If you are looking for a thriller about activities of CIA spooks and ghouls carried out by a James Bond-like hero, you will be disappointed by this book. Rather, it is a detailed but highly sanitized memoir of a retired CIA operations officer, who as a case officer recruited and managed foreign sources of information, called agents. Many of his deeds were fascinating, even if obscured by censorship.

This was a fascinating work on an intelligence officer’s career in the shadows. It is interesting to see London’s experience and read about what he witnessed as American intelligence evolved. I would highly recommend this book to those who would like to see how intelligence gathering works and how it has changed.

Exciting look into the CIA life, especially in the Middle East. Much more George Smiley than James Bond. Very proud to have people like him operating clandestinely but very sad to hear about the current bureaucracy and leadership at CIA.

The Recruiter by Douglas London I thoroughly enjoyed this book. So let me point out my one fault with the writing. In spite of Mr. London’s editor to remove much of the CIA “jargon” there were still far too many acronyms of titles and positions of CIA staff members. (DO’s DDCIA’s, DCIA’s, COS’s, DDO’s…..) I suppose since the book was vetted by the CIA it was not possible to include an organization chart to help some. Nonetheless, this was my only fault with the book.
Mr. London served our country 1st in the Marines and then 34 years in the CIA. Thank you.
The book tells two different stories he wishes to convey: (1) how the CIA changed- in his opinion for the worse- after 9/11 and (2) his interaction and recruitment of spies in many very difficult regions of the world. As he says, the region he was involved in over his career was from Marrakesh to Bangladesh. For the most part not a friendly region especially for a New Your City Jew like himself.
In the case of the how the CIA changed, Mr. London’s career is nearly equally split pre and post 9/11. He states that post 9/11 the role of targeting and managing agents had reduced importance and the role of desk people in Langley increased in the day-to-day operations as well as who was promoted. He compared this to the movie Hopscotch filmed in 1980. In the movie, Walter Matthau plays head of German station. As the movie begins in a beer hall in Munich Matthau’s character watches as a female German spy passes on information in a pack of cigarettes to another German, who then passes it on in a brush pass to a Russian (played by Herbert Lom). Matthau signals to his agents to arrest the two German spies. He himself approaches the Russian who he knows well and asks him to handover the cigarette pack which he does. The movie then forwards to Langley where Matthau’s boss demotes him for not arresting the Russian. What Matthau’s character then says is he has known the Russian for 20 years, how he thinks and what he tries to do. To remove him would mean losing time trying to figure out who his replacement is and what are the spy traits of the guy. Langley does care. This more or less represents what Mr. London sees as the new way in management and who is employed in the CIA. The highest field value seems to be a “wack a mole” concept rather than follow lower-level terrorists up their chain of command. I believe he is correct in this belief. Of course, I think as a filed guy he may be overestimating the importance of the field versus HQ in some ways. This occurs not only in the CIA but many business fields as well. No field salesman will have any respect for the paper pushers in their company HQ’s.
Regarding the day-to-day operation in the field and how to lure and pull in a loyal agent spy, I found these stories very interesting. It can’t be easy to convince someone to risk their life to assist the enemy in this case the US. He presents many different examples and these are much different than a James Bond or even a George Smiley scenario. What he does not explain is how in a hostile land he and other CAI agents are able to identify who might have access to information whether within a foreign government or in a terrorist group and why any one of them could be a potential spy for the US. To guess wrong probably means being asked to leave the country at a minimum or in the case of trying to turn a terrorist might lead to a car bomb up your backside.
So, all in all I certainly found this book interesting and informative of how the field game is played out in espionage.

This was an eye opener. It was very interesting. It explained the inner machinations of the CIA and how they’ve evolved over the years. It describes spycraft before 9/11 and after and how the CIA has moved from being apolitical to political. According to the author there is still true spycraft but the people at the top are maneuvering in political ways. What I enjoyed about this book was the explanation of how things work in the intelligence community today and in the past. Even though the author claims that the manuscript was highly redacted by the CIA, I think there is a lot of enlightening information for average laypeople. I liked this book but I like spy novels and movies so it’s a no brainer. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Well done. He's captured the essence of work as a case officer, the politics of CIA (which, btw, are just like the politics of any organization) and the changes CIA has undergone since the 1980s. He's fair to his colleagues (even those with whom he has an issue) and to the organization. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A must read for those who worked for CIA as well as those interested in it.

This is s wonderful book that lifts some of the veils that hide the real mission of the CIA. Read this one and become a better American.

Exclusive look inside what CIA agents actually do and what Recruiters specifically go through.
Written by an insider with many years of experience , the writer focuses on the human aspect of espionage which tends to be overlooked by spy literature overall.
Very revealing narrative that makes you reconsider all that you thought you knew about the world of spying and agents and the CIA. His personal experiences, along with analysis and criticism of the Agency in general, makes for a fascinating read. Along the way he also breaks some illusions and myths that have long been accepted, mostly by way of movies and television exaggerating the role a spy has in the real world of espionage
A very unique perspective that, until now, has never been explored.

If you've ever wondered what it's like to be a modern-day spy, Douglas London is here to explain. London’s overseas work involved spotting and identifying targets, building relationships over weeks or months, and then pitching them to work for the CIA—all the while maintaining various identities, a day job, and a very real wife and kids at home.