Nothing If Not Eventful: A CIA Memoir
BOOK REVIEW: Nothing If Not Eventful: A Memoir of a Life in the CIA
By Thomas L. Ahern, Jr. / CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence
Reviewed by: J.R. Seeger
The Reviewer — J.R. Seeger served as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne and as a CIA officer where he served in multiple field locations both as a field collector and team leader. He published The Swordfish Deception, the 8th book in his Mike4 novel series in December and has published three other novels in the Steampunk Raj series.
REVIEW — Thomas Ahern’s life as a CIA case officer ran from the early Cold War Days through Southeast Asian wars to the tumultuous takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran and through the fall of the Berlin Wall. As if that was not enough of a life’s journey, Ahern then accepted a post-retirement job as a CIA historian. He served the Agency for nearly 70 years in total.
An autobiographic memoir that captures the life of one of the giants in the CIA is a rare thing. While there are many “memoirs” written by government seniors and their ghostwriters, in few do you get the feeling that you are sitting down beside a fire having a man honestly relate his story – warts and all. Ahern’s earlier published works on the history of the CIA in Southeast Asia have a narrative style that clearly comes through in this memoir. This is a book written by a man who lived in dangerous times and wishes to tell his story so that others might learn from his experiences. The book is mesmerizing.
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Ahern’s life as a newly minted CIA case officer (c/o) in the 1950s, mirrors the early days of James Lilly, another Agency senior who wrote his own memoir simply titled China Hands. Early CIA operations in Asia were based on a commitment to the larger mission of defeating communism but conducted with a level of ad hoc planning that was consistent with the World War II experience of the OSS. As Ahern notes
“…the “experience” totem supported the enshrinement of spontaneity when initiating operational activity; less attention was paid to the analysis of objectives or the suitability of potential means. An expression of confidence that a proposed action would materially reduce communist influence in a target population or institution generally sufficed to get Headquarters approval.” (Ahern, pg. 26)
If there is a lesson offered in the memoir, it is that audacity and courage are poorly spent if they aren’t coupled with rigorous planning and understanding of the people and the operational environment.
By the time Ahern was serving in Laos, the level of experience among his leaders and in Ahern himself resulted in far better and more secure operations. Still, the mission in Laos and later in Vietnam, was always about delivering the best possible clandestine, tactical solution for what would always be a difficult strategic environment. After several tours working in a counterinsurgency environment, his assignment in the Philippines showed far more success, perhaps because Ahern himself was now a fully experience c/o and his operational environment and his Philippine partners were more amenable. In each of these discussions, Ahern offers details of successful operational ploys, mistakes and even operational failures that are as useful teaching points today as they were in the 1970s.
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It is no surprise that the most powerful and personal part of this memoir focuses on Ahern’s time as a hostage in Iran. He was sent to Iran as the Chief of Station at a time when Iran was already in turmoil, the Shah had departed, and a revolutionary government was nominally in charge. Like many revolutions, the chaos of the revolution left no one in charge. The stern demands of Ayatollah Khomeini often were delivered by informal militias or simply by the will of the mob. While Ahern makes no claim of heroism, he was in the middle of that cataclysm and his commonsense actions and calm leadership prevented a violent episode from becoming a deadly episode. Early on in captivity, he was identified as the senior CIA officer. He was tortured – physically and mentally – and survived. His honest descriptions of what life was like during those dark days serves a guide to anyone who is sending men and women into harm’s way.
Ahern’s memoir is available on the CIA website and eventually, will be available as a printed government publication. It is a must read for any practitioner of intelligence or special operations. It will also serve as excellent primary source material for historians of the CIA in the Cold War. Finally, it is a book that captures a time and the people of the CIA in the Cold War and for that reason alone it is a book that belongs on the shelf of anyone curious about the shadow world of the CIA.
Nothing If Not Eventful earns a prestigious 4 out of 4 trench coats
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