Bob Woodward - Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA 1981-1987

The most revelatory book ever written on current American intelligence, espionage and covert action.

Michael R. Beschloss, The Boston Globe

A revealing and important book. Casey emerges in these pages as an American original, a feisty, profane, pugnacious, dogmatic old man, determined to bull his way past the Congress, the press, the secretary of state, the bean counters in his own agency, and any other obstacles to his brand of big-stick jingoism. Woodward remains one of the best reporters of his generation, a man who knows how to play the subtle access game as well as anyone, and who emerges not only with his integrity intact, but with one hell of a story.

J. Anthony Lukas, The Washington Post Book World

VEIL was the code word for all covert action in the later years of the Reagan administration. In Veil , Casey emerges as a passionate anti-communist and wily strategic thinker, albeit with the cloak-and-dagger mind-set he developed as spy-master for the OSS during World War II. Woodward paints a rich portrait of the hands-on director determined to affect policy. Much of what [Casey] might have saidand some of what he might never have admittedhas been uncovered by Watergate reporter Bob Woodward.

Newsweek

Veil is an intimate, inside lookan intriguing book that deserves the attention of anyone interested in government, history, intelligence, or just plain good reading. One of Veil s key strengths is its insight into Caseys overall strategy. Woodward uses Caseys CIA years to take a chronological tour of the Reagan administrations intelligence and foreign policy apparatus. And what a tour it is.

Business Week

A sweeping, alarming investigation of the governments most hyperactive spy agency. Woodward, Americas most remarkable reporter, has done another job equal to his reputation. Veil is a great book.

Chicago Sun-Times

Superbly written. Veil has all the ingredients of a real-life spy thriller. It is a fascinating, engrossing and very informative insiders look into Americas covert intelligence operations. The book is full of fascinating stories about some of our countrys most sensitive secrets.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Woodwards shocking new bookturns out to be super reading. With Veil , hes done the almost impossiblehes topped himself. A wild story.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Reading Veil is something like watching the Iran-contra hearings on TV. If you were hooked on them, as I was, youll gobble up Veil , as I did.

USA Today

Veil is a masterful, behind-the-scenes narrative of political intrigues at the highest levels of the federal intelligence bureaucracy. It is investigative high gossip and a damn good read.

The Village Voice

No matter whether they love or hate the book, intelligence professionals cant ignore Veil its wealth of detail about U.S. spying activities is unprecedented.

The Christian Science Monitor

Veil makes for fascinating, backside-glued-to-the-chair reading. The world of deception, double-dealing and dirty tricksamong top Washington bureaucrats as much as cloak-and-dagger types abroadcomes to vivid life.

Newsday

Veil is a literary sensation of the first magnitude.

New York Post

An impressive gathering of information. This is a broad, deep and tantalizing glimpse into what drove the Reagan administration from one crisis to another.

The Milwaukee Journal

Woodward has provided a valuable primer on what can happen when an over-zealous CIA director decided to make policy. The value is in Woodwards ability to capture the details of how Casey blended intelligence with ideology. The countrys best investigative reporter in the hottest political book of the year.

The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

The revelations are merely the bold strokes in a penetrating, profane, and sometimes brilliant portrait. Woodward has got into the belly of the beast. Its all here. This is no archeological dig through the skeletons of the past. This is real-time intelligence.

The New York Times Book Review

Veils credibility rests partly on Woodwards reputation for accuracyhe has a way of being rightbut even more, it rests on its own cumulative impact. Much of Veil is like taking the case off a watch and observing its mechanism, the mechanism being the top levels of government. Why did Casey talk? Whats the good of knowing secrets if you cant tell anybody? The mans temperament explains it. Wild Bills heir wanted a Boswell.

Houston Chronicle

Also by Bob Woodward

Plan of Attack

Bush at War

Maestro: Greenspans Fed and the American Boom

Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate

The Choice

The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House

The Commanders

Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi

The Brethren (with Scott Armstrong)

The Final Days (with Carl Bernstein)

All the Presidents Men (with Carl Bernstein)

VEIL: The top-secret code word for covert operations undertaken in the latter years of the Reagan Administration to influence events abroad

SIMON & SCHUSTER PAPERBACKS

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Copyright 1987 by Bob Woodward
All right reserved,
including the right of reproduction
in whole or in part in any form.

S IMON & S CHUSTER P APERBACKS and colophon are registered trademarks of
Simon & Schuster, Inc.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the
hardcover edition as follows:
Woodward, Bob.

Veil: the secret wars of the CIA

Includes index.

1. United States. Central Intelligence Agency
History. 1. Title.

UB251.U5W66 1987 327.1206073 87-20520

ISBN-10: 1-4165-5279-0
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-5279-6

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TO ELSA

CONTENTS

AUTHORS NOTE

This book was possible because of the tireless and diligent work of Barbara Feinman, a 1982 graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, who assisted in every stepconducting interviews, locating people and facts, thinking, scrutinizing, writing, editing, organizing, correcting misjudgments and spelling. Her friendship and sense of fairness guided the daily enterprise; the book is as much hers as mine.

A NOTE TO READERS

Most of the information in this book was obtained from interviews with more than 250 people involved directly in gathering or using intelligence information. I conducted multiple interviews with more than one hundred of these people; about fifteen key sources were each interviewed a halfdozen or more times. I would prefer sharing the name and position of each source with the reader. But because of the topics sensitivity, nearly all the interviews were conducted on background, which means that I have promised that these sources will not be identified. The simple reality is that people will not discuss intelligence and security matters without this protection. A number of sources also provided access to documents, memoranda, notes, calendars, other written chronologies, letters, transcripts and diaries. Where quoted directly, the documentation is identified in the text. I found, however, that the discussions with well-placed sources were generally more illuminating than reading stacks of documents.

The various investigations of the Iran-contra affair, including those of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the Tower review board, the joint Senate-House select committees, and independent counsel Lawrence Walsh, provided additional information and documentation, especially for the years 1985 and 1986.