Author(s): Amy B. Zegart

Ever since the end of the cold war, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the National Security Agency, and more than a dozen other intelligence
organizations that answer to the president had been struggling to adapt their sources and methods
to the new menace. As Amy B. Zegart argues in Spying Blind, they just weren't up to the job....
Zegart, blaming institutional inertia more than individuals, counts more than 20 specific instances
where the CIA or the FBI missed chances to stop the 9/11 attacks.-- Christopher Dickey, Newsweek

Don't be fooled by the title of this book. It sounds as if the author is going to tread the
same turf as Richard Clarke, Tim Weiner, Bob Woodward and a host of others, including the 9/11
Commission Report, but Amy Zegart in "Spying Blind" goes several steps beyond her predecessors....
Zegart presents the facts behind this state of affairs in a more scholarly way than we've previously
seen, by examining over 300 intelligence reform recommendations and by tracing the history of CIA
and FBI counter-terrorism efforts from 1991 to 2001. ... "Spying Blind" provides a clear and
comprehensive overview of a dire situation -- the kind of knowledge that comes in handy when you
call or write your congressman or, for that matter, when you vote. -- Mary Welp, The Courier-Journal

Zegart argues that any meaningful improvement in U.S. intelligence coordination and effectiveness
will require the president and Congress to take on the Defense Department.... "Spying Blind"
is a thorough examination of those reform failures. In it, Zegart sifts through hundreds of
intelligence recommendations...and findings by the 9/11 Commission and congressional committees.
-- David J. Garrow, Wilson Quarterly

One of the many strengths of Zegart's book is that she examines not only current problems in
the intelligence services but past efforts to correct them.
-- Simon Chesterman, Survival

Amy B. Zegart is one of the most talented young scholars in the field of intelligence studies.
She has a flair for empirical research. . . . This highly readable and well-documented book
is commendable for its exhaustive research and lucid writing style.
-- Loch K. Johnson, Political Science Quarterly

This is a well-written and informed book that should become part of the post-9/11 debate on
intelligence agencies and their adaptation to the new world that opened up on that day.
This is all excellent book, with detailed research, and a highly readable presentation of
absorbing analysis.
-- Alan Warburton, International History Review

"Spying Blind" adds a valuable empirical study to the literature on understanding culture
and bureaucratic processes in foreign policy decision-making.
-- Peter Hough, European Legacy

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