CIA Gives Glenn Greenwald’s Book a Negative Review Because of Course
In case you were unaware that the CIA doesn’t like Edward Snowden, the intelligence agency published three negative reviews of books written about the whistleblower, and they reserved their bitchiness for the one authored by “lawyer-journalist” Glenn Greenwald.
“No Place To Hide is the most complete, though far from the most objective account of the Snowden affair to date,” the CIA’s book review apparatus, the Intelligence Officer’s Bookshelf, wrote about Greenwald, who worked with Snowden to break the story of the NSA’s mass surveillance program.
The column’s author, Hayden Peake, criticized Greenwald for identifying too strongly with Snowden’s values, and for blasting his fellow journalists for consulting with government officials before publishing stories. “Greenwald is appalled at the concept implied in the chapter’s title and analyzes it with the presumption of illegality while dismissing without comment the intelligence issues that led to its adoption,” Peake argued, which would be valid criticism if it didn’t come straight from the CIA.
Peake concludes thusly:
Greenwald sums up the common themes of these three books: Snowden’s acts were justified because he chose to seek “reform of the surveillance state,” (248) and journalists have the absolute right to be the final arbiters of what to publish. Greenwald’s often bitter ad hominem rationale for this is unlikely to be the last word on the subject.
Peake’s disdain for the other two books is evident, though less harsh: The Snowden Files by Guardian journalist Luke Harding “offers nothing significant” that would add to the narrative of the leaks, and its author “clearly views Snowden as a noble, self-sacrificing whistle-blower.”
In the interest of fairness, Peake had some faint praise for The Snowden Operation, written by Edward Lucas:
On the topic of how a legitimate whistle-blower would have behaved, Lucas describes the options available and the procedures that would have achieved the practical goals Snowden espoused. But they would not have put Snowden in the media spotlight.
Again, the CIA wrote these book reviews.
[h/t National Journal]
[Image via Wikimedia Commons]
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