The so-called “Golden Age” of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Eisenhower administration is widely misinterpreted, according to author David M. Barrett’s recent book “The CIA and Congress: The Untold Story from Truman to Kennedy,” published by the Kansas University Press. Dr. Rorin Platt, associate professor of history at Campbell University, reviewed the book for the August 2007 issue of “Intelligence and National Security,” a major journal on intelligence studies published in Great Britain.”While uneven and often ineffective, the monitoring of the CIA by Congress was frequent,” Platt said. “But CIA failures, such as being unable to predict events like the overthrow of the pro-American King Faisal of Iraq in 1958, for example, and other mistakes have led the U.S. into the present war in Iraq.”Platt called Barrett’s book “detailed and comprehensive” in making a strong case for oversight of the CIA, but also pointed out CIA intelligence mistakes.Dr. Rorin Platt is a former book review editor for “American Diplomacy” and a former member of the Board of Directors. A native of Virginia, he received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Platt received a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland at College Park. He has also studied at Georgetown University and at the University of Virginia and taught at a number of institutions. A diplomatic historian who specializes in American intelligence history, Platt has authored two books and a number of articles and book reviews, including “Virginia in Foreign Affairs, 1933-1941.” He is presently writing a history of Virginians who served in America’s World War II intelligence services.
Platt reviews book on oversight of the CIA during Cold War