I’ve read a few other biographies and case histories from people that work at the CIA, but this one wasn’t as interesting as those. I understand that the book had to go through Pre-Publication review at both the FBI and the CIA, but what was left was mostly Mr. Lynch’s The C.I. Desk (Amazon Affiliate Link) was him complaining about each and every job he had (or at least that’s what stuck with me). I understand that things had to be taken out, and he would point out that parts were cut by the agencies, including one whole chapter. While there was some entertaining things in the book, and some insights, the part of the book I was most struck with was the Bureaucratic Behemoth that he felt he was fighting against.

Over all, I wasn’t impressed with this book. Mr. Lynch worked for Robert Hanssen, and worked with Aldrich Ames while they were active in spying against the US, but his unit’s didn’t track down the spies in the organizations, even though their job was supposed to be Counter Intelligence.

* Update 2024-10-05: changed to Amazon Affiliate Link, which I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.