"Theoharis, the premier scholar of intelligence and domestic security, chronicles the evolution of counterintelligence operations conducted by the FBI from Franklin Roosevelt to George W. Bush. This book deserves a wide readership, as the FBI's failures in the Cold War may foretell a similar fate for the War on Terror. Summing Up: Highly recommended." CHOICE "Through endless diligence, [Theoharis has] cracked some of the deliberately byzantine and misleading naming and filing practices of the Hoover-era FBI and shows us how the same kinds of rhetoric, deception, and abuse of power can, and have, extended to the present. This is a look back that makes you look up, look around, and pay attention. It's necessary reading for anyone who wants to understand the 20th century, but it's equally important for alert citizens in the post-9/11 era." School Library Journal , January 2012"The book goes into great detail about many of the specific operations carried out by the FBI, but the author makes a point related to the failure of intelligence services preceding the 9/11 attack.

[He] provide[s] a well-documented summary of the expansion of the powers of the FBI and demonstrate[s] its abuses of power, the politicization of intelligence, and reasons for its failures." History: Reviews of New Books , Volume 4, Issue 4 2012.