"A sophisticated, deeply informed account of real life in the real CIA that adds immeasurably to the public understanding of the espionage culture―the good and the bad." ―Bob Woodward Jack Devine ran Charlie Wilson's War in Afghanistan. It was the largest covert action of the Cold War, and it was Devine who put the brand-new Stinger missile into the hands of the mujahideen during their war with the Soviets, paving the way to a decisive victory against the Russians. He also pushed the CIA's effort to run down the narcotics trafficker Pablo Escobar in Colombia. He tried to warn the director of central intelligence, George Tenet, that there was a bullet coming from Iraq with his name on it. He was in Chile when Allende fell, and he had too much to do with Iran-Contra for his own taste, though he tried to stop it. And he tangled with Rick Ames, the KGB spy inside the CIA, and hunted Robert Hanssen, the mole in the FBI. Good Hunting: An American Spymaster's Story is the spellbinding memoir of Devine's time in the Central Intelligence Agency, where he served for more than thirty years, rising to become the acting deputy director of operations, responsible for all of the CIA's spying operations. This is a story of intrigue and high-stakes maneuvering, all the more gripping when the fate of our geopolitical order hangs in the balance. But this book also sounds a warning to our nation's decision makers: covert operations, not costly and devastating full-scale interventions, are the best safeguard of America's interests worldwide. Part memoir, part historical redress, Good Hunting debunks outright some of the myths surrounding the Agency and cautions against its misuses. Beneath the exotic allure―living abroad with his wife and six children, running operations in seven countries, and serving successive presidents from Nixon to Clinton―this is a realist, gimlet-eyed account of the Agency. Now, as Devine sees it, the CIA is trapped within a larger bureaucracy, losing swaths of turf to the military, and, most ominous of all, is becoming overly weighted toward paramilitary operations after a decade of war. Its capacity to do what it does best―spying and covert action―has been seriously degraded. Good Hunting sheds light on some of the CIA's deepest secrets and spans an illustrious tenure―and never before has an acting deputy director of operations come forth with such an account. With the historical acumen of Steve Coll's Ghost Wars and gripping scenarios that evoke the novels of John le Carré even as they hew closely to the facts on the ground, Devine offers a master class in spycraft. An Amazon Best Book of the Month, June 2014: Meet Jack Devine. Something of a real-life George Smiley, he is a 30-year veteran of the CIA who, among a lot of things, ran Charlie Wilson's war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, knew a thing or two about the Iran-Contra affair long before the rest of us did (including the president?), and tangled with some of the agency's most notorious double-agents. In Good Hunting: An American Spymaster’s Story , Devine has written a fascinating memoir of his time overseeing the agency’s spying operations, while also critiquing its policies and direction--arguing that covert ops (i.e. actual undercover operatives on the ground) is the best, most effective use of the CIA’s talents, rather than its increasingly paramilitaristic role during a decade of war. Devine has managed an unlikely accomplishment: enhancing the aura of the agency while stripping away some of its myths, in the process producing a clear-eyed and forthright account from an intelligence insider. --Jon Foro Now-retired CIA officer Devine built a career (1967–98) in which he ascended from entry-level employee to the top echelon of the organization’s clandestine service. Amid candid reflections on his experiences, Devine advances opinions about the worth of covert operations, which he supports in general. Commenting on them specifically via his own involvement, Devine defends the CIA’s 1973 role in Chile and its 1980s arming of anti-Soviet Afghan rebels. But he critiques the CIA’s entanglement in the Iran-Contra scandal of the mid-1980s. Devine’s colorful anecdotes convey a lively sense of how a CIA officer works as a street-level case officer, a chief of station, and an executive managing the entire Directorate of Operations, all roles that Devine fulfilled and in which he takes palpable pride. The exception to success that Devine confronts is Aldrich Ames, the Russian mole whose betrayal cost many CIA agents their lives. An occasional supervisor of Ames, Devine puzzles over Ames’ motivations as he describes how the case dealt a blow to CIA morale. A vivid insider’s view, Devine’s is an engaging account for the espionage set. --Gilbert Taylor “Well-written and engaging, studded with insights and opinions that are thoughtful. . . The most fascinating revelations in this close-to-the-chest memoir give the reader a glance inside