Good Hunting, An American Spymaster’s Story, Jack Devine (3)
Jack Devine spent the majority of his career in the CIA,
mostly in leadership roles. This is his memoir of those experiences. One of my
criticisms of this book is that the writing is similar to those first two
sentences; very straightforward, crisp and ‘telling’. Memoirs are likely harder
to ‘show’, but it makes for a drier, more boring story. Mr. Devine has
information and insights about several key CIA actions during the 60’s, 70’s,
80’s and 90’s. He claims responsibility for bringing the Stinger missiles to
Afghanistan, which (he states) basically pushed the Russians back and
eventually out of Afghanistan. He avows that the weapons we supplied to the
mujahideens at that time never got into the wrong hands – a bit hard to believe
given our history. I found some of his stories interesting and surprising, but
they seemed to be missing emotion. The facts supported excitement, though the
delivery was too dry. I agree with much of Mr. Devine’s assessments of the
future and preferred role of the CIA and his finishing comments are thought
provoking.
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