Slow Burn: The Rise and Bitter Fall of American Intelligence in Vietnam

Slow Burn is the inside story of the CIA's role in Vietnam by one of the Agency's most highly decorated veterans. It is told with the grit of a hero, the passion of a critical player, and the precise eye of an unflinching observer. Orin DeForest arrived in Saigon in 1968 as chief interrogation officer of Military Region Three. He was appalled by what he saw at the provincial interrogation centers. The agency had been unable to recruit a single Vietcong spy. Over the next few years DeForest revolutionized the system, putting together a legendary network of spies and counterspies that supplied up to 80 percent of the CIA's hard intelligence in Vietnam. Ultimately, it is a tale with a bitter end. DeForest had fought desperately to arrange for an orderly evacuation of his operatives and family members -- 600 in all. Because of recklessness and procrastination most were left behind to sure death.