“Whistleblower at the CIA offers a fascinating glimpse into the secret, behind-the-scenes world of U.S. intelligence. Melvin Goodman’s first-person account of the systematic manipulation of intelligence at the CIA underscores why whistleblowing is so important, and why the institutional obstacles to it are so intense. . . . At its core it’s an invaluable historical expose, a testimony to integrity and conscience, and a call for the U.S. intelligence community to keep its top leaders in check. Urgent, timely, and deeply recommended.
Melvin Goodman was a Soviet analyst at the CIA and the Department of State for 24 years, and a professor of international relations at the National War College for 18 years. He served in the U.S. Army in Greece for three years, and was intelligence adviser to the SALT delegation from 1971–1972. Currently, Goodman is the Director of the National Security Project at the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC, and adjunct professor of government at Johns Hopkins University. He has authored, co-authored, and edited seven books, including National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism (published by City Lights) Bush League Diplomacy: How the Neoconservatives are Putting the World at Risk, and Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA. His articles and op-eds have appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Harper’s,
Daniel Ellsberg was a strategic analyst with the RAND Corporation, and a defense department and state department official who served in Vietnam. He later revealed to the U.S. Senate and the press the Pentagon Papers, a 7,000 page top secret study of U.S. decision making in Vietnam from 1945 to 1968. For this he faced a trial and a sentence of 115 years in prison, but all charges were dismissed on grounds of gross governmental misconduct against him, which led to the conviction of a number of White House aids and figured in the impeachment proceedings against President Nixon. Ellsberg is the author of three books: Papers on the War (1971), Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers (2002), and Risk, Ambiguity and Decision (2001). In December 2006 he was awarded the 2006 Right Livelihood Award, known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize,” in Stockholm, Sweden, “. .for putting peace and truth first, at considerable personal risk, and dedicating his life to inspiring others to follow his example.” Since the end of the Vietnam War, Ellsberg has been a lecturer, writer and activist on the dangers of the nuclear era, wrongful U.S. interventions and the urgent need for patriotic whistleblowing.
Both Edward Snowden and Daniel Ellsberg have asked more whistleblowers to step into the public light and tell their truth. Several brave individuals have responded. By far the most important of them is Melvin Goodman.