Undaunted

There has been an unorthodox, curious, and (to me) sad recent history of memoirs from career government officials that are really about the long, fascinating and distinguished careers of their authors, but are politically and topically known for their ending chapters on current affairs. I of course don’t fault discussion of those topics, but it saddens me to think that so many of both political parties will pick up this book solely to skip to its discussion of the Trump administration without reading the lion-share of its preceding chapters. For those that do give this a holistic and full read, they will be rewarded.

This is a book about the improbable, winding journey of one of the central figures in 21st century American foreign policy and intelligence; a book about one of the most intense, forthright minds in the business. It was also a book with surprising honesty and directness concerning the complex history of the United States intelligence community, and about the IC’s tenuous relationship with its mission and the politics of its principal customer, across multiple administrations.