The Way of The Knife, Mazzetti - B

                                          This is the story of how the CIA, in the words of Director Brennan, no longer used a "hammer", but a "scalpel".  The subtitle of the book is 'The CIA, a Secret Army and a War at the Ends of the Earth'.  A generation ago, under attack from all corners of American society and in particular, the Church Committee, the CIA was prohibited from  assassinating foreign leaders.  That prohibition was lifted by Pres. Bush in the early days of the 'GWOT'.   The CIA latched onto the newly created drones, has utilized them effectively throughout the world  and "....has become a killing machine, an organization consumed with manhunting."  Indeed, the operation to kill Bin Laden used Navy SEALS, but was a CIA operation, commanded by Leon Panetta and not the JCS.  The road has been bumpy and the author goes into detail about the endless rivalry and competing roles of the Agency and the DOD. Even more confusing is our relationship with Pakistan and its spy agency, the ICI.  Allies? Not really - they signed up to help because they had no other choice. They were later told that we would conduct drone strikes in their country without any consultation, because we couldn't rely on them to pursue the Taliban. As we all know, they were not informed of the Bin Laden strike and have been particularly difficult since then. The author points out that Pres. Obama often articulated our (or his) aversion to "enhanced interrogation techniques", but has had no problem enthusiastically embracing drone attacks all over the world.  Clearly, the Predators and Reapers are doing yeoman's work in the pursuit of Al Qaeda, and cause concern abroad, but are popular at home and are a permanent part of the arsenal.   The only real concern or question raised is whether or not the fixation on killing has taken away from the task of spying.