Surprise, Kill, Vanish
The Definitive History of Secret CIA Assassins, Armies and Operators
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Narrated by:
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Annie Jacobsen
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By:
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Annie Jacobsen
About this listen
The definitive, character-driven history of CIA covert operations and U.S. government-sponsored assassinations, from the author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist The Pentagon's Brain.
Since 1947, domestic and foreign assassinations have been executed under the CIA-led covert action operations team. Before that time, responsibility for taking out America's enemies abroad was even more shrouded in mystery. Despite Hollywood notions of last-minute rogue-operations and external secret hires, covert action is actually a cog in a colossal foreign policy machine, moving through, among others, the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, the House and Senate Select Committees. At the end of the day, it is the President, not the CIA, who is singularly in charge.
When diplomacy fails and overt military action is not feasible, the President often calls on the Special Activities Division, the most secretive and lowest-profile branch of the CIA. It is this paramilitary team that undertakes dramatic and little-known assignments: hostage rescues, sabotage, and, of course, assassinations.
For the first time, Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestselling author Annie Jacobsen takes us deep inside this top-secret history. With unparalleled access to former operatives, ambassadors, and even past directors of the Secret Service and CIA operations, Jacobsen reveals the inner workings of these teams, and just how far a U.S. president may go, covertly but lawfully, to pursue the nation's interests.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Anne M. Jacobsen (P)2019 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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American Cipher
- Bowe Bergdahl and the U.S. Tragedy in Afghanistan
- By: Matt Farwell, Michael Ames
- Narrated by: Christopher Ryan Grant
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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The explosive narrative of the life, captivity, and trial of Bowe Bergdahl, the soldier who was abducted by the Taliban and whose story has served as a symbol for America's foundering war in Afghanistan.
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An epic he had written in his imagination...
- By Darwin8u on 03-18-19
By: Matt Farwell, and others
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Twilight Warriors
- The Soldiers, Spies, and Special Agents Who Are Revolutionizing the American Way of War
- By: James Kitfield
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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In Twilight Warriors, award-winning foreign correspondent James Kitfield introduces us to the tight-knit brotherhood that strives to keep the United States safe from the dimly understood threats it now faces. Together these men have broken down the boundaries between their respective agencies to engineer a network-centric way of fighting using a seamless web of intelligence analysts, information networks, FBI forensics experts, and Special Forces units to take the fight to America's enemies as never before.
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South African Perspectives
- By Bernard Remacle on 03-22-17
By: James Kitfield
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Eagle Down
- The Last Special Forces Fighting the Forever War
- By: Jessica Donati
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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A Wall Street Journal national security reporter takes listeners into the lives of US Special Forces on the front lines against the Taliban and Islamic State, where a new and covert war is keeping Afghanistan from collapse.
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Excellent depiction of the non tactical battle.
- By Paddy on 11-16-21
By: Jessica Donati
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Rise and Kill First
- The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations
- By: Ronen Bergman
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 25 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The Talmud says: “If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first.” This instinct to take every measure, even the most aggressive, to defend the Jewish people is hardwired into Israel’s DNA. From the very beginning of its statehood in 1948, protecting the nation from harm has been the responsibility of its intelligence community and armed services, and there is one weapon in their vast arsenal that they have relied upon to thwart the most serious threats: Targeted assassinations have been used countless times, on enemies large and small....
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Eye Opening
- By Ari Safari on 02-09-18
By: Ronen Bergman
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The Way of the Knife
- The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth
- By: Mark Mazzetti
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 11 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Mazzetti examines secret wars over the past decade, tracking key characters from the intelligence and military communities across the world. Among the characters we meet in The Way of the Knife are a young CIA officer dropped into the tribal areas to learn the hard way how the spy games in Pakistan are played; an Air Force test pilot who fired the first drone missile in the Nevada desert; and a chain-smoking Pentagon official who ran an off-the-books spying operation in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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Excellent critique of covert operations
- By Keefer on 04-27-13
By: Mark Mazzetti
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Eyes on Target
- Inside Stories from the Brotherhood of the U.S. Navy SEALs
- By: Scott McEwen, Richard Miniter
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Told through the eyes of current and former Navy SEALs, Eyes on Target is an inside account of some of the most harrowing missions in American history-including the mission to kill Osama bin Laden and the mission that wasn't, the deadly attack on the US diplomatic outpost in Benghazi where a retired SEAL sniper with a small team held off one hundred terrorists while his repeated radio calls for help went unheeded.
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Just an attempt to cash in
- By John on 09-24-16
By: Scott McEwen, and others
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SEAL Target Geronimo
- The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama bin Laden
- By: Chuck Pfarrer
- Narrated by: Erik Bergmann
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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On May 2, 2011, at 1:03 a.m. a satellite uplink was sent from Pakistan crackling into the situation room of the White House: "Geronimo, Echo, KIA." These words, spoken by a Navy SEAL, ended Osama bin Laden's reign of terror. SEAL Target Geronimo is the story of Neptune's Spear from the men who were there. After talking to members of the SEAL team involved in the raid, Pfarrer shares never-before-revealed details in an exclusive account of what happened as he takes listeners inside the walls of Bin Laden's compound.
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Marcinko’s Legacy….his pain, their gain.
- By James on 11-10-11
By: Chuck Pfarrer
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Benghazi
- The Definitive Report
- By: Brandon Webb, Jack Murphy
- Narrated by: Melinda Fleming, Salomon Maya
- Length: 2 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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On September 12th, 2012, Brandon Webb learned Glen Doherty, one of his closest friends and his former Navy SEAL teammate, was killed alongside Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and two other Americans when the U.S. State Department and CIA headquarters in Benghazi, Libya, were sieged in a shocking terrorist attack.
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Beware of definitive reports
- By Steve on 04-13-13
By: Brandon Webb, and others
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Relentless Strike
- The Secret History of Joint Special Operations Command
- By: Sean Naylor
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 19 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Relentless Strike tells the inside story of Joint Special Operations Command, the secret military organization that, during the past decade, has revolutionized counterterrorism, seamlessly fusing intelligence and operational skills to conduct missions that hit the headlines and those that have remained in the shadows - until now. Because JSOC includes the military's most storied special operations units - Delta Force, SEAL Team Six, the 75th Ranger Regiment - as well as America's most secret aviation and intelligence units, this is their story, too.
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Horrible narrator
- By Michael on 08-19-19
By: Sean Naylor
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Night Fighter
- An Insider's Story of Special Ops from Korea to SEAL Team 6
- By: William H. Hamilton Jr., Charles W. Sasser
- Narrated by: Bill Thatcher
- Length: 10 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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One month after the Bay of Pigs fiasco, when President John F. Kennedy pressed Congress about America’s “urgent national needs”, he named expanding US special operations forces along with putting a man on the moon. Captain William Hamilton was the officer tasked with creating the finest unconventional warriors ever seen. Merging his own experience commanding Navy Underwater Demolition Teams with expertise from Army Special Forces and the CIA, and working with his subordinate, Roy Boehm, he cast the mold for sea-, air-, and land-dispatched night fighters.
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OK story
- By dexter on 03-16-20
By: William H. Hamilton Jr., and others
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Manhunt
- The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden - from 9-11 to Abbottabad
- By: Peter L. Bergen
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 8 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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From the author of the New York Times best-selling Holy War, Inc., this is the definitive account of the decade-long manhunt for the world’s most wanted man, Osama bin Laden. Al Qaeda expert and CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen paints a multidimensional picture of the hunt for bin Laden over the past decade, including the operation that killed him.
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DO NOT MISS THIS ONE!
- By Betty on 05-04-12
By: Peter L. Bergen
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American Spy
- Wry Reflections on My Life in the CIA
- By: H. K. Roy
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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This candid and darkly witty memoir recounts an exhilarating life - and a few close brushes with death. With remarkable sangfroid and a humorist's eye for absurdity, H. K. Roy describes his many strange and risky exploits in his long career with the CIA. Whether he was pursuing Soviet and Cuban spies, running "denied area" operations in Eastern Europe, hunting Bosnian War criminals, or providing actionable intelligence to US government and coalition forces in Iraq, Roy usually found himself at the right place at the right time.
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To political
- By Amazon Customer on 11-29-19
By: H. K. Roy
What listeners say about Surprise, Kill, Vanish
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- HonestBuyer
- 05-10-23
Great read but with segments of bordom
This is overall a great book BUT it surely has its upturns and downturns.
Some of the chapters are extremely interesting and you say wow, other chapters are dry as sand, and not sure what is the point of telling those descriptions of meanless actions of different people.
I read it on 1.3x speed, and in the last 9 hours I read it with a 1.5x-1.8x.
I personally like the narration. I think it was good.
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- John A. Cote MSSI
- 08-01-19
Soldiers in the shadows
Annie Jacobsen has pulled the curtain open into the deniable world of the Assassin. You meet some of the characters who make up this elite community. You learn the history of this seldom heard from seldom recognized group of individuals who actually make a huge impact on the United States foreign policy. The Third Hand. The Presidents third option. Enjoy one Hell of a listen!!!!!!
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- Anonymous User
- 06-05-20
horrible reading voice but amazing book
I almost deleted this book after a chapter as I could not stomach the authors reading voice, but as I grit my teeth and tried to ignore it the story kept me enticed enough to finish the book. Amazing book and amazing stories, but personally I would've preferred another narator
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- dante larsson
- 05-25-19
Best book
Really gets into the hidden hand the Cia has everywhere in the world. So great!
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- Kindle Customer
- 04-25-23
good story
Good story. It feels like there is need for part two. Maybe sone day...?
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