Operation Pseudo Miranda: A Veteran of the CIA Drug Wars Tells All
Ever wonder how the CIA enlists people to work for it? Bucchi (Inside Job: Deep Undercover as a Corporate Spy) was recruited while attending Murray State University, KY, in 1984, and here he recounts the rigorous training he and many others had to endure. Afterward, Bucchi lived in a secret world in which no one outside the agency knew his real profession. In the 1980s, the CIA participated in the war on drugs, and Bucchi was a tactical commander in Operation Pseudo Miranda, in which the CIA made deals with infamous drug lords Pablo Escobar, Fabio Ochoa, and Manuel Noriega. Unfortunately, this operation did not go according to plan, and disaster followed, with several members of his team killed, including a woman for whom he had strong feelings. The book is written like an action-type novel with a great deal of reconstructed dialog, and therein lies the problem. Since the conversations, including secret meetings with CIA director William Casey, are based on Bucchi's memory, there is no way of knowing their accuracy or estimating how much has been embellished. The story might have been better served had it been written as an espionage novel based on true experience. An optional purchase. Michael Sawyer, Northwestern Regional Lib., Elkin, NCCopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.