Company Man

October 21, 2013
A long career as lawyer at the CIA warrants Rizzo’s lively memoir of life and work inside the nation’s intelligence headquarters. Starting as a junior officer on Soviet espionage matters, Rizzo became privy to most of the agency’s major post-1975 cases and often found himself in the presence of its most senior officers until early in the 21st-century. Major figures—many of whom are legendary in intelligence circles—fill the book’s pages: like James Jesus Angleton, William Casey, John Deutsch, George Tenet, Robert Gates, and Porter Goss. Rizzo’s close-up accounts of Iran-Contra, the hunt for Osama bin Laden, post-9/11 events, and “enhanced interrogation” add texture to what’s already known about these events and issues. The problem is that Rizzo, who failed to gain congressional confirmation as the CIA’s general counsel, scarcely meets a CIA figure he doesn’t respect and defend, scarcely a member of Congress or agency outsider whom he doesn’t knock about. Nor does he add to his credibility by recording word-for-word conversations three or four decades old. Nevertheless, the book is likely to draw attention for its immediacy and its insider knowledge of the policies and workings of the nation’s major clandestine service, not to mention the fact that Rizzo, as the CIA’s acting general counsel during the War on Terror, was involved in the Agency’s defense of torture tactics and the use of drones.

January 1, 2014

The initials "CIA" might invoke thoughts of conspiracies, maverick spies, and unlimited government power, a culture of mystique often associated with America's renowned Central Intelligence Agency that is in no small part attributable to both Hollywood and popular fiction. In this book, veteran CIA lawyer Rizzo shares an inside view of the federal agency. Working mostly within the headquarters near DC from 1975 to 2009, Rizzo came into direct contact with various directors, field agents, and members of Congress. Throughout his memoir, Rizzo uses his keen sense of observation to portray the clandestine agency as one working within the parameters of the law and one in which lasting friendships develop. The aim of this title is not to provide details of top-secret operations. Instead, it is to show a conscientious public servant navigating the complexities of politics for the sake of national security. Rizzo gives insight into various personalities and into key events that left an impression upon American government and society during the close of the 20th century. VERDICT Both students and lay readers of American politics should find considerable value in this memoir. Recommended.--Chad Clark, Lamar State Coll. Lib., Port Arthur, TX

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2013
In 1975, the author, a lawyer working for the U.S. Customs Service, appliedpretty much on a whimto join the CIA. This fascinating memoir takes us through Rizzo's three-decade-long career as a CIA lawyer, a career that has included being the liaison between Congress and the CIA during the Iran-Contra affair and becoming an international celebritynot that he sought such notorietythrough his involvement with the so-called torture tapes, recordings of the alleged torture of an al-Qaeda operative, which were destroyed amid great controversy by the agency. Rizzo's intimate knowledge of the company's post-9/11 activities makes his book must reading for today's political junkies, but he had been with the agency more than 25 years before the 2001 terror attacks, and his portrait of the CIA from the 1970s through the '90s is fascinating on its own terms, portraying an intelligence organization that was dealing with internal strife and trying to decide how to adapt to stricter new regulations, even as the world was growing into a darker, more frightening place. As insider looks go, this one is about as close-up as you can get.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)