ogd5XOt reviewed Secret History of the Five Eyes by Richard Kerbaj
Interesting, but Derailed by Commentary
3 stars
The topic of this book is rarely discussed at any length, but it's an important topic for any student of government, defense, or intelligence. Unfortunately, the latter chapters of the book feel more like an opportunity for the author to air criticisms rather than review history and more than one event in the past decade is recounted with an exceptionally skewed view point.
Most of the research in the text is excellent. The evolution of the Five Eyes is covered well and some of the more notable wins and losses that shaped the alliance in its early days are included with great detail. This part of the book would serve as an excellent starting point for future research.
Once the book hits the GWOT era, the author starts to stick in a lot of commentary: you get the impression that the Five Eyes primary job was abusing human rights and …
The topic of this book is rarely discussed at any length, but it's an important topic for any student of government, defense, or intelligence. Unfortunately, the latter chapters of the book feel more like an opportunity for the author to air criticisms rather than review history and more than one event in the past decade is recounted with an exceptionally skewed view point.
Most of the research in the text is excellent. The evolution of the Five Eyes is covered well and some of the more notable wins and losses that shaped the alliance in its early days are included with great detail. This part of the book would serve as an excellent starting point for future research.
Once the book hits the GWOT era, the author starts to stick in a lot of commentary: you get the impression that the Five Eyes primary job was abusing human rights and that they also weren't very good at their job. The coverage of the Snowden leaks is basically Snowden's version of events, and the discussion of the controversy over UK using Huawei equipment is incredibly one-sided.
There's a lot in the book to recommend, just brace yourself for the loss of objectivity in the second half.