The CIA took advantage of the Marshall Plan, a program intended to help the European Nations recover financially after WWII. The muddied and unclear mission statement resulted in a major hit for the CIA, one that many are unaware of today. It was intended to handle covert operations or analysis, but some people felt it was not capable of handling both, causing a major divide that still existed upon the book’s publication in 2007. Its purpose was vague and no one really knew the true mission of the CIA. Two years later, the Central Intelligence Agency was formed under the National Security Act. They created the Strategic Services Unit to complete OSS’s incomplete missions as they felt threatened by the Soviet Union. Following the disbandment of the OSS, Brigadier General John Magruder and Assistant Secretary of War John McCloy went against Truman’s wishes to not create another agency. However, its demise was imminent after a terrible performance report, and President Harry S.

He begins with national intelligence before the CIA’s creation, when the Office of Strategic Strategies (OSS) oversaw all spying operations for WWII. Weiner tracks the movements of the CIA from World War II until post-September 11. The main source of conflict between Weiner’s analysis and the CIA is, actually, quite simple: Weiner sees failure where the CIA sees success. The CIA has publicly announced its disapproval of the book on several occasions, deeming it an “unbalanced” point of view.

After combing through 50,000 government documents and conducting three hundred interviews (ten of which were with former directors of the CIA), Weiner presents the little-known facts that have contributed to what he feels is a “first-rate spy service” for “the most powerful country in the history of Western civilization.” It is important to note that Legacy of Ashes is extremely controversial. Every person is named, every quote is attributed, and every claim is rooted in fact. Weiner uses no anonymous sources, lending further credibility to his work. Winner of the 2007 National Book Award for Nonfiction, Legacy of Ashes differs from preceding texts exploring the same political issues in that it is the first to be entirely on the record. Tim Weiner’s 2007 tell-all history, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, angered the CIA upon its release, though it was critically acclaimed.

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