CIA Humor

Title:                      CIA Humor

Author:                  Thomas Sileo

Sileo, Thomas (2004). CIA Humor: A Few True Stories From A 31-Year Career. Alexandria, VA: Washington House

OCLC:

JK468.I6 S55 2004

Table of Contents:

. Introduction . The Director of Central Intelligence 3. Working in the United States for the CIA 4. Operations don’t always go smoothly 5. The CIA and the U.S. military 6. Funny odds and ends 7. Conclusion 8. List of abbreviations and terms.

Date Posted:      May 11, 2017

Customer Review by clark_aon[1]

The first of Sileo’s five chapters of anecdotes relate humorous stories about four Directors of Central Intelligence—William Casey, Robert Gates, James Woolsey, and George Tenet—though others are mentioned elsewhere. The other chapters cover working for the CIA in America, operations gone awry, the CIA and the military, and, finally, some odds and ends. In the latter category, Sileo tells a tale of advice to an analyst in the Directorate of Intelligence on how to pass the polygraph . . . from Rick Ames![3] (p. 89) Not all of the stories are funny, but they are all instructive—the attention-getting behavior of the KGB surveillance teams in Moscow, for example. In a different vein is the story of the security officer and Queen Noor of Jordan. The CIA wives are not forgotten, although Mrs. Sileo may wish her husband had omitted her encounter with the “six star general” (p. 70).

This little book will bring pleasure to many and probably invoke similar memories in other officers. So Sileo hints at the end he is considering another edition—a good idea!

[1] See clark_aon (December 24, 2007) at Amazon.com, (4.0 out of 5 stars), “A lighter look at the CIA”