Guide to Participants in Peace, Stability, and Relief Operations
Author: Robert M Perito
Peace, stability, and humanitarian operations typically involve the interaction of international organizations (IOs), nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the U.S. government, and the U.S. military. The Institute’s highly successful Guide to IGOs, NGOs and the Military in Peace and Relief Operations, which was based on peace operations in the Balkans following the Cold War, has been instrumental in facilitating interaction between IOs, NGOs, and the military. The revised Guide for Participants in Peace, Stability, and Relief Operations is updated to reflect lessons learned from operations that have occurred since 2000, particularly in Iraq, Afghanistan, and areas affected by the 2004 Asian tsunami.
This invaluable guide provides short scenarios of typical international involvement in peace missions, natural disasters, and stability operations, as well as an introduction to the organizations that will be present when the international community responds to a crisis. Equally valuable are descriptions of the roles of the United Nations and other international institutions, NGOs, the U.S. military, and U.S. government civilian agencies, which were added because of their increased role in these operations.
Although the guide is particularly useful for those serving in the field because it is designed to fit easily into a pocket or backpack and has a durable cover, it will also help headquarters personnel to understand the structure and roles of other organizations. A unique educational resource, the guide will be useful for many who are not in the field, including military and agency trainees and university students.
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Class 11: Inside the CIA's First Post-9/11 Spy Class
Author: T J Waters
Written by one of its own graduates, Class 11: Inside the CIA's First Post-9/11 Spy Class is a gripping insider's look at the first post-9/11 CIA training class--the most elite and secretive espionage training program in the country. Class 11 is a fascinating and moving portrait of an extraordinary group of Americans with the courage and resolve to make a difference in the war on terror.
The Washington Post - John Lehman
T.J. Waters has given us a very readable account of the first wave of this rebuilding in Class 11. Waters, now an intelligence consultant, was a member of the first post-9/11 class of recruits for the CIA's spy wing, and his book describes how very different it was from those preceding it … aters has done an excellent job recounting his experiences, and he and the CIA deserve much credit for a book that can only enhance the public's understanding of the importance of a rejuvenated clandestine service. This book should prove a useful recruiting tool.
Library Journal
The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center spurred thousands of Americans to apply for service in the CIA in the days and weeks following 9/11. Waters, who had worked in a private firm specializing in intelligence collection and training prior to September 2001, was one of the chosen few who were accepted into the CIA's secret intelligence community. His class, dubbed "Class 11," reflected an assortment of individuals-pilots, bankers, single mothers, and others from backgrounds not usually associated with the spy game. Waters recounts his days as a student learning the espionage trade and provides many fascinating details about how contemporary spies are trained. Of course, since the CIA had to approve Waters's book, one is left wondering how much of his account is true and how much of it is manufactured by an agency that is expert at generating disinformation. Nevertheless, Waters's interesting look behind the curtain of the CIA should be of general interest to readers. For larger collections.-Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Listen up, recruits: CIA officers are officers, not agents. FBI agents are agents, and they're sissies. Suck it up, take out a bad guy for the team, be an American. There's a fair amount of cheerleading in Agent Waters's account of his time as a member of the CIA's Clandestine Service Training Program Class 11, "the volunteers who entered the CIA after the September 11 attacks-the largest training class in CIA history." Waters is rock-solid sure that he and his classmates are nothing less than "the best and the brightest the United States had to offer," which, if true, would be a welcome change from the past few slam-dunk, intelligence-light administrations of that august agency. Some of Waters's classmates are already in the CIA, moved to go over to the "Dark Side"-the Directorate of Operations-by the events of 9/11; one lost a spouse in the World Trade Center. Others are accountants, lawyers, former armed-forces personnel. In practice, whether conducting staged exercises or participating in real-world efforts to catch the DC sniper, Waters's squad looks very much like the cast of a World War II combat film brought up to date, with the wisecracker from Brooklyn, the deep thinker from the Midwest, the West Coast bohemian. And then, of course, there's the tough-as-nails drill instructor, even if she's now a she, and the white-coat types, even if they now enlist the Horse Whisperer in their quest to break the enemy's will. Collectively, they add up to "a new cadre of spy, an officer so versatile he or she defies stereotypes. Our enemies will never see us coming."Yet the agency is still the agency, which unaccountably attempted to block publication of this pleasant but, in the end,mild-mannered and rather unrevealing book. For the super-top-secret stuff-well, read Tom Clancy. Agent: Joe Veltre/Artists Literary Group
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