The Gale Encyclopedia Of Espionage Intelligence And Security, 3-Vol. Set (Repost)

I think the set overreaches in that it tries to cover too much material in three volumes. I think that compressive coverage of narrower focus would have been better than shorting really important political issues such as the potential for manipulation of the bacterial and viral genomes by governments to start pandemics in targeted racial or ethnic groups. There are some otherwise good science articles that fail to even hint at the still unknown the extent of the U.S. government's invasion into personal privacy. But I am most disappointed that the authors kept to the "official" historical line on the role of intelligence agencies in matters such as the Kennedy assassination. Other conspiracies, and the facts supporting them, are also ignored or glossed over in favor of science and technology articles that lose sight of the grander manipulation of intelligence by governments for political gain. While the book lists suspected terrorist organizations, the terrorist actions of the U.S. government and its sometimes allies are also ignored. Younger readers and the general public would be better served by a brighter light on the dirty corners into which secrets are sometimes swept.