Synopses & Reviews
Among the last CIA agents airlifted from Saigon in the waning moments of the Vietnam War, Frank Snepp returned to headquarters determined to secure help for the Vietnamese left behind by an Agency eager to cut its losses. What he received instead was a cold shoulder from a CIA that in 1975 was already in turmoil over congressional investigations of its operations throughout the world.
In protest, Snepp resigned to write a damning account of the agency's cynical neglect of its onetime allies and inept handling of the war. His expose, Decent Interval, was published in total secrecy, eerily evocative of a classic spy operation, and only after Snepp had spent eighteen months dodging CIA efforts to silence him. The book ignited a firestorm of controversy, was featured in a 60 Minutes exclusive, received front-page coverage in the New York Times, and launched a campaign of retaliation by the CIA, capped by a Supreme Court decision that steamrolled over Snepp's right to free speech.
In the wake of Snepp's harrowing experiences, his legal case has been used by Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton to narrow the First Amendment freedoms of all federal employees, especially "whistleblowers." Such encroachments make it clear that Snepp's very personal story has a great deal of relevance for all of us and certainly for anyone who has grown increasingly distrustful of the federal government's "national security argument."
"The First Amendment to the Constitution protects our right to say what we think,
however unwelcome the message may be. And the 'central meaning of the First Amendment,' as the Supreme Court has put it, is the right to criticize government and its officials. So we believe. But the story of Frank Snepp mocks our belief. . . . A shocking revelation of how the law can be twisted in a country that prides itself on 'Equal Justice Under Law.'"—Anthony Lewis (from the Foreword)
"A reminder that cannot be repeated often enough of how government agencies hide their . . . malevolence and frequent Keystone Kop stupidities behind the tattered curtain of need-for-secrecy."—Washington Post
Synopsis
Irreparable Harm is the harrowing tale of Frank Snepp's battles with the American legal system over Decent Interval, his courageous and controversial bestseller exposing the CIA's failures in Vietnam. Foreword by Anthony Lewis.
Table of Contents
Foreword, Anthony Lewis
Prologue: Fathers, Sons, and Spies
Acknowledgments
Part I: Search for Redemption
1. Ghosts
2. Reentry
3. First Temptations
4. Leaks, Lies, and Loomis
5. Sudden, Bitter Good-bye
Part II: Mightier than the Sword
6. Martin's Artful Dodge
7. Muzzled
8. Betrayed
9. Showdown
10. First Reprisal
11. Unveiling
12. Self-Inflicted Wounds
Part III: Trials
13. Suite and Subterfuge
14. Enter the Defense
15. Roarin' Oren
16. Inquisition
17. Pat and Bill
18. The Admiral's Unburdening
19. Spoiler
20. Reckoning
Part IV No Quarter
21. Ill-Gotten Gains
22. Black Dog and Stephani
23. Road to Richmond
24. Second Life
25. Auguries
26. Judgment Day
Postscript: Settling Accounts
Index