The CIA & congress: the untold story from Truman to Kennedy

pt. 1. The Truman era, 1947-1952. No "American Gestapo," but "No more Pearl Harbors"

Initial oversight: budgets and covert action

"A South American Pearl Harbor"

"This Is an Espionage Bill"

The Soviet A-bomb: "We apparently don't have the remotest idea"

Communists and "perverts" in the CIA

Korea: "No better today than on December 7, 1941"

A new DCI

The "dirty business"

Portraits

CIA subcommittees, intelligence roles, and budgets

"We don't let just anybody look at our files"

"There will be no changes"

pt. 2. The Eisenhower era, 1953-1960. Meddling?

Getting "Taberized"

Guatemala: sterilizing a "red infection"

Mr. Mansfield goes to the Senate

Joseph McCarthy: the CIA's other would-be overseer

"You, who championed our cause"

Barons restored

"Dodging dead cats"

"They have to have a building"

The new Mansfield resolution: two surprises

"We have a history of underestimation"

Hungary and the Suez: "We had a very good idea, Senator"

Sputnik

An early "year of intelligence"?

"I cannot always predict when there is going to be a riot"

Iraq: "Our intelligence was just plain lousy"

Return to Missile Gap

From the Pforzheimer era to the Warner era

Subordinating intelligence?

In and out of hearing rooms

"Who are our liquidators?"

"I'd like to tell him to his face what I think about him"

U-2: "We have felt these operations were appropriate"

Pouring oil on fire

"Their answer to that demand": Congressional paternity?

"My opinion of the CIA went skyrocketing"

pt. 3. Cuba, the CIA, and Congress: 1960-1961. Castro: "This fellow is bad and ought to go"

"What is the rationale behind that?"

"I agree that you had to replace Dulles"

Afterword: alarms.