an unwillingness on the part of the bureau and CIA to work together or when the FBI’s priorities are misplaced or wrongly focused, resulting in failures to prevent bombings, killings, and catching of agents of foreign countries. He argues that the politics and egos of the respective agencies did more damage than good for the USA.
He also does not shy away from the bureau’s failures. For example, the slowness of the agency to update their computer and information systems to meet demands of internet age, their difficulty during WWII to recruit competent agents, their negligence in the pursuit of counter terrorist leads, and the infiltration and stealing of state secrets from the FBI by enemies of the USA.
By the end of the book you really appreciate the time and energy taken to trace the ups and downs of the bureau from its nascent beginnings, growing pains and all, to its disreputability in the aftermath of Watergate, to Robert Mueller and the Patriot Act and the legalities and violation of civil liberties that came out of that legislation.
This book is effective because it paints a balanced portrait of the FBI, its directors, and its role in American history as an intelligence agency.
60 pages of notes and sources shows the meticulous dedication Weiner had to telling this story. A must read for Americans interested in counter intelligence and inner workings of the government.
Enemies: A History of the FBI by reporter and author Tim Weiner is a comprehensive look at the FBI from its creation in 1908 to the beginning of the Obama administration. Weiner’s book tells the story of the FBI,not as a police force, but an institution of counter intelligence. The book is divided into four eras, anchoring the history of the FBI through the scope of the domestic and foreign policies of the United States throughout the 20th and early 21st century. The efforts of the agency to go after communists and people it perceived, justified or not, of being “reds” is the primary focus of this history. Though the last quarter of his book is on the War on Terror.
Looming over the majority of this book is J Edgar Hoover, whose 40 plus year career as the bureau’s director, helped to shape the FBI into an intelligence institution.
We see through Hoover, the oscillating relationship between the bureau and Presidential administrations. It was fascinating to see which Presidents and Hoover were adversarial and which ones developed into great partnerships, using the apparatus of the FBI towards their national security goals. Weiner continues to explore this thread even after the death of Hoover. Relationships between President and Director ran the gamut of speaking daily to not speaking for four years.
Additionally, at various points in its history, the Bureau worked in conjunction with Congress and the Courts while other times kept them in the dark about their methods of intelligence gathering. One thing you can say is it was never static, often changing with the culture and needs of the time.
Weiner devotes a lot of time on how Hoover and the bureau challenged the rule of law and engaged in illegal surveillance, via black bag jobs, wiretapping, opening up of mail, and bugging in their effort to keep America safe from subversive individuals, real and imagined, often times trampling on the civil liberties of citizens. In doing this, Weiner argues the bureau went against the values and ethics of the nation in an effort to preserve them. If I were to pick a theme of this book it would be the ways in which the FBI violated the Constitutional rights of citizens in the name of security.
Weiner also writes about the FBI’s rivalry with the CIA, often times the two organizations undermined or withheld information from the other. He lays out how often the failures and breaches in national security that have happened stemmed from an unwillingness on the part of the bureau and CIA to work together or when the FBI’s priorities are misplaced or wrongly focused, resulting in failures to prevent bombings, killings, and catching of agents of foreign countries. He argues that the politics and egos of the respective agencies did more damage than good for the USA.
He also does not shy away from the bureau’s failures. For example, the slowness of the agency to update their computer and information systems to meet demands of internet age, their difficulty during WWII to recruit competent agents, their negligence in the pursuit of counter terrorist leads, and the infiltration and stealing of state secrets from the FBI by enemies of the USA.
By the end of the book you really appreciate the time and energy taken to trace the ups and downs of the bureau from its nascent beginnings, growing pains and all, to its disreputability in the aftermath of Watergate, to Robert Mueller and the Patriot Act and the legalities and violation of civil liberties that came out of that legislation.
This book is effective because it paints a balanced portrait of the FBI, its directors, and its role in American history as an intelligence agency.
60 pages of notes and sources shows the meticulous dedication Weiner had to telling this story. A must read for Americans interested in counter intelligence and inner workings of the government.