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Book review of Inside the Company: CIA Diary by Philip Agee
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| Apart from a subtle pervasive imbalance in judgment stemming from the fact he writes his book long after his conversion, other problems arise because his economic analysis is stereotypically Marxist. He gives undue emphasis to the reporting of violence. He is over-impressed with the possible impact of CIA operations on public affairs. Out of the factual material he provides, someone else might have written a critique of the Alliance for Progress which might have favorable influence on U.S. policy. With only hints as to the depth of his dissatisfaction, however, he sets forth on page 503 a fantasied letter to the Director, in which he says, "Our (the U.S.) only alternatives are to continue to support injustice or withdraw and let the cards fall by themselves . . . it is clear that the only real solutions are those advocated by the Communists and others of the extreme left . . ." |
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| Rather than "withdraw and let the cards fall by themselves," he takes an emotional leap, committing his personal energy to use the knowledge he has come to possess against the value structure he has been part of. However, he is not really interested in telling us much about this. His account in the last part from his defection to the publishing of his book is sanitized and as devoid of the names of those he dealt with as the earlier parts are full of them. That he omits part of his story is patent. One assumes that when he visited Havana he received editorial assistance from the Cubans and Soviets, but how much is, of course, not clear. |
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| This book will not be of as much interest to Agee's former colleagues in the Agency as he might imagine. Agee gives no professional account of operations, per se, judgments in the inception of operations, agent motivations, or the effectiveness of different operations. Nor does he consider or speculate about CIA thinking and judgment at operational echelons higher than his junior level. He provides little insight into his relations with colleagues and agents, nor is he candid enough about his tergiversation to be thought-provoking. Such additions, larded with a little humor, would have made it the best-yet story of life as a case officer. As for the themes which would surely attract serious writers on this topic, he sheds no fresh light on human behavior, international relations or the role of intelligence in a democracy. Nor does he give us any good reading on our paramount interest-why (and how), after becoming disenchanted with his work, does a case officer fully aware of Soviet history and practice, take the course of acknowledged betrayal? |
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| Agee appears personally to have been compatible with his colleagues as a case officer, to have competed well with his peers, and to have held a conventional political outlook. He observed in an alleged diary entry dated 1968 that he feels "unsure about finding satisfactory work inside the same system rejected long ago as a university student." Yet after college he appears to have stayed in the system, joining the CIA for patriotic reasons, involving himself in sophisticated political operations, and as he puts it, becoming one of capitalism's secret police. In Mexico in 1971 he reports a further change in his political views (page 564) saying, "The key to adopting increasingly radical views has been my fuller comprehension of the class divisions of capitalistic society based on property . . . that class identity comes before nationality. . . ." This time he decides to take action ". . . to name all the names and organizations connected with CIA operations ... to convey them to revolutionary organizations that could use it to defend themselves better." He expresses neither pleasure nor concern that this step carries with it his rejection of his colleagues and country. He certainly emerges as a person with shallow attachments. |
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| In addition to rejecting the political system he had been a part of, Agee earlier had rejected going into his family business, had left law school after three months, |
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Posted: May 08, 2007 08:43 AM
Last Updated: May 09, 2007 07:19 AM
Last Reviewed: May 08, 2007 08:43 AM
