Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tim Weiner will discuss the epic successor to “Legacy of Ashes”, his National Book Award–winning classic about the CIA’s first sixty years. “The Mission” is a masterpiece of reporting based on-the-record interviews with six former CIA directors and scores of spies, station chiefs, and top operations officers.

At the turn of the century, the Central Intelligence Agency was in crisis. The end of the Cold War had robbed the agency of its mission. More than thirty overseas stations and bases had been shuttered, and scores that remained had been severely cut back. Many countries where surveillance was once deemed crucial went uncovered. Essential intelligence wasn’t being collected. At the dawn of the information age, the CIA’s officers and analysts worked with outmoded technology, struggling to distinguish the clear signals of significant facts from the cacophony of background noise.

Then came September 11th, 2001. After the attacks, the CIA transformed itself into a lethal paramilitary force, running secret prisons and brutal interrogations, mounting deadly drone attacks, and all but abandoning its core missions of espionage and counterespionage. The consequences were grave: the deaths of scores of its recruited foreign agents, the theft of its personnel files by Chinese spies, the penetration of its computer networks by Russian intelligence and American hackers, and the tragedies of Afghanistan and Iraq. A new generation of spies now must fight the hardest targets—Moscow, Beijing, Tehran—while confronting a president who has attacked the CIA as a subversive force.

“Weiner has made tracking the fluctuating fortunes of the American intelligence community his life’s work. His masterly “Legacy of Ashes”, detailing the C.I.A.’s first half-century, won a National Book Award in 2007. “The Mission” picks up where that book left off, narrating the agency’s history well beyond the fall of communism. It is exhaustive and prodigiously researched.” — Scott Anderson, New York Times Book Review

“”The Mission” is a fantastic read. . . . reminds us of the importance of the human element when it comes to high-stakes diplomacy, and the life-and-death decisions on which our national security depends.” — The Observer (London)

Tim Weiner has won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on American national security and the National Book Award for “Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA”. At The New York Times, he covered the CIA in Washington and conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and many other nations. “Legacy of Ashes” was acclaimed as one of the year’s best books by The New York Times, The Economist, The Washington Post, Time, and many other publications. His five other books include the national bestseller “Enemies: A History of the FBI”. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Kate Doyle, an expert in human rights and freedom of information.