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The Shadow Factory
- The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
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The Shadow Factory
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Publisher's summary
Today's National Security Agency is the largest, most costly, and most technologically advanced spy organization the world has ever known. It is also the most intrusive, secretly filtering millions of phone calls and e-mails an hour in the United States and around the world. Half a million people live on its watch list, and the number grows by the thousands every month. Has America become a surveillance state?
In The Shadow Factory, James Bamford, the foremost expert on the National Security Agency, charts its transformation since 9/11, as the legendary code breakers turned their ears away from outside enemies, such as the Soviet Union, and inward to enemies whose communications increasingly crisscross America.
Fast-paced and riveting, The Shadow Factory is about a world unseen by Americans without the highest security clearances. But it is a world in which even their most intimate whispers may no longer be private.
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Failures of Imagination
- The Deadliest Threats to Our Homeland - and How to Thwart Them
- By: Michael McCaul
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 53
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Story4 out of 5 stars 53
Congressman and Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, Michael McCaul, has spent years in Washington watching the administration turn a blind eye to the most pressing possible threats to the country. Now, in Failures of Imagination, McCaul turns away from the over-sensationalized, unrealistic fears circulated through the media in order to expose the most legitimate and looming national security threats, which have long been swept under the rug by the administration.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Spot on.
- By Prince Parker on 02-27-16
By: Michael McCaul
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Pay Any Price
- Greed, Power, and Endless War
- By: James Risen
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 288
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 252
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 252
Ever since 9/11 America has fought an endless war on terror, seeking enemies everywhere and never promising peace. In Pay Any Price, James Risen reveals an extraordinary litany of the hidden costs of that war: from squandered and stolen dollars, to outrageous abuses of power, to wars on normalcy, decency, and truth. In the name of fighting terrorism, our government has done things every bit as shameful as its historic wartime abuses - and until this audiobook, it has worked very hard to cover them up.
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4 out of 5 stars
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If you care about our liberties, read this book.
- By John L. Moncrief on 11-02-14
By: James Risen
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@War
- The Rise of the Military-Internet Complex
- By: Shane Harris
- Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 661
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 576
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 571
The United States military currently views cyberspace as the "fifth domain" of warfare - alongside land, sea, air, and space - and the Department of Defense, National Security Agency, and CIA all field teams of hackers who can - and do - launch computer virus strikes against enemy targets. In fact, as @War shows, US hackers were crucial to our victory in Iraq.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The short history of the US and Cyber War
- By Greg on 02-06-15
By: Shane Harris
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Dawn of the Code War
- America's Battle Against Russia, China, and the Rising Global Cyber Threat
- By: John P. Carlin, Garrett M. Graff
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 16 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 513
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 446
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 444
The inside story of how America's enemies launched a cyberwar against us - and how we've learned to fight back. In this dramatic audiobook, former assistant attorney general John P. Carlin takes listeners to the front lines of a global but little-understood fight as the Justice Department and the FBI chases down hackers, online terrorist recruiters, and spies.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Exhausting
- By Raz on 01-08-19
By: John P. Carlin, and others
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The Perfect Weapon
- War, Sabotage, and Fear in the Cyber Age
- By: David E. Sanger
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,440
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,259
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,250
The Perfect Weapon is the startling inside story of how the rise of cyberweapons transformed geopolitics like nothing since the invention of the atomic bomb. Cheap to acquire, easy to deny, and usable for a variety of malicious purposes, cyber is now the weapon of choice for democracies, dictators, and terrorists. Two presidents - Bush and Obama - drew first blood with Operation Olympic Games, which used malicious code to blow up Iran’s nuclear centrifuges, and yet America proved remarkably unprepared when its own weapons were stolen from its arsenal.
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1 out of 5 stars
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mix of information and propaganda
- By Inthego on 06-14-19
By: David E. Sanger
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Spycraft
- The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs from Communism to Al-Qaeda
- By: Robert Wallace, Henry Robert Schelsinger
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,052
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 657
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Story4 out of 5 stars 662
Now, in the first book ever written about this ultrasecretive department, the former director of OTS teams up with an internationally renowned intelligence historian to give listeners an unprecedented look at the devices and operations deemed "inappropriate for public disclosure" by the CIA just two years ago.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Unique, informative history of the CIA
- By Richard on 07-29-08
By: Robert Wallace, and others
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Code Warriors
- NSA's Codebreakers and the Secret Intelligence War Against the Soviet Union
- By: Stephen Budiansky
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 197
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 177
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Story4 out of 5 stars 176
The National Security Agency was born out of the legendary codebreaking programs of World War II that cracked the famed Enigma machine and other German and Japanese codes, thereby turning the tide of Allied victory. In the postwar years, as the United States developed a new enemy in the Soviet Union, our intelligence community found itself targeting not soldiers on the battlefield, but suspected spies, foreign leaders, and even American citizens.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Did Vladimir Putin Steal the American Election?
- By Cynthia on 12-01-16
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Operation Shakespeare
- The True Story of an Elite International Sting
- By: John Shiffman
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 63
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 54
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Story4 out of 5 stars 54
In Operation Shakespeare, investigative journalist John Shiffman traces a high-risk undercover operation launched by an elite undercover Homeland Security unit created to stop the Iranians, Russians, Chinese, Pakistanis, and North Koreans from acquiring sophisticated American-made electronics capable of guiding missiles, jamming radar, and triggering countless weapons - from wireless IEDs to nuclear bombs.
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3 out of 5 stars
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under our noses
- By Andy on 08-20-14
By: John Shiffman
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The Secrets of the FBI
- By: Ronald Kessler
- Narrated by: Michael Bybee
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 295
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 233
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Story4 out of 5 stars 232
The Secrets of the FBI by New York Times best-selling author Ronald Kessler reveals the FBIs most closely guarded secrets and the secrets of celebrities, politicians, and movie stars uncovered by agents during their investigations.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Even-handed; an interesting history of the FBI
- By G-Man on 08-08-11
By: Ronald Kessler
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Raven Rock
- The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself - While the Rest of Us Die
- By: Garrett M. Graff
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,231
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,104
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,094
A fresh window on American history: the eye-opening truth about the government's secret plans to survive a catastrophic attack on US soil, even if the rest of us die - a road map that spans from the dawn of the nuclear age to today.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Awesome Read!!
- By Brewer Richardson on 05-05-17
By: Garrett M. Graff
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The One Percent Doctrine
- Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11
- By: Ron Suskind
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 261
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 54
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Story4 out of 5 stars 53
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author Ron Suskind takes you deep inside America's real battles with violent, unrelenting terrorists, a game of kill-or-be-killed, from the Oval Office to the streets of Karachi.
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2 out of 5 stars
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The Agenda is Clear
- By Penny on 09-28-11
By: Ron Suskind
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Countdown to Zero Day
- Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon
- By: Kim Zetter
- Narrated by: Joe Ochman
- Length: 13 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,338
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,040
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,036
The virus now known as Stuxnet was unlike any other piece of malware built before: Rather than simply hijacking targeted computers or stealing information from them, it proved that a piece of code could escape the digital realm and wreak actual, physical destruction—in this case, on an Iranian nuclear facility.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Amazingly detailed, sober and above all, damning
- By Greg on 11-22-14
By: Kim Zetter
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Enemies Within
- Inside the NYPD's Secret Spying Unit and bin Laden's Final Plot Against America
- By: Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 45
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 40
In Enemies Within Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman lay bare the complex and often contradictory state of counterterrorism and intelligence in America through the pursuit of Najibullah Zazi, a terrorist bomber who trained under one of bin Laden's most trusted deputies. Zazi and his coconspirators represented America's greatest fear: a terrorist cell operating inside America. Apuzzo and Goldman lift the veil of secrecy to reveal the strengths and weaknesses of our counterterrorism measures.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very in depth. I highly detailed account.
- By P. Shaw on 10-08-20
By: Matt Apuzzo, and others
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Good Hunting
- An American Spymaster's Story
- By: Jack Devine
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 352
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 305
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 306
Good Hunting: An American Spymaster's Story is the spellbinding memoir of Devine's time in the CIA, where he served for more than 30 years, rising to become the acting deputy director of operations, responsible for all of the agency's spying operations. This is a story of intrigue and high-stakes maneuvering - all the more gripping when the fate of our geopolitical order hangs in the balance. But this audiobook also sounds a warning to our nation's decision makers.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating, An education on spying
- By Anthony on 12-13-15
By: Jack Devine
What listeners say about The Shadow Factory
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Robert E. Claytor
- 06-13-19
Technical
Great story, but at times you are swamped by technical computer capability data toward the end of the book.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Devon
- 12-08-15
spine chilling
if you weren't paranoid before this book you will be after it.
this book in detail sheds light on just what lenghths the government goes to in order to collect data and erode personal privacy in the name of security. . listened to it straight through couldn't stop
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Johanna
- 08-31-14
does not work
This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
nobody because it doesn't work
What was most disappointing about James Bamford’s story?
that i bought the audiobook and could not hear it
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1 person found this helpful