Surprise, Kill, Vanish

SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF NUCLEAR WAR: A SCENARIO Surprise your target. Kill your enemy. Vanish without trace. From the dawn of the Cold War to the present day, when diplomacy fails and overt military action is not feasible, American Presidents have called on the Special Activities Division - a highly-classified branch of the CIA, and the most effective black-operations force in the world. Originally known as the president's guerrilla warfare corps, these paramilitary teams conduct risky and ruthless assignments that are as shocking and controversial as they are morally complex. With unparalleled access to former CIA operators and top members of its Senior Intelligence Service, ambassadors, and even a past director of the Secret Service, bestselling author of Nuclear War Annie Jacobsen reveals a complex world of individuals working in treacherous environments populated with killers, connivers, and saboteurs. Is the CIA's paramilitary army America's weaponized strength, or a liability? Every operation reported in this book, however unsettling, is legal. Praise for Annie Jacobsen: 'A stomach-clenching, multi-perspective, ticking-clock, geopolitical thriller' Forbes 'Dangerously plausible - and it reads like a thriller' Sunday Times 'These are scenes straight out of Dr Strangelove' Telegraph

SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF NUCLEAR WAR: A SCENARIO Surprise your target. Kill your enemy. Vanish without trace. From the dawn of the Cold War to the present day, when diplomacy fails and overt military action is not feasible, American Presidents have called on the Special Activities Division - a highly-classified branch of the CIA, and the most effective black-operations force in the world. Originally known as the president's guerrilla warfare corps, these paramilitary teams conduct risky and ruthless assignments that are as shocking and controversial as they are morally complex. With unparalleled access to former CIA operators and top members of its Senior Intelligence Service, ambassadors, and even a past director of the Secret Service, bestselling author of Nuclear War Annie Jacobsen reveals a complex world of individuals working in treacherous environments populated with killers, connivers, and saboteurs. Is the CIA's paramilitary army America's weaponized strength, or a liability? Every operation reported in this book, however unsettling, is legal. Praise for Annie Jacobsen: 'A stomach-clenching, multi-perspective, ticking-clock, geopolitical thriller' Forbes 'Dangerously plausible - and it reads like a thriller' Sunday Times 'These are scenes straight out of Dr Strangelove' Telegraph

From Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen, the untold USA Today bestselling story of the CIA's secret paramilitary units. Surprise . . . your target. Kill . . . your enemy. Vanish . . . without a trace. When diplomacy fails, and war is unwise, the president calls on the CIA's Special Activities Division, a highly-classified branch of the CIA and the most effective, black operations force in the world. Originally known as the president's guerrilla warfare corps, SAD conducts risky and ruthless operations that have evolved over time to defend America from its enemies. Almost every American president since World War II has asked the CIA to conduct sabotage, subversion and, yes, assassination. With unprecedented access to forty-two men and women who proudly and secretly worked on CIA covert operations from the dawn of the Cold War to the present day, along with declassified documents and deep historical research, Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen unveils -- like never before -- a complex world of individuals working in treacherous environments populated with killers, connivers, and saboteurs. Despite Hollywood notions of off-book operations and external secret hires, covert action is actually one piece in a colossal foreign policy machine. Written with the pacing of a thriller, Surprise, Kill, Vanish brings to vivid life the sheer pandemonium and chaos, as well as the unforgettable human will to survive and the intellectual challenge of not giving up hope that define paramilitary and intelligence work. Jacobsen's exclusive interviews -- with members of the CIA's Senior Intelligence Service (equivalent to the Pentagon's generals), its counterterrorism chiefs, targeting officers, and Special Activities Division's Ground Branch operators who conduct today's close-quarters killing operations around the world -- reveal, for the first time, the enormity of this shocking, controversial, and morally complex terrain. Is the CIA's paramilitary army America's weaponized strength, or a liability to its principled standing in the world? Every operation reported in this book, however unsettling, is legal.

From Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen, the untold USA Today bestselling story of the CIA's secret paramilitary units. Surprise . . . your target. Kill . . . your enemy. Vanish . . . without a trace. When diplomacy fails, and war is unwise, the president calls on the CIA's Special Activities Division, a highly-classified branch of the CIA and the most effective, black operations force in the world. Originally known as the president's guerrilla warfare corps, SAD conducts risky and ruthless operations that have evolved over time to defend America from its enemies. Almost every American president since World War II has asked the CIA to conduct sabotage, subversion and, yes, assassination. With unprecedented access to forty-two men and women who proudly and secretly worked on CIA covert operations from the dawn of the Cold War to the present day, along with declassified documents and deep historical research, Pulitzer Prize finalist Annie Jacobsen unveils -- like never before -- a complex world of individuals working in treacherous environments populated with killers, connivers, and saboteurs. Despite Hollywood notions of off-book operations and external secret hires, covert action is actually one piece in a colossal foreign policy machine. Written with the pacing of a thriller, Surprise, Kill, Vanish brings to vivid life the sheer pandemonium and chaos, as well as the unforgettable human will to survive and the intellectual challenge of not giving up hope that define paramilitary and intelligence work. Jacobsen's exclusive interviews -- with members of the CIA's Senior Intelligence Service (equivalent to the Pentagon's generals), its counterterrorism chiefs, targeting officers, and Special Activities Division's Ground Branch operators who conduct today's close-quarters killing operations around the world -- reveal, for the first time, the enormity of this shocking, controversial, and morally complex terrain. Is the CIA's paramilitary army America's weaponized strength, or a liability to its principled standing in the world? Every operation reported in this book, however unsettling, is legal.