Black Man in the CIA

Black Man in the CIA is much more than a list of assignment, offices held, people and actions.It is a fully thoughtful account of his full life, those who are the foundation of this life, his mother, wife and CIA,and his active assessment of not only those around him, but of self.Mr. Osborne, brings new meaning and understanding to "Above all else, be true to thyself."Highly recommend as factual history of the inner workings of the CIA, also for those who want to understandit history and challenges within its own ranks, and for those who want to see and understand how the humanspirit, even with setbacks, can ultimately lead one to life success.One word for both the person, Mr. Leutrell "Mike" Osborne, Sr. and the book is EXTRAORDINARY!

A quick read about the life of an intelligence officer and how he fought discrimination in the CIA. Leutrell Osborne has very interesting experiences from which all can learn.

I gave this book 4 stars, however for the average person may rate it 3-stars. I gave this book 4 stars, because the unique perspective Mr. Osborne brings is different from any spy book I've read. The agency allowed him to write about the racial misconduct displayed towards Blacks during the 50s,60, 70s, and 80s without censoring those sections of the book. For CIA not to sensor something that clearly makes them look bad in hindsight is unprecedented. However, most locations, dates, times, and names were omitted even though it was over 50 years ago. I wish I had read this book earlier in my career. His description of being discriminated against by his Japanese-American Chief of Station really stuck out to me. He explains the pressure of being the only Black case officer in the Station and working his butt off while constantly getting low performance appraisals because of his race. He talks about how Justice Arrow was the 1st African-American case officer in the NCS, which is a good piece of history to note. I enjoyed the story in the book on his tour in Latin-America, which management considered was a safe place to send Black C/Os at the time. I enjoy the entire context around race in the NCS which is still a relevant issue. The NCS should look like the UN, however it doesn't. The books ends on a high note with Mr. Osborne supervising a number of directorates and even desegregating them. The very best part of the book is the chapter where Mr. Osborne talks to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. after receiving his Nobel Peace prize. That was a piece of history that has never been recorded until now. The books is very short. It only took me three days to read.

I came upon this book by chance, when I was browsing for books for my classes to write reports on. I came across this book and I thought it would be just a biography of a man who wrote about life in the CIA. However, I gave it a try and bought the book and I found this exciting adventure about Leutrell Osborne, his life and his beliefs. While I was reading this book I felt knew this man without even meeting him. This book is a true masterpiece.Do not be fooled by its commonplace appearance. Like so many things, it is not what is on the outside, but what is on the inside that counts.

Really didn't catch my interestnothing to really pull me past the first few chapters may be a better book further on but I'll never know

Good story but could have been better. Lots of redundancy. However, I did not know we had Blacks in the Spy business that long ago. So from that perspective it was great.

The book was insightful but the author always repeated himself more than two times in different chapters or pages. I'd recommend this book anyone who can stay focused whole reading it

bogus