Permanent Record by Edward Snowden

Permanent Record by Edward Snowden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Really interesting and informative regarding US technological internal spying capabilities. Explains Snowden's behavior whether or not you agree with it. It makes me want to reread Clapper's book now that I have the other side of the argument.

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Facts and Fears by James R. Clapper

Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence by James R. Clapper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Americans need to read this book. In his memoir, Clapper shares his lifetime of experience as an honorable servant of our country and our democracy. He gives readers a unique window into the American intelligence community, their capabilities, sacrifices, and limitations. The memoir covers in some detail: Assange, Snowden, North Korea, Russia, and the sadly still very fresh in our memories 2016 Election and Russian election interference.

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Russian Roulette by Michael Isikoff, David Corn

Russian Roulette: The Inside Story of Putin's War on America and the Election of Donald Trump by Michael Isikoff, David Corn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Why did this happen?: "... Putin’s larger strategic vision: [is to] 'to destroy NATO, destroy the European Union, and seriously harm the United States.'" Putin successfully harmed the US, not (just) because of who won the Presidential election, but because he successfully destabilized our democracy and the democratic process and sewed distrust and division throughout the US population.

How did this happen? Who is responsible? The Obama White House is to blame for not disclosing that our election system was under attack until too late. Who else? The news media sought profitable salacious Trump stories, and also reported on hacked Democratic emails, instead of focusing on the incredible Russian hacks. Also, there was FBI Director Comey- who I don't think made his bad decisions because of partisan reasons but still made phenomenally bad choices, at did so least two different times. There is plenty of blame left for Republican Congress members that didn't speak out against Russian election interference for purely partisan reasons, and basically handed our democracy to Russia in 2016, but also going forward.

President Trump himself has stated on numerous occasions that he believes the word of Putin, an enemy of democracy who frequently orders the murder of his opposition, over the US Intelligence Agencies' unanimous agreement of Russian interference in our elections. That makes him an accessory-after-the-fact whether or not he colluded with Russia before the election.

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The Puzzle Palace by James Bamford

The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization by James Bamford
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is sometimes surprising, often boring, and extremely quaint. The entire idea is how secretive the NSA is, and how few people even know that there is an NSA or what it has done. Oh, remember before Russia hacked our election in multiple different ways and NSA officials and ex-officials testified before Congress on television several times? Those were the good old days!

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