Tiger Trap: America's Secret Spy War with China Review

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Tiger Trap: America's Secret Spy War with China ReviewDavid Wise writes with direct, swiftly moving prose and adds new information to the record; however, the analysis of Chinese intelligence activities is flawed and readers will not be able to place Chinese intelligence activity into context after studying this book.
Wise contributes new information in a couple of areas. He adds more detail about Gwo-Bao Min (Tiger Trap) than was previously available and weaves together the disparate threads connecting Chinese espionage allegations on West Coast. Wise fills in some of the gaps left in previous treatments. Wise also pulls together a good deal of information on the recent espionage cases in the last five years, which would only be available to a lay reader after several hours of research.
Unfortunately, Wise chooses not to take a step and look at the information he so assiduously collected. Instead, he relies on retired FBI agents, who repeat old platitudes about Chinese intelligence methods----platitudes that may never have been true to begin with. This might be tolerable if Wise himself had not collected a lot of data contradicting his opening chapter. Most Western observers believe Chinese intelligence methods are wildly different than Western or Russian models. They think, among other points, China relies on amateur collectors rather than professional intelligence officers, does not pay for secret information, and does not develop formal intelligence relationships.
Yet Wise charts the tale of the Chinese intelligence officer at the heart of recent espionage cases, involving Chi Mak, Kuo Tai-shen, James Fondren, and Gregg Bergersen. Chinese intelligence recruited these sources and paid them in exchange for US defense secrets. Why did they spy? Greed. Venality. One might be tempted to forgive Wise's reliance on out-dated analysis if these were new developments. However, Wise also provides a short summary of the Larry Wu-Tai Chin case, who spied from the 1940s to 1985. The Chin case looks and feels like one of the many cases run across the NATO-Warsaw Pact divide.
No coverage of Chinese intelligence today would be complete without a section on cyber (hacking), but there is little in Wise's treatment to commend. The cyber chapter is a summary of news clippings and official commentary. For better analyses of Chinese cyber activity, academic and policy journals, like Survival (IISS) and International Affairs, offer accessible (jargon-free) and thoughtful treatments that put Chinese cyber in perspective.
Ultimately, Tiger Trap is a good read with some new information about Chinese espionage cases; however, it is unsatisfying for anyone looking for anything that goes beyond the headlines. If there were more choices for reading about Chinese intelligence, this book would probably only rate 2/5 stars. There are, unfortunately, few alternatives to Wise's book and he should be recognized for mostly sticking to facts in the espionage cases. This redeeming feature makes Tiger Trap a useful reference guide and the clean writing makes it an easy read.Tiger Trap: America's Secret Spy War with China Overview

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Uncompromised: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of an Arab American Patriot in the CIA Review

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Uncompromised: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of an Arab American Patriot in the CIA Review"Uncompromised' is a powerful and timely memoir. Prouty grew up in Beirut Lebanon in the `70's and `80's in an oppressive culture. Her parents were even more severely female hating than most. A civil war was right outside her windows and inside her house there was mental and physical abuse. I could almost grok the brutality of the war but the over the top hatred of she and her sisters by her mom, dad and Fadi, younger brother, made no sense. Sadly ALL the violence rang true. In her late teens she and her older sister escape to America and start attending a Michigan university. They make many mistakes along the way which most young people do.
After getting her masters in accounting Nada applies to the FBI and is hired. Later she parlays her intelligence and Arabic language and culture skills into a CIA post. She does some excellent (and extremely dangerous) work in America's post 9/11 war against terrorism. Then her family strikes again. Her n'er do well brother attempts to wrest his millionaire brother in law's business from him by betraying he and his oldest sister's tax irregularities. The FBI has promised him a reward for fighting terror and his brother in law is a handy target since he's hiding his income by stashing it in the Middle East where the IRS can't find it. The FBI uses this to nail the brother in law for IRS fraud and for suspicion of funding Mid East terrorism. Fadi hates Nada because she's a success. In his jealousy and his sense of entitlement he also implicates her as a counter spy. This is too good to be true for the overzealous FBI investigators. They see the situation as a chance to make a huge name for themselves in America's fight against terror. Call the press!!
I was amazed at how quickly Prouty's FBI and CIA co-workers and higher ups, who'd heaped praises on her and given her very delicate missions to complete, suddenly poofed when she was being investigated. They withdrew their support in an attempt to deflect any backwash. Prouty and her husband (also a Government worker--State Department) are on their own, their bank accounts frozen, reporters holding them hostage in their house, friendless and a family who's persecuting them.
Finally Prouty begins to fight back using the one of the vehicles that had convicted her. The media. She appears on 60 Minutes and the public and US Government begin to look into her situation. She's able to reinstate her naturalized US citizenship and get her bank accounts unfrozen and best of all start rebuilding her reputation.
This is a cautionary tale about being an outsider, dealing with prejudice (racial, religious and gender) but mostly it's about overcoming oppression. She first learned about how unscrupulous individuals will exploit others to gain power and money when she lived through Beirut's ideological and religious civil war. This was in conjunction with the extreme gender bias her parents displayed. Gender bias is endemic in many Mid East societies but her parents had very little value or love for their three daughters. They taught their youngest, Fadi, a boy, to beat and mentally oppress his older sisters in emulation of their attitude. The FBI investigators and prosecutors were rogue agents who saw a way to make a name for themselves and gain power just as Fadi did. Sadly Prouty was in their line of their fire. The career she loved was ruined and for awhile her belief in her adopted country was destroyed. This book is another step in recovering both.
Prouty's writing isn't inspired but it's clear. On the surface this book can seem self serving and I suppose some will read it that way but it rings true to me. She was on the front lines on our war on terror. On her many undercover missions to the Mid East she had her eyes and heart open and used her inside knowledge to help bring bad guys to justice and to prevent them from carrying out their horrible deeds. She did so at great risk to herself. In my opinion she's an American patriot who we should be proud of and who should continue to be proud of herself.
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