The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State |  | Author: Shane Harris
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Category: Book
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Media: Hardcover
Pages: 432
Number Of Items: 1
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Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.6
ISBN: 1594202451
Dewey Decimal Number: 363.3251630973
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Product Description
Using exclusive access to key government insiders, Shane Harris chronicles the rise of America's surveillance state over the past 25 years and highlights a dangerous paradox: Our government's strategy has made it harder to catch terrorists and easier to spy on the rest of us.
In 1983, Admiral John Poindexter, President Reagan's National Security Advisor, realized that the U.S. might have prevented the terrorist massacre of 241 Marines in Beirut, if intelligence agencies could have analyzed in real time the data they had on the attackers. Poindexter poured technical know-how and government funds into his dream--a system that would sift reams of information for signs of terrorist activity. Decades later, that elusive dream still captivates Washington. After 9/11, Poindexter returned to government with a controversial program, called Total Information Awareness, to detect the next attack. Today it has evolved into a secretly funded operation that can gather a trove of personal information on every American and millions of others worldwide.
Despite billions of dollars spent on this quest since the Reagan era, we still can't discern future threats in the vast data cloud that surrounds us all. But the government can now spy on its citizens with an ease that was impossible-and illegal-just a few years ago. Drawing on unprecedented access to the people who pioneered this high-tech spycraft, Harris shows how it has moved from the province of right-wing technocrats into the mainstream, becoming a cornerstone of the Obama administration's war on terror.
Harris puts us behind the scenes where twenty-first-century spycraft was born. We witness Poindexter quietly working from the private sector to get government to buy in to his programs in the early nineties. We see an Army major agonize as he carries out an order to delete the vast database he's gathered on possible terror cells-and on thousands of innocent Americans-months before 9/11. We follow National Security Agency Director Mike Hayden as he persuades the Bush administration to secretly monitor Americans based on a flawed interpretation of the law. And we see Poindexter return to government with a seemingly implausible idea: that the authorities can collect data about citizens and at the same time protect their privacy. After Congress publicly bans the Total Information Awareness program in 2003, we watch as it secretly becomes a "black program" at the NASA, then engaged in a massive surveillance of Americans' phone calls and e-mails.
When the next crisis comes, our government will inevitably crack down on civil liberties, but it will be no better able to identify new dangers. This is the outcome of a dream first hatched almost three decades ago, and The Watchers is an engrossing, unnerving wake-up call.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 21
 The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same March 19, 2010
Frederick S. Goethel (Central Valley, CA)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Several things leapt out at me as I read this book. The first is how well the book is written. Unlike many books about national security and intelligence, this is actually readable without having to be an expert in the field. Most are so technical and dry that it is nearly impossible to sit down and read them enjoyably, while this reads in a manner that reminds me of a novel.
The second thing that is that, despite spending tens of billions of dollars, breaking the law by collecting data illegally and increasing the amount of intelligence information by an alarming magnitude, we are no closer to actually being able to use computers to analyze this data than we were 30 years ago. The computers in use today can siphon of incredible amounts of data, and are doing just that, but the ability to analyze that data still takes numerous human technicians and days of research. So, despite all the research and breaches of privacy of American citizens, we really are no safer than we were in the days and weeks before 9/11.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the national security picture, as well as anyone who is concerned about the civil liberties of all Americans.
High Tech Hijinks June 19, 2010
Gary Griffiths (Los Altos Hills, CA United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It is unfortunate that the publisher chose the sensational "The Rise of America's Surveillance State" as the subtitle for Shane Harris' fine book, for this is hardly the red meat for privacy activists that the title would imply. Instead, Harris has compiled a fascinating chronicle of America's war on terror using electronic technology going back to the 1983 bombing of the US Marines barrack in Lebanon through the early months of the Obama administration. It is also an arms-length biography of retired US Navy Admiral John Poindexter, Ronald Reagan's National Security Advisor who is best remembered for his role and conviction in the Iran-Contra affair and his loyalty to his boss.
When it comes to the age-old debate between security and privacy, author Harris clearly leans to the latter. But give him credit for spinning a well-balanced book that focuses on the facts, avoiding obvious temptations to allow politics - on either side of the aisle - while laying out the challenges, obstacles, personalities, and stakes involved as the convoluted maze of US agencies and bureaus run over themselves in trying to prevent another 9/11 - or worse. I don't think I was reading too much between the lines to guess that Harris started out wanting to dislike Poindexter, but ended up respecting and even liking the man - the tragically flawed hero who has dedicated his life, in private and public endeavors, to keeping America safe - a mission he continues today. Along with Poindexter, the wide supporting cast is well drawn and unvarnished in their accomplishments and foibles while trying to find the bad guys and keep US citizens' privacy mostly intact.
Despite the bits and bytes of subject matter that could lead to a sleep-inducing yawner of a book, Harris tells a dramatic - even suspenseful - tale, spinning his narrative with rare insight into infamous events including the Achille Lauro hijacking, the Kobar Towers bombing, and of course 9/11. Going back to 1983 and Beruit, the theme is constant: lots of ability to collect "data," but when it comes to recognizing patterns and connecting the dots, technology deployed by the alphabet soup of supposed defense agencies is widely inadequate. Making matters worse, maddening bureaucracies of influential people - of both noble and ignoble intent - continually hamper serious attempts to upgrade our nation's defenses to state-of-the-art electronic surveillance, detection, and analysis.
In short, put this one on my "must read" list - the rare non-fiction book that takes a complex and difficult subject and makes it understandable and, despite the serious content, entertaining. It is a great primer in the utter inefficiencies and intolerable rivalries between competing federal bureaucracies, a terrific character study, and a highly illuminating history of spies and spy craft in the era beyond James Bond. A well written and timely book - highly recommended.
Who's Watching the Watchers? January 14, 2010
Roger D. Launius (Washington, D.C., United States)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
James Bond is so twentieth century. Intelligence and spying is largely focused on electronic data collection in the early twenty-first century, and the U.S. for good and ill leads the world. This book is a discussion of the process whereby electronic spying became the norm and what it portends for personal privacy and national security. Journalist Shane Harris takes as his protagonist Admiral John Poindexter, President Ronald Reagan's national security advisor, who worried over how more effective intelligence might have prevented the 1983 terrorist attack on the military barracks in Beirut that led to the deaths of 241 Marines. The problem, in Poindexter's mind, was not the failure to collect information but in the inadequacy of the collation and analysis of data in real time from diverse sources. He dedicated his efforts thereafter toward building a system, along with the technology, that could sift terabytes of data from all sources for signs of terrorist activity. He called it Total Information Awareness, and its success in Poindexter's mind ensured that traditional rights of personal privacy ensconced in law in the United States had to be curtailed.
The system as put into place essentially plays the "six degrees of separation" game in analyzing seemingly unrelated data. This idea--if someone is one step away from each person they know then everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth--suggests that there may be connections that may be analyzed connecting a known terrorist to others who are unknown but are planning acts of terrorism. To make this connection required the sweeping up of massive amount of electronic data and then analyzing it using sophisticated technologies. As Shane Harris commented, "to find signals in the noise one had to collect information from far and wide" (p. 357). The National Security Agency (NSA) had the beginnings of this capability, and developed greater capability over time, but other intelligence organizations played key roles as well.
But the Total Information Awareness program that Adm. Poindexter envisioned tread ruthlessly over the laws in place to ensure personal privacy. Telephone calls for Americans, for instance, are viewed as sacrosanct and may not be listened in on legally except by explicit court order. But to find the few signals in all of the noise the NSA demanded the overturning of this longstanding right so it could collect this data without explicit warrants. The result was the explicit allowing by Congress of warrantless wiretapping in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, and a host of other actions systematically overturning civil liberties. Even when part of these efforts were rolled back after being exposed, some became covert activities and continued without legal cover.
Even as capabilities for analysis have expanded, according to Shane Harris, the results of that analysis have not yielded significant results. Mostly what this has uncovered are half-baked plots to attack Fort Dix or some other presumed act of terror while failing to detect the "shoe-bomber" plot or other attempted terrorism. And when curbs to the system to ensure greater personal privacy were proposed, the NSA has found them more expensive and restrictive to its actions so it opposed them.
Where does this leave the United States? The story that Shane Harris tells is one of technology development that outstrips political thinking. He notes that the U.S. government can do quite a lot to collect data and engage in real time analysis. He added that there is less certainty about the quality of what is found through this data mining. He concluded that there is disappointment, even from such individuals as Adm. Poindexter, in the risk this process subjects personal privacy to in the modern era. In the end, as Harris commented, "John Poindexter envisioned a world. Mike Hayden made it a reality. Mike McConnell enshrined it in law. And Barack Obama inherited it. In broad strokes, that's how we got where we are now" (p. 357). What the U.S. does next is within the power of its citizenry. Will the nation allow further erosion of civil liberties or will it seek to erect structures to preserve civil liberties and personal privacy? The final question may be, "Who's watching the watchers?"
Excellent book covering National Security requirements vs. privacy concerns January 14, 2010
J. Rudy (Fairfax, VA)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
"The Watchers" by Shane Harris is the story on the fringes of the battle between the American desire to predict future terrorist attacks versus the public desire to protect the privacy of American citizens. At the core of this story, is Vice Admiral John Poindexter, USN (ret), the former Reagan-era National Security Advisor who served prison time for his role in the Iran-Contra affair. This is his story of redemption, as the visionary architect of Total Information Awareness, a system envisioned to correlate multiple databases to be able to identify terrorists based on the electronic patterns of their daily life. This is the proverbial problem of finding a needle in haystack - but with the twist of privacy laws preventing the collection of the hay.
Poindexter is the visionary behind the collection of various data sources, such as credit card data; hotel, airline & rental car reservations; and telephone and email records. His genius was in looking for patterns of behavior that could indicate possible terrorist activities.
Countering this argument, are privacy advocates who are vehemently opposed to any collection of information on American citizens. (In fairness to the Electronic Privacy Information Center, they oppose both government and commercial uses of this data. This book is strongly focused on government data collection).
With these two diametrically opposed groups, Congress has passed laws and the President has issued Executive orders trying to walk the fine line between data collection for national security, and protecting the privacy of Americans. Harris does an excellent job of explaining the progression of these legislative and executive measures.
Harris portrays Poindexter as the central actor in the American effort to establish this data correlation system. Harris also discusses the parallel efforts of Special Operations Command, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency. With the similarity of their systems, it was only natural for the systems to merge at some point in the future. Harris does an excellent job of following the progression of these systems, and how we have ended up with the current system that is in place.
This is an outstanding book that looks at the National Security requirements; the public privacy concerns; Congressional & Presidential actions; and finally the systems that were fielded. With the "Underwear Bomber" incident over Christmas 2009, these issues are certain to come to the forefront of American thought once again.
THOUGHT PROVOKING AND INFORMATIVE December 28, 2009
Andrew J. Rodriguez (Golden, Colorado)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
"The Watchers" is largely the story of how technological genius and godfather of government surveillance, Admiral John Poindexter has shaped the war on terror and in the process helped to redefine our definitions of privacy and national security.
Laws governing our rights to confidentiality (written long before the age of technology,) as well as political corruption, apathy, and widespread ignorance, gravely undermine our nation's national security.
"The Watchers" not only identifies our vulnerabilities to terrorism, but also exposes the reasons why our country is at a strategic disadvantage in the war on terror. The longer America waits to take aggressive action, the greater our chances of facing more dreadful disasters.
With a precise and straightforward voice, author Shane Harris challenges readers to consider the parameters that should exist between national security, freedom, and the citizens' right to confidentiality. If we as a nation want to prevail in the war on terror, it behooves us to painstakingly examine the value of our privacy in context with our nation's safety. Keeping government from gathering intelligence on our citizens under the premise that all terrorists are foreigners is a dangerous exercise in futility when every Tom, Dick, and Harry, in the internet especially terrorists, already have immediate access to the private lives of all Americans.
In the words of Donald Kerr, the principal deputy director of national intelligence speaking to an intelligence symposium on October 23, 2007, (read page 249):
"Too often, privacy has been equated with anonymity; and it's an idea that is deeply rooted in American culture...But in our interconnected and wireless world, anonymity--or the appearance of anonymity--is quickly becoming a thing of the past."
I highly recommend this thought-provoking book.
Andrew J. Rodriguez
Award winning author: "Adios, Havana," a memoir.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 21
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