“An outstanding young CIA analyst learns his Government has lied about whether Saddam Hussein deployed chemical weapons during Desert Storm, and then has covered up the harm this caused the health of thousands of unsuspecting GIs. What can he do about it? Plenty it turns out, if he is sufficiently patriotic, persistent, and persuasive — and he is willing to risk his career and endure insidious personal attacks in order to help horribly suffering veterans. and to enhance our military preparedness for the future. Pat Eddington puts a human face on the true intelligence ‘patriots’ who dare speak truth to power. He does so by vividly portraying his daily struggle to discern the facts and then to prevail over those trying–in the words of the infamous British cable about Bush II’s plan to invade Iraq–‘to fit the facts to the policy.’ He brilliantly exposes the cover-up DNA of Executive Branch officials, as well as their instinct to kill the messenger when a whistle-blower reveals their misdeeds and misstatements. And he meticulously dissects and debunks the outrageous–and at times pathetic–Defense Department and CIA spin in response to his revelations…Long Strange Journey is simultaneously a chilling roller-coaster of a spy story and a cornucopia of vital insights for current policy-makers befuddled by Iran, China and Afghanistan. This is a ‘must read’ for the Obama White House and concerned citizens, alike.In his moving memoir, Eddington eloquently reminds us that, as Dr. King warned in his 1968 Riverside Church condemnation of the Viet Nam war: ‘Their comes a time when silence is betrayal.'”
Burton Wides, currently a pro bono public interest advocate, headed the Church Committee’s investigations of the CIA and was Special Counsel to President Carter for oversight of all U.S. intelligence agencies.
“Patrick G. Eddington has written an intriguing account of his experiences in the CIA as an analyst of technically derived intelligence—a rare inside look at the difficulties of predicting world events and the frustrations of working within an often slow-moving, status quo oriented government bureaucracy. During his tenure at the Agency, he found strong resistance directed against his efforts to bring to light the exposure of U.S. troops to potentially lethal chemical agents during after Operation Desert Storm in Iraq, a situation the Pentagon preferred to discount. Partly an examination of Eddington’s life as an analyst and partly a story of his difficulties in trying to convince officials to acknowledge the chemical-agent danger,Long Strange Journey is a valuable narrative about a talented young officer’s experiences—and anguish—while serving in the middle ranks of America’s premier secret agency.”
Loch K. Johnson
Regents Professor
University of Georgia
Senior Editor, Intelligence and National Security
“Long Strange Journey gives us a peek into the bowels of the intelligence community, and it isn’t a pretty picture. CIA analyst Pat Eddington took on a hidebound intelligence bureaucracy more interested in pleasing political masters than fulfilling its obligation to protecting the nation and those we put in harm’s way. Part spy thriller, part scandal, part love story, this book will make you hope there are more like him fighting for truth and justice behind the CIA’s veil of secrecy.”
Mike German
Senior Policy Counsel for National Security and Civil Liberties ACLU
“Long Strange Journey is a gripping depiction of Eddington’s struggle to force the CIA, Pentagon and Congress to acknowledge the Gulf War syndrome’s causes. It follows an idealistic young intelligence analyst’s painful realization that the government institutions he loved would resort to hiding behind secrecy, intimidation, retaliation and deception rather than own up to its mistakes and take care of the veterans it had sent in harms way. It is a must-read for anyone who wants to know how the intelligence community really works.”
Danielle Brian
Executive Director
Project on Government Oversight
“Smart, thorough, and critical human intelligence gathering by patriotic professionals has been and always will be our republic’s first line of defense. Pat Eddington’s riveting memoir bears powerful witness to the liberty of conscience and his courageous attempt to speak to truth to power in real time to America’s intelligence establishment about Gulf War Syndrome, to cite one example, and its lethal impact on countless thousands of American veterans was nothing short of heroic. Everyone concerned with the importance of thoughtfully calibrating the proper balance between the people’s right to know, as sovereigns in our system of government, and what information bearing upon national security must be controlled must read this book and take it to heart, mind, and soul.”
Bill Goold
Former Executive Director of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who retired after more than 30 years of top-level professional service in the U.S. Congress
Long Strange Journey 