Spies, Lies, and Algorithms

The History and Future of American Intelligence

By: Amy B. Zegart

Narrated by: Amy B. Zegart

Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Spying has never been more ubiquitous - or less understood. The world is drowning in spy movies, TV shows, and novels, but universities offer more courses on rock and roll than on the CIA, and there are more congressional experts on powdered milk than espionage. This crisis in intelligence education is distorting public opinion, fueling conspiracy theories, and hurting intelligence policy. In Spies, Lies, and Algorithms, Amy Zegart separates fact from fiction as she offers an engaging and enlightening account of the past, present, and future of American espionage as it faces a revolution driven by digital technology.

Drawing on decades of research and hundreds of interviews with intelligence officials, Zegart provides a history of US espionage, from George Washington's Revolutionary War spies to today's spy satellites; examines how fictional spies are influencing real officials; gives an overview of intelligence basics and life inside America's intelligence agencies; explains the deadly cognitive biases that can mislead analysts; and explores the vexed issues of traitors, covert action, and congressional oversight. Most of all, Zegart describes how technology is empowering new enemies and opportunities, and creating powerful new players, such as private citizens who are successfully tracking nuclear threats using little more than Google Earth.

©2022 Amy B. Zegart (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Good overview

Above all is good book, but the naivete theme that cover US government and companies is clear

Future Shock on Steroids

Not a moment to kick back and doze off during this trip around, in, through and then to the future of espionage. I know that’s a broad term. Just listen to this superb narration of a complex reality and how technology, AI is the new ARMS RACE. Fascinating.

11hr felt like 1. great read by the author.

would love to see her continue this as technology continues to advance. excellent job of explaining.

Great for beginners, a little dry for 2022

The author does an excellent job introducing many of the threats and challenges to modern intelligence, informed by her years of work adjacent to the intelligence community.

The issue I had was this book could have been written 5 years ago with the same information, or even earlier. Most of the examples used are repeated multiple times (I.e. Stuxnet, China’s OPM hack, Russia’s election interference) and often make the same point several times throughout the book, making the reader think “wait, didn’t you already say that?”

Despite the dead horse being beaten with some pretty widely used and commonly known examples, I’d say the author did an excellent job organizing the flow and performing the reading. Would recommend overall.

An interesting look into a normally closed world.

Mrs. Zegart does an excellent job in explaining the world of intelligence and its often complicated operations. Written in an easy to understand, no nonsense manner that was an enjoyable read. Worth the time investment to read and a must read for anyone remotely involved in the intelligence community.

The successes and failures of the intelligence community.

A great comprehensive look at the nations intelligence community. A must read for anyone in the IC, especially those just beginning their careers.

A Great Primer on US Intelligence

I would love it if this became required reading for every US Government class taught in high school. The problem of how will we protect our democracy in an age of deepfakes and pervasive disinformation operations is a truly vexing one. The only thing I can think is to teach media literacy and critical thinking more broadly.

A fair overview of the intelligence community

This book is a great entry point to understanding the intelligence community as a whole, and at a very rapid clip and hopefully it will lead individuals to seek out more information that is based on facts, evidence, and data. It’s apparent just from reading the reviews of this book just how little educated the US population is on how the intelligence community works; to the point that there’s zero interest in assessing the facts with an open mind.

superb history and analysis

the challenges of knowing what's benign and what's malignant in information warfare, full of insights from corporate, political, and academic perspectives

okay book for the uninitiated

not much new in this beyond a couple of nuggets. mostly a 10,000 ft view of the situation