Book Review: "Good Hunting"

This is a review of "Good Hunting: An American Spymaster's Story" by Jack Devine and Vernon Loeb. This is an incredible book, detailing over 32 years in the CIA and shedding light on a few clandestine operations during some of the most developmental years of the CIA. This was an insightful and interesting look into the real world of a clandestine operative. I listened to the book on Audible for about 12hrs (336 pages) at ~$15, and while long it is an exceptional value and a rare experience to be written about. Good Hunting is on the CIA's suggested reading list, under Recent Works, and it sheds light on Jack's work in the CIA through the 1960s-1990s. And Jack did it all, from covert clandestine work, to intelligence analysis, culminating in his position as director of operations within the CIA. Overall I give the book 7 out of 10 stars, for being an amazing first hand account of some  incredible experience, albeit a little dry at times in text.  I recommend the book to intelligence practitioners, intelligence analysts, and anyone with an interest in American history. The book covers what Jack considers to be good covert operations and bad covert operations, i.e. operating with the consent of the president or American people. The following are the chapters of the book, followed by some of my favorite parts.

Dedication
Introduction
Chapter 1: Inside the Invisible Government
Chapter 2: Mules, Pickup Trucks, and Stinger Missiles
Chapter 3: "Your Friend Called from the Airport"
Chapter 4: "We Need to Polygraph Him"
Chapter 5: "Jack, This Changes It All, Doesn't It?"
Chapter 6: Do I Lie to the Pope, or Break Cover?
Chapter 7: Selling the Linear Strategy, One Lunch at a Time
Chapter 8: Jousting with the Soviets: When I Knew It Was Over
Chapter 9: A New Boss, A Bad Penny, and a Principled Heroin Dissent
Chapter 10: The Rooster and The Train
Chapter 11: Raising the Bar
Chapter 12: Undisclosed
Chapter 13: Splitting a Steak
Chapter 14: Good Hunting
Postscript

Jack talks a lot about how the CIA operates, namely how they influence foreign policy through surrogates and how they've used this to effect major events and world powers throughout the years. I really like the parts where Jack talks about the trade-offs of 'helping the enemy's enemy', specifically introducing the Stinger Missiles during the Soviet–Afghan War. The lessons learned here are massive and long lasting. Further, I appreciate how Jack talks about how modern intelligence working closely with operations (JSOC) were able to transform the war on terror from a conventional war to finally achieve their objectives. One of the more intriguing parts of the book in my opinion, is where Jack talks about the mindset of a traitor, specifically Aldrich Ames and his interactions with him over the years. I thought it was really insightful when Jack analyzed the motivations of such people, which one can draw many parallels to the modern corporate leaker (Jack even addresses the Snowden leaks, which was very interesting). I like how he suggests changing the culture to counter such problems, for example highlighting the beneficial parts of Islam to curb the more radical parts vs hunting and prosecuting these people for their beliefs. The book also talks about Jack's post CIA experience providing intelligence for the private sector and how this has become a recent boom, something I am more familiar with. Overall, it's an interesting book for both a historical look at the CIA, and for some of Jack's larger lessons regarding covert action and influence.