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US Mall 1 - The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization
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List Price: $17.00
Our Price: $7.60
Your Save: $ 9.40 ( 55% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 327.1206073
EAN: 9780140067484
ISBN: 0140067485
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 656
Publication Date: 1983-09-29
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: National Security Agency 101 - What is NSA? This book will tell you
Comment: This book is a must-purchase for anyone with a desire to see the "real" National Security Agency. This book has its flaws, as does the Agency, but it is the closest an outsider will come to understanding what NSA does, aside from sitting console in an ops center. Bamford's NSA Trilogy (PP, Body of Secrets, Shadow Factory) is an amazing amount of information on America's most secretive intelligence organization.
If you're looking for the NSA mentioned in "enemy of the state" or "the x-files" or even Dan Brown novels... look elsewhere.
I routine look for this book in used bookstores to give as gifts to friends who work a NSA... most aren't steeped in NSA lore or history beyond Sept 11, 2001... For an agency that sucks up electrons from all corners of the globe, its employees should be a bit more knowledgable.
This book is for: students of intelligence agencies, intelligence history, and espionage-related cases. For abuses by the agency, there are few listed (it was written in 1983). For laypersons and conspiracy theorists... you're not gonna find anything useful.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Groundbreaking and Definitive Public Look at the NSA - National Security Agency
Comment: When this book came out (actually even before it came out), it caused a major stir within the secret world of eavesdropping and signals intelligence (SIGINT), and the cryptanalysis world.
A thorough study of the National Security Agency (NSA) and its activities, at a time when not many people even knew of the existence of the agency or what it did or how it did it.
The book shows how the U.S. government intercepted and decoding/decyphered radio and other transmissions of foreign governments and foreign militaries. And still does. An activity which is now widely known and in the popular press.
The book was and is groundbreaking. Any student of U.S. intelligence or international relations will definitely enjoy and gain from the in-depth historical research that is told through gripping stories. I highly recommend this book.
The author James Bamford is basically the open-source - public - expert on the history of the National Security Agency and signals intelligence.
Customer Rating:
Summary: James Bamford's Puzzle Palace
Comment: This was an interesting beginning book about the history and background of the National Security Agency, especially in light of the very damaging leak about the secret surveillance program ordered by President George W. Bush. The only problem is that this book is a bit dated, so it's hard to know how similar the early '80s Puzzle Palace compares with that of the early 21st Century NSA. What's clear is the NSA has been a special creature of the government, created by executive order and really not beholden to Congress like other agencies. I recommend people read this and Bamford's other book about the NSA.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Timeless non-fiction
Comment: This book was written back in 1982, but the information you get from it is still fresh and very relevant. Especially, after the revelation that President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to spy on Americans and others in the United States making contact with persons in other nations. More recently, "USA Today" reported that the NSA is operating "the largest database ever assembled in the world", containing call detail records of all calls (inbound and outbound) placed through AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth.
James Bamford has done a remarkable job in revealing the secrets of this agency. Something that is hard to imagine. However, he did keep a balance by not giving all the information, especially those that will concerns national security. No doubt, the more you know about NSA more you respect it. They have got some of the best cryptologists, technologists, and mathematicians working for them. It is amazing to see how Bamford collected and documented the information about the secret agency, not to forget that there was a time when its existence was not even acknowledged.
Having said that, I have to agree that this is one of the most interesting books you will find in the non-fiction category.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Dateline, America, Dec. 19, 2005
Comment: The recent revelation that President Bush authorized NSA spying on its own citizens (and the sad fact that the New York Times sat on this for a year, despite being a victim itself in the past) makes this book both incredibly timely and obviously, unfortunately, timeless.
The history of the National Security Agency and its predecessor organizations, along with the NSA's willingness to skirt, if not break, the law, should all be lessons for us today. For people younger than myself, not old enough to remember the Church Commission, unfortunately, these are lessons they never learned.
This book is a must-read for anybody concerned with the history of American civil liberties.
UPDATE, July 5, 2006: A lawsuit against the NSA has brought out the fact that the genesis, or at least the first feelers, toward this domestic snooping, were actually being pursued in 2000, under the Clinton Administration.
At least in some ways, it appears George Wallace was right with his "not a dime's worth of difference" comment about Republicans and Democrats.
UPDATE 2, Oct. 17, 2008: Obviously, the NSA's spying revelations get worse all the time. Read Bamford's newest book.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: National Security Agency 101 - What is NSA? This book will tell you
Comment: This book is a must-purchase for anyone with a desire to see the "real" National Security Agency. This book has its flaws, as does the Agency, but it is the closest an outsider will come to understanding what NSA does, aside from sitting console in an ops center. Bamford's NSA Trilogy (PP, Body of Secrets, Shadow Factory) is an amazing amount of information on America's most secretive intelligence organization.
If you're looking for the NSA mentioned in "enemy of the state" or "the x-files" or even Dan Brown novels... look elsewhere.
I routine look for this book in used bookstores to give as gifts to friends who work a NSA... most aren't steeped in NSA lore or history beyond Sept 11, 2001... For an agency that sucks up electrons from all corners of the globe, its employees should be a bit more knowledgable.
This book is for: students of intelligence agencies, intelligence history, and espionage-related cases. For abuses by the agency, there are few listed (it was written in 1983). For laypersons and conspiracy theorists... you're not gonna find anything useful.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Groundbreaking and Definitive Public Look at the NSA - National Security Agency
Comment: When this book came out (actually even before it came out), it caused a major stir within the secret world of eavesdropping and signals intelligence (SIGINT), and the cryptanalysis world.
A thorough study of the National Security Agency (NSA) and its activities, at a time when not many people even knew of the existence of the agency or what it did or how it did it.
The book shows how the U.S. government intercepted and decoding/decyphered radio and other transmissions of foreign governments and foreign militaries. And still does. An activity which is now widely known and in the popular press.
The book was and is groundbreaking. Any student of U.S. intelligence or international relations will definitely enjoy and gain from the in-depth historical research that is told through gripping stories. I highly recommend this book.
The author James Bamford is basically the open-source - public - expert on the history of the National Security Agency and signals intelligence.
Customer Rating:
Summary: James Bamford's Puzzle Palace
Comment: This was an interesting beginning book about the history and background of the National Security Agency, especially in light of the very damaging leak about the secret surveillance program ordered by President George W. Bush. The only problem is that this book is a bit dated, so it's hard to know how similar the early '80s Puzzle Palace compares with that of the early 21st Century NSA. What's clear is the NSA has been a special creature of the government, created by executive order and really not beholden to Congress like other agencies. I recommend people read this and Bamford's other book about the NSA.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Timeless non-fiction
Comment: This book was written back in 1982, but the information you get from it is still fresh and very relevant. Especially, after the revelation that President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to spy on Americans and others in the United States making contact with persons in other nations. More recently, "USA Today" reported that the NSA is operating "the largest database ever assembled in the world", containing call detail records of all calls (inbound and outbound) placed through AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth.
James Bamford has done a remarkable job in revealing the secrets of this agency. Something that is hard to imagine. However, he did keep a balance by not giving all the information, especially those that will concerns national security. No doubt, the more you know about NSA more you respect it. They have got some of the best cryptologists, technologists, and mathematicians working for them. It is amazing to see how Bamford collected and documented the information about the secret agency, not to forget that there was a time when its existence was not even acknowledged.
Having said that, I have to agree that this is one of the most interesting books you will find in the non-fiction category.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Dateline, America, Dec. 19, 2005
Comment: The recent revelation that President Bush authorized NSA spying on its own citizens (and the sad fact that the New York Times sat on this for a year, despite being a victim itself in the past) makes this book both incredibly timely and obviously, unfortunately, timeless.
The history of the National Security Agency and its predecessor organizations, along with the NSA's willingness to skirt, if not break, the law, should all be lessons for us today. For people younger than myself, not old enough to remember the Church Commission, unfortunately, these are lessons they never learned.
This book is a must-read for anybody concerned with the history of American civil liberties.
UPDATE, July 5, 2006: A lawsuit against the NSA has brought out the fact that the genesis, or at least the first feelers, toward this domestic snooping, were actually being pursued in 2000, under the Clinton Administration.
At least in some ways, it appears George Wallace was right with his "not a dime's worth of difference" comment about Republicans and Democrats.
UPDATE 2, Oct. 17, 2008: Obviously, the NSA's spying revelations get worse all the time. Read Bamford's newest book.
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