Plus, receive recommendations and exclusive offers on all of your favorite books and authors from Simon & Schuster.
Table of Contents
About The Book
• A major story the government doesn’t want us to know about: Almost everything about the outsourcing of spying activities is classified. Shorrock lifts the veil off this disturb- ing story for the first time.
• Vital tasks outsourced: Running spy networks overseas, interrogating enemy prisoners, eavesdropping on phone calls, tracking al Qaeda operatives, analyzing intelligence— these vital tasks, traditionally performed by government, are now being outsourced to companies answerable to investors rather than to Congress.
• Authoritative: Shorrock has spent four years researching this new phenomenon, drawing on interviews, government documents, and industry contacts. He takes readers inside the intelligence contracting industry, which is worth more than $50 billion a year.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster (May 26, 2009)
- Length: 464 pages
- ISBN13: 9780743282253
Browse Related Books
Raves and Reviews
"Tim Shorrock is walking, and mapping, a startling fault line of these crazy days: the way government is outsourcing its most basic functions at a time of peril. Replacing public service with private transactions -- often shadowy and unaccountable -- is what helped bring down Rome. Without fierce scrutiny, and the kind of sharp-eyed disclosures this book provides, it can bring down America. A must read." -- Ron Suskind, author of The One Percent Doctrine
"Spies for Hire is an excellent roadmap to the daunting new terrain of U.S. intelligence, in which the explosive growth of intelligence contracting threatens to overwhelm any possibility of independent oversight. In this groundbreaking work, Tim Shorrock explores who has benefitted, who has paid, and why it matters to us all." -- Steven Aftergood, Project on Government Secrecy, Federation of American Scientists
"Tim Shorrock is a digger, and he has penetrated a secret and fascinating world to write a telling and readable book." -- Evan Thomas, editor at large of Newsweek, author of Sea of Thunder
"Tim Shorrock's well-researched and convincing book reveals how the intelligence community now subcontracts out most of its work -- 70 percent -- to private-sector companies that inevitably have their own agendas, which may or may not accord with the national interest. By laying out very specifically how all this works, Shorrock has provided a very important service to the country." -- Burton Hersh, author of The Old Boys: The American Elite and the Origins of the CIA
" A sterling example of why investigative journalists are valuable....A remarkable job." -- USA Today
"A disturbing overview of the intelligence community." -- The New York Times
"Valuable.... Contains some important, timely truths about the influx of private entrepreneurs into America's spy agencies." -- The Washington Post Book World
"A definitive book." -- The Nation
"Path-breaking.... Destined to be the gold standard on intelligence contracting." -- Asia Times
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Spies for Hire Trade Paperback 9780743282253
- Author Photo (jpg): Tim Shorrock Photo Credit:(0.5 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit