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The book, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by author Tim Weiner, was released in 2007 and angered the CIA. It won a National Book Award for Nonfiction that year. The book is different from previous books on the same subject because it’s based entirely on facts—no anonymous sources were used. After reviewing 50,000 government documents and conducting three hundred interviews (including ten with former directors of the CIA), Weiner presents little-known details about what he feels are “first-rate spies” for “the most powerful country in Western civilization.”

It is important to note that Weiner’s book has been criticized by the CIA. The main reason for this criticism is because they see it as an unbalanced view of their organization and its operations. Weiner begins his analysis in World War II, when there was no such thing as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Instead, a group called the Office of Strategic Strategies oversaw all spying operations during WWII. However, after a terrible performance report from President Truman, he disbanded it in 1945.

Following the dissolution of the Office of Strategic Services, Brigadier General John Magruder and Assistant Secretary of War John McCloy created a new agency to complete half-finished OSS missions. Two years later, they formed the Strategic Services Unit in order to combat perceived threats from Russia, even though Truman did not want another agency. Eventually, Congress passed the National Security Act that led to formation of Central Intelligence Agency two years later. The CIA was vague about its mission and no one really knew what it should do or how it should function at first. This caused a lot of controversy upon publication in 2007 because there were still some issues with whether or not it could handle both covert operations and analysis well enough when it was first established.

The CIA took advantage of the Marshall Plan, which was intended to help European countries recover financially after WWII. Instead, they funded émigré groups with the intention of spying on the Soviet Union and its satellites. These groups comprised people who left their country for another due to political differences or turmoil. When the Soviets found out about these émigré groups, agents tracked down each individual and hundreds were killed.

The CIA was not doing well during the 1950s, even though they were celebrating their successes. They overthrew Iran and Guatemala’s governments, which led to more conflict. The author thinks these weren’t worth celebrating because of what happened after that. In addition, a top official trusted his drinking buddy who turned out to be a mole for the Soviets. This shows how arrogant people in the agency were at this time. They also made mistakes such as not predicting Russia’s first atomic bomb in 1959. But despite all of this, officials wanted to portray it as an enjoyable period for them within the agency and tried hard to show everyone else that they were successful at everything they did

The author believes that the CIA’s golden age only existed twice. The first time was when Helms chose to tell President Johnson the truth about Vietnam, and the second was during Gates’ tenure as director of the CIA after the fall of Berlin Wall.

The CIA has made many mistakes in the past, and it continues to make them today. The first major mistake was when they failed to predict the Soviet Union’s nuclear capabilities. Many other mistakes have been made since then, including not predicting the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990. Weiner also criticizes the CIA for failing to inform higher authorities of their actions or plans, leading to greater problems down the line.