Review
Indispensable.... A must book.--Gardner, Lloyd
Product Description
From the first large-scale Viet Minh offensive against the French in 1950, to the fall of Saigon in 1975, the United States tried desperately to understand the nature of the fierce Communist-led struggle to create a unified, independent Vietnam. American intelligence played a key role in gathering information on the political and military situation in Vietnam and on the strengths and weaknesses of both sides. But as George Allen shows in this eye-popping memoir, intelligence appraisals were consistently ignored or rejected by policymakers in every administration from Eisenhower through Nixon_because these assessments undermined the mistaken assumptions of the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon. From his vantage point as a chief official with the CIA and army intelligence, Mr. Allen reveals specifically how American leaders, unwilling to face up to Obad newsO from intelligence sources, largely excluded intelligence from important policy deliberations until it was too late. None So Blind is a remarkable contribution to the history of the Vietnam War.
About the Author
George W. Allen was from 1949 to 1979 an intelligence analyst for the army, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the CIA. He specialized in the Vietnam wars, served almost three years in Vietnam itself, and later held senior staff and management positions related to the production of strategic intelligence. He lives in Williamsburg, Virginia.
