State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration

With relentless media coverage, breathtaking events, and extraordinary congressional and independent investigations, it is hard to believe that we might not know some of the most significant facts about the presidency of George W. Bush. Yet beneath the surface events of the Bush presidency lies a secret history -- a series of hidden events that makes a mockery of many of the stories on the surface. This hidden history involves domestic spying, abuses of power, and outrageous operations. It includes a CIA that became caught in a political crossfire it could not withstand, even against the wishes of the commander-in-chief. It features a president who created a sphere of deniability, in which his top aides were briefed on matters of the utmost sensitivity -- but the president was carefully kept in ignorance. STATE OF WAR reveals this hidden history for the first time, including scandals that will redefine the Bush presidency.

About the Author :
The author has reported on national security issues for a major US national newspaper for twenty years. In 2002 he was a member of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for post-9/11 journalism.

Review :
"Explosive. James Risen may have become the new Woodward and Bernstein. Fast paced, quite mesmerizing, colorful, and fascinating." -- New York Times Book Review "New York Times Book Review" "Damning and dismaying...As a national security reporter for the "New York Times," Risen has produced some of this era's best journalism on the Central Intelligence Agency and the dysfunctional relationship between the White House and the U.S. spy community.... As one of the Washington press corps' best reporters on national security issues, Risen has a record of being right.... "State of War" is a welcome reminder that American journalism has a higher purpose than shallow pandering to the lowest pop-cultural denominator. Somewhere, beyond celebrity, there are issues and ideas that matter. James Risen's book is an urgent contribution to the country's common good by a skillful and courageous reporter."-- "Los Angeles Times" "Domestic spying, demands for political loyalty in the name of national security, investigating a newspaper's sources: With "State of War," the Nixonian deja vu can give a reader whiplash."-- "The Dallas Morning News" "Explosive.... James Risen may have become the new Woodward and Bernstein.... Fast paced, quite mesmerizing, colorful, and fascinating."-- "The New York Times Book Review" "Illuminating and disturbing...a monumental job of reporting."-- "The New York Times" "Risen's book is really about the secret of many things that have gone wrong in the administration of George W. Bush. The quantity, and apparent quality, of the secrets revealed in "State of War" distinguishes Risen's book from its competitors. What it represents is a profound hemorrhaging of information from within the corridors of secret power in Washington.... Risen becomes the mouthpiece for a U.S. intelligence community anxious to unburden itself of the mistakes and misdeeds of the recent past. He has not one, but many 'Deep Throats.'"-- "Toronto Globe and Mail"