No Place to Hide

May 26, 2014
The government's secret spying on just about everyone is laid bare in this exciting if overwrought exposé. Journalist Greenwald (With Liberty and Justice for Some) broke the story of the National Security Agency's vast warrantless surveillance operations last year after receiving top-secret documents from NSA contractor Snowden, who is briefly profiled here. Greenwald's breathless narrative is itself a spy story, complete with encrypted messages, cloak-and-dagger in Hong Kong, a possible CIA break-in at his house, the detainment of his partner on trumped-up terrorism suspicions, and furious wrangles with the mainstream press, which he denounces for its chumminess with officialdom. His involved, though sometimes confusing, rundown of NSA surveillance programs, illustrated with the agency's own incriminating graphics, details extraordinary abilities to record billions of emails and phone calls daily, follow who is communicating with whom, track individuals' web searches and page visits, plant devices in servers and routers, and even use private cell phones to eavesdrop on their owners. He also demonstrates through Foucauldian history, the FBI's COINTELPRO program, and current crackdowns on activist groups how mass surveillance attempts to stifle dissent. Greenwald's great reporting highlights the collusion of government, corporations, and media to undermine notions of privacy and democratic participation. Photos. Agent: Dan Conoway, Writer's House.

June 15, 2014
Personalized account by Greenwald (With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful, 2011, etc.) regarding his encounters with Edward Snowden and their exposure of the National Security Agency's program of "indiscriminate mass surveillance."The author's crisp, comprehensible outrage reflects the profound issues raised by Snowden's whistle-blowing: "Thanks to Snowden's bravery...we have an unparalleled firsthand look at the details of how the surveillance system actually operates." Greenwald first examines how the secretive Snowden reached out to him due to his experience in writing about the NSA. After contentious negotiations with his Guardian editors, Greenwald traveled to Hong Kong to interview Snowden prior to the first articles revealing the NSA's telephone and Internet monitoring endeavors: "He exuded an extraordinary equanimity when talking about what the US government might do to him," writes the author. Next, Greenwald delves into a healthy selection of the NSA documents, providing excerpts and interpretations of PowerPoint presentations, training manuals and internal memos that demonstrate the chilling literality of the NSA's unofficial motto, "Collect It All." The author portrays the NSA as the epitome of Orwellian overreach, "the definitive rogue agency: empowered to do whatever it wants with very little control, transparency, or accountability." Greenwald then narrates the response to these revelations, which included Snowden and himself being slandered as rabble-rousers. The author's partner was even detained at Heathrow Airport, while journalists like David Gregory suggested that Greenwald should face criminal charges. He depicts these responses to the legitimacy of his reporting for the Guardian as both menacing and absurd, while the "attacks on Snowden were of course far more virulent." Greenwald's caustic assessment of this response, and his close analysis of NSA documents and tactics, go a long way to support his assessment that "[g]iven the actual surveillance the NSA does, stopping terror is clearly a pretext."Greenwald's polemical tone does not lessen the disturbing quality of these revelations.

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

October 15, 2013

The author of three New York Times best sellers, winner of the 2009 I.F. Stone Award for Independent Journalism, and among 25 journalists cited as the most influential by the Atlantic, Guardian columnist Greenwald expands on his coverage of the NSA surveillance scandal, a story he broke. More documentation here from whistle-blower Edward Snowden.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 15, 2014

Journalist and former constitutional lawyer Greenwald (With Liberty and Justice for Some) examines the impact of the revelations in the National Security Agency (NSA) documents leaked to him by Edward Snowden. It's a fascinating read as Greenwald, a longtime writer on issues of national security and Guardian columnist at the time, describes his interactions with the whistle-blower and provides an erudite, complete time line of the events pre- and postpublication of the classified information. Greenwald dismisses the "collect it all" policy of the NSA, maintaining that its overarching surveillance powers--routinely collecting and quantifying data on billions of communications worldwide--don't prevent acts of terror. Drawing on political theory and psychology, Greenwald likewise explains that the argument that law-abiding citizens aren't affected is fundamentally flawed, because even the simple threat of universal surveillance impacts human behavior. He is scathing in his analysis of the "establishment media" (Washington Post, New York Times, etc.), both for what he views as deference to the U.S. government on matters of publication and their coverage of the leak, including the question of whether he himself is a journalist--or merely a "blogger" or "activist"--afforded constitutional press protection. In his analysis, the author breaks down the dense NSA subject matter and uses excerpts and slides from the documents to illustrate his points, making this work readable for even those unfamiliar with the technical concepts. VERDICT Greenwald's delineation of the NSA's actions, as well as his arguments for the right of privacy and a robust adversarial press, makes this book a must-read.--Amanda Mastrull, Library Journal

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2014

Journalist and former constitutional lawyer Greenwald (With Liberty and Justice for Some) examines the impact of the revelations in the National Security Agency (NSA) documents leaked to him by Edward Snowden. It's a fascinating read as Greenwald, a longtime writer on issues of national security and Guardian columnist at the time, describes his interactions with the whistle-blower and provides an erudite, complete time line of the events pre- and postpublication of the classified information. Greenwald dismisses the "collect it all" policy of the NSA, maintaining that its overarching surveillance powers--routinely collecting and quantifying data on billions of communications worldwide--don't prevent acts of terror. Drawing on political theory and psychology, Greenwald likewise explains that the argument that law-abiding citizens aren't affected is fundamentally flawed, because even the simple threat of universal surveillance impacts human behavior. He is scathing in his analysis of the "establishment media" (Washington Post, New York Times, etc.), both for what he views as deference to the U.S. government on matters of publication and their coverage of the leak, including the question of whether he himself is a journalist--or merely a "blogger" or "activist"--afforded constitutional press protection. In his analysis, the author breaks down the dense NSA subject matter and uses excerpts and slides from the documents to illustrate his points, making this work readable for even those unfamiliar with the technical concepts. VERDICT Greenwald's delineation of the NSA's actions, as well as his arguments for the right of privacy and a robust adversarial press, makes this book a must-read.--Amanda Mastrull, Library Journal

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.