Selling the CIA

“Researching and understanding the context of public information, First Amendment concerns, transparency and the various government commissions provides much needed context for balancing building relationships that are at once secretive and yet accountable to the public.”—Communication Booknotes Quarterly

"Serves as a valuable scholarly contribution to a rarely examined topic. Students or researchers of intelligence history, modern American journalism, or constitutional studies could all benefit greatly from its findings."—H-Net Reviews

"A groundbreaking study of the CIA’s efforts to justify its existence and a vital addition to intelligence scholarship today. Essential."—Choice

“David McCarthy has written an original and valuable study of an important facet of recent intelligence history. His main argument—that the CIA’s deliberate use of public relations has paradoxically enabled it to preserve an institutional culture of secrecy—is trenchant and persuasive.”—Hugh Wilford, author of The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America

“With both synoptic breadth and monographic depth, this ground-breaking study offers the first comprehensive history of CIA public affairs. A must-read for anyone interested in the history of secrecy, US foreign policy, and US government public relations.”—Simon Willmetts, author of In Secrecy’s Shadow: The OSS and CIA in Hollywood Cinema 1941–1979

“A riveting breakthrough account of the CIA’s secret media campaign to whitewash its blood-spattered public image . . . required reading for anyone worried about Big Brother’s hidden hand in our political discourse and popular culture.”—Frank Snepp, author of Decent Interval: An Insider’s Account of Saigon’s Indecent End Told by the CIA’s Chief Strategy Analyst in Vietnam and Irreparable Harm: A Firsthand Account of How One Agent Took on the CIA in an Epic Battle Over Free Speech