Trento, Joseph J. Prelude to Terror: The Rogue CIA and the Legacy of
America's Private Intelligence Network. New York: Carroll & Graf, 2005.
408 pages.
Joseph Trento is a veteran intelligence reporter who can claim inside
access for his books. For example, his book "Widows" was co-authored with
William R. Corson, who had a long career in U.S. intelligence at a fairly
high level. Trento's "Secret History of the CIA" benefitted from interviews
with James Angleton, the counterintelligence chief who had a closet full of
axes that he spent many years grinding, and who was eventually fired from
the CIA. Similarly, "Prelude to Terror" is essentially based on rogue agent
Edwin Wilson's account of how he was framed by Ted Shackley. While everything
Trento has ever written may be absolutely true, for all we know, he is too
close to his sources for our tastes. Internal spook wars may be interesting,
but they don't contribute anything to the issue of what the U.S. is doing
to the rest of the world. What if all of Trento's sources really do belong
in prison? Where does that leave us?
After an exhaustive treatment of Shackley according to Wilson, the
last chapter is roughly about the U.S. in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, and
perhaps was thrown into the stew to justify the title of the book. Yes,
everything connects to everything else, but whether any of it teaches us
anything at all, is a question that Trento does not answer.
ISBN 0-7867-1464-6
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