The Shadow Factory cover art

The Shadow Factory

The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America

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The Shadow Factory

By: James Bamford
Narrated by: Robertson Dean
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About this listen

Today's National Security Agency is the largest, most costly, and most technologically advanced spy organization the world has ever known. It is also the most intrusive, secretly filtering millions of phone calls and e-mails an hour in the United States and around the world. Half a million people live on its watch list, and the number grows by the thousands every month. Has America become a surveillance state?

In The Shadow Factory, James Bamford, the foremost expert on National Security Agency, charts its transformation since 9/11, as the legendary code breakers turned their ears away from outside enemies, such as the Soviet Union, and inward to enemies whose communications increasingly crisscross America.

Fast-paced and riveting, The Shadow Factory is about a world unseen by Americans without the highest security clearances. But it is a world in which even their most intimate whispers may no longer be private.

©2008 James Bamford (P)2008 Books on Tape Americas Freedom & Security Politics & Government United States Espionage National Security Middle East Surveillance Military Iran Soviet Union Imperial Japan Africa Computer Security Cyber warfare Air Force

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All stars
Most relevant  
I've read a couple of Bamford's other books, and was hoping that this would be an up to date history of NSA. Bamford's allows his evident dislike of George W. Bush and the Iraq war to show, and the book becomes a whiny civil liberties polemic in parts. it has also dated terribly in the years since publication

Not quite what I was expecting

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This book discusses the NSAs eavesdropping programs in great detail across a wide time range in recent American history. There is a lot of detail, though I myself struggled a little with the large volume of names and locations, especially given that I am not based in America, and am not familiar with American politics.

For anyone with some basic understanding of this topic but interested in learning more, I think this would be a great resource. Others however may at times find it a little difficult to follow.

Overall i would however recommend this title.

complex and thorough

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