In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story
John Stockwell
1978
Overview
Written by the former Chief of the CIA’s Angola Task Force, this seminal text blew the whistle on the clandestine operations, arms smuggling, and proxy warfare managed by the United States following the sudden collapse of the Portuguese empire in 1974. Stockwell details how the agency deliberately bypassed congressional oversight and misled the public to run a third secret war on the heels of the Vietnam conflict.
Why this reading matters
This text is essential for understanding how the decay of Portugal's dictatorship directly reshaped American domestic politics. The revelations in this book contributed significantly to a massive public crisis of trust in intelligence agencies and directly influenced Congress to pass the historic Clark Amendment of 1976, which restricted executive power over covert foreign operations.
Primary-source links
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