It is always the evil we refuse to see that does us the greatest harm

If you love the art of spy craft done by an amazing CIA operative you will love this book. Robert Baer is an extremely intelligent agent who spent 20 years running assets in the back streets of the Middle East. He speaks eight languages and lived by his wits. He was no James Bond but a well versed and experienced operative who got the job done. His book is filled with the same sangfroid I am sure that saved his life on numerous occasions. It is a fascinating tale of the CIA as well as a good primer on Middle Eastern politics and history. Most of all it is a memoir of one man’s experience and commitment to making the world a safer place. It is also a look into the end of relying mostly on hard intel and the shifting tides in the CIA . It is a wonder that any mission was ever accomplished between the politicians and the bureaucratic quagmire that plagued Washington.

A long and rambling narrative from a CIA ground soldier. A meandering story that begins in an engaging manner and loses its way in a somewhat linear, chronological, structure and in a variety of locales - nevertheless, an intriguing look into the workings and the deterioration of an organization founded in the second great war.

From the perspective of a writer, the book does little justice to developing even the protagonist in a well-rounded manner. There are plenty of fascinating characters within, far too many for even the most diligent reader to appreciate. The plot - or perhaps the author's thesis - isn't really justified by the capers of a lone ground trooper in an organization that grew bureaucracy within to ameliorate its many failures in the field. The impression generated is one of ineptitude overall, in the events, the actions taken, and the writing of the book as well.

Some of the adventures related within are interesting. This is a book that those with a deep desire to know more about the CIA, and its role in some global events, might appreciate.

See No Evil by Robert Baer is a memoir of one ground soldier’s experiences in the cold war. Although I am not the biggest fan of nonfiction, this book really blew me away. This memoir is told from the perspective of top CIA operative Robert Baer. As the book goes on, Baer paints a chilling picture of how terrorism works on the inside and provides startling evidence of how Washington sabotaged the CIA’s efforts to expose world’s deadliest terrorists, allowing for the rise of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda.
I really enjoyed this book because it told the story no one had ever told. It was also told from a very interesting point of view, from the first person perspective of a spy. Not only this, Baer made it feel like we were there with him, in that exact moment at that exact time. The details were so vivid they were impossible to make up. The book was also extremely well written, except for the last 50 pages. The final few chapters were quite confusing because we didn’t get any context for the situation. Other than that, this amazing book is action packed yet informational. I would recommend this book to anyone in middle school or higher interested in history or military accounts.

This book gives a ton of interesting insights into the inner workings of the CIA and shows impressively how it changed over the past decades. However it contains long stretches of detailed descriptions too hard to follow. Read it for the big picture and skip where needed.

A memoir by a former CIA operative, who had been working in India, the Middle East and the former south-eastern USSR republics from the late 70s till the mid 90s. It's full of his frustration with the bureaucracy and the politics. The movie 'Syriana' with George Clooney was inspired by it, but it's not really an adaptation, so don't expect much resemblance.

I didn't enjoy 'See No Evil'. It felt way too much like a report and it just wasn't always engaging enough for me. Especially as it's not meant for someone with just a casual interest in the topic, so I often found myself insufficiently educated and confused with all the dates, events and way too many names (many of which, obviously, are from those regions, so they were pretty hard to remember). Despite me usually enjoying listening to the books being read by their authors, actually reading this one would help you to better follow the story.

The author of this book was the model for George Clooney’s character in Syriana. It was written in 2002 and details the author’s career in the CIA from 1976 to 1997. The author seems, at first glance, an unlikely person to become a spy. He barely graduated from Georgetown, and while there rode his motorcycle through the library during finals, rappelled down the Kennedy Center, and often flew to Aspen for extended weekends. He was a ski bum who had traveled a lot and had a facility for languages (in one CIA bureau he’s the only person who speaks the local language). In 1976, while going to grad school in Berkeley and working as a night teller at a B of A in San Francisco, he applied to the CIA. He took the test in the Federal Building and eventually got hired. Within six months he was parachuting into enemy territory.

Much of his work dealt with radical fundamental Moslems. The author shows that this global war on terror has been going on for a lot longer than many of us knew. But it’s a complicated war with strange alliances and political aspects in every decision. The author is critical of how the CIA evolved under Reagan, especially, but policies under Poppa Bush and Clinton are criticized as well. If you want a spy’s eye view of counter-terrorism, this book’s for you.

This was fascinating. Still trying to understand all the complexity in the Middle East but such an interesting inside perspective

A great read - even if it's hard to miss that Robert has an axe to grind. He describes lost opportunities, poor follow through by networks and a lack of understanding in the potential of strategic intelligence.

Robert has personality and experience in his subject matter. His arguments are passionate and well reasoned. His belief is that if you under resource any objective it is destined to fail. Combine that with a management structure that doesn't really understand what is needed, intergovernmental cooperation, and your standard communication failures and it's no wonder there were less than desirable intelligence outcomes.

Leaders and politicians cannot ever have the same situational awareness as the person on the ground. Some military strategy has changed to reflect this but it's still small steps.

Great read! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone interesting in the topic of espionage.

What a great look behind the curtain of what the CIA has become. For years, the CIA was respected as an intelligence organization, but the transformation that Robert Baer presents of how it was emasculated by politicos and career analysts gives me a deeper understanding on why the CIA has not been able to operate as effectively as it did in the past. From Lebanon to Tajikistan, his account of an intelligence organization more interested in photographs rather than on ground human intelligence destroys the impression that the world has of the CIA and explains why extraordinary rendition became part of the modus operandi.

I'll be reading his other books about his intelligence career!

I didn't know that this was the basis for Syriana, which was a pleasant surprise.

Some great stories but gets bogged down in too many names and places mid-book.