THE SHADOW GROWS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01350R000200420041-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 21, 2004
• Sequence Number: 41
• Publication Date: September 24, 1978
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2004/10/13: CIA-RDP88-0135OR
ARTICLE APPEAR
THE WASHINGTON POST
ON PAGE -
40
BOOK WORLD
24 September 1978
7ne
Shadow.
SPOOKS: The Haunting of ~nier cr -- 'ha.,
Private Use of Secret-Agents Bp Jiam $'ou-;
gan,.Morro w.478ppm.X12.95
-By ALLEN WEINSTEIN
4 ( MERICA,7' Am Hong=- writes; "has become'
.tX. a haunted house aping its own worstfiction,
a rambling. Victorian manse whose roomscontain .
spooks of every kind." Hougan, Harper'& Washing-.,
ton editor,. has emerged from four years spent-'
researching the international underworld of private
U.S. intelligence agents with a. lively, 'well-
researched, and occasionally garrulous book. He is a
superb storyteller, and the pages teem with unfor-
gettable characters from the. bizarre world` of pri-.0 -7 v ate domestic intelligence. . ? -
Hougan-,has. stitched.. together.. threee, distinct-
themes, each a volume in itself. The. boob's. overt
theme is the author's concern for the,dangers of our
virtually unregulated universe of "private CIA's for
hire,"-which- he argues- "have' met istasized-across
the landscape" of America since the Second World
War.,These agents. include not only 32,OOO licensed
private investigators, but also 4,200 registered firms
dealing in "security work" (five of which, according
to Hougan,- account, for- half- the. revenue- in the
field) All' have-access to'the moderirtechnology of
surveillance - = ?: ':'
Thus, at one-level, Spooks deals with, the:use of in.-
telligence operatives.by:multinational corporations;-
the super-rich, and the malevolent wealthy. Horgan
believes that.the problems such firms pose for. demt
ocratic institutions havenot yet,been.fuily-confrona'
ted:?"The. technology needed to-realize Orwell's.
worst nightmares Is available,. poorly regulated and
widely abused, but solar the United States has es-
caped its full potential." Moreover, Hougan asserts
that" "the- U.S: intelligence community has. bepatnie
an initmment of intdtinationai' corporozte::polict,
reversing the natural order of things... Almost
none of the material in Spooks, however; documents
the precise'extent-and'manner bywliich this pro.
cess has supposedly taken hold.'
Of more immediate concern-to- the'author than
multinational machines o arg tpe eextt i
intrigues of 1Q
master buccaneers of-American enterprise, whose
schemes and those of their henchmenfill more than
half the book Hougan has collected a chilling mass
of material-from interviews, government records
and published sources-to document the elaborate
plots engaged in over the past quarter century by
Vesco, Hughes, and their respective associates: sub.
orning politicians, manipulating government intelli'
gence agencies, and adding to their often-corrupted
riches. These chapters forest the heart of Hougan's
book and distill impressively the .: unsavory. careers
of two American Miidases. .
A third concern throughout Spooks involves "the
milieu of intelligence," particularly Itss, major pri.!
vate operatives. The author's portraits of leading fig
urea in the field will probably become a source book
-
for the spy novelist In search: 4 omi '
,nously credible master. agents, - We-
may expect thinly disguised-'fictional:
treatments in the years ahead of such
people as arms mercliant, Mitch Were
Bell; of . Howard Hughes' onetime.'
chief of staff-Robert Maheu,' and of.th'
late and legendary "wire roan" Ber.
nardR.SpindeL
am:
, e1 L
Hougan's ability to convey both thee,
devious skills and the sometimes Pam
noid purposes of his leading "spooks'`
reflects an?admirable measure ofern ?
pathy for the men, if not for theirmis.?
sions. In most of these private+intelli
ence agents;'who began their careers
working for the OSS, CIA, FBI, and"
other government agencies, Hougan,
finds what he calls the "agent's syn-
drome," an inability to abandon either
the practice or the mystique of covert
operations, once civilises.. "The Fed-:
eral intelligence complex," Hougan-
'writes, "serves as a kind of tax-eupp ar..
ted university for industrial spooks.
[whoselclandestine crafts '..". eveaa.
tually, are brought to bear against poi-,.
vate citizens, business competitor;:
and even the government, itself: The ??
book describes the fearsome "opuses-
.tional" end of the wont engaged in by.
private spoolts, drawing together ma-'
teriai. some of; which had: previously.'-
appeared . in: `the- .writings ? of+? Victors
Lasky, Edward Jay Epstein, the?var:`
sous Hughes and Vesco biographers,.,
and in studies of Watergate and the ins,,
telllgence agencies' scandals.
The result, in Spooks, 11 : a .:viori
crammed-ins. somewhat disorganized..
fashion with superb tales: Mitch Wer
Bell's aborted "invasione' of the Baba-,
mas (a local plot hatched "in meetings
at Duke'Zeibert'srestaurant, the G'lasx'- t
Reunion. bar, and WerBeil's $ days
suite at Washingtot-'s ... Hay4Adams
CIA-RDP88-01350R00020042004,1-3
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