Riebling, Mark. Wedge: The Secret War Between the FBI and CIA. New York:
Alfred A. Knopf, 1994. 563 pages.
Mark Riebling graduated in 1984 with a degree in philosophy, his writing
is articulate and reflective, and he also did the usual number of interviews,
government-archive sleuthing, and FOIA requests that one would expect for a
history on the jurisdictional struggles between the FBI and OSS/CIA from 1941
to the present. The problem in these struggles was counterintelligence. At
the FBI, Hoover and his by-the-book flatfoots didn't have a feel for the
complex games that the KGB might be playing. At the CIA, meanwhile, James
Angleton was hamstrung by an unworkable geographical split that passed
jurisdiction to the FBI as soon as the target entered the U.S. As shown by
the Aldrich Ames case, the two agencies still cannot cooperate effectively.
In some sections of this book, Riebling appears to have relied heavily
on the assistance he received from Edward Jay Epstein, an Angleton confidant
who still pushes his theories. Fortunately, Riebling explains the Angleton
view so competently that it finally makes sense on its own terms. One can
see, for example, why those at the CIA who felt that the KGB or Castro were
behind Oswald in 1963 would still be inclined toward cover-up. Castro, they
had suddenly discovered, knew all about the CIA's most closely-held secret
-- namely, the CIA-Mafia plots against him. This meant that Castro would be
able to point the finger back at the CIA by claiming justifiable homicide.
ISBN 0-679-41471-1
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