No Backup: My Life as a Female FBI Special Agent

By Patricia Pape, Rosemary Dew, Pat Pape

Book Overview

In her thirteen years as special agent for the FBI, Rosemary Dew worked undercover against criminals, spies, and terrorists, earning eight commendations for her service. Despite her achievements, for her entire tenure she remained the subject of severe discrimination and even sexual harassment that the bureau seemed to condone rather than condemn. In elegant and deeply felt prose, Dew argues that this climate of corruption and duplicity not only taints the experience of the FBI's few female agents but also leads directly to some of the bureau's most harmful failures, such as the remarkable intelligence breakdown that allowed spy Robert Hanssen to operate undetected for more than two decades. Narrated by one of the most successful and one of the onlywomen in the bureau's history, No Backup is a startling look at the destructive and discriminatory culture that dominates one of America's most powerful agencies, as well as an impassioned plea to an organization that must reform itself."

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786714913
• ISBN13: 9780786714919
• Release Date: December 2004
• Publisher: Da Capo Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.0" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Interesting Insight

The book seems like a really interesting insight in the the "real" FBI... including the Old Boys Club, sexual harassment, the lack of organization and training for certain types of tasks. I like the quotes at the beginning of each chapter.

Disturbing and sad...

A well-written insider's expose of the immature, "locker-room" mentality that has existed far too long without accountability in what is supposed to be the nation's premier law enforcement and domestic intelligence organization. Dew's first-hand account of her 13 years of enduring illegal, unconscionable treatment from subordinates, peers and superiors saddens me.The country and those women and minorities who suffered this treatment deserved - and deserve - better from the FBI. We can only hope that this book is read and taken to heart by a new generation of leaders at the FBI.

Enlightening and insightful

Readers' reactions to this book will be influenced by their expectations. It's not a book about shoot-em-ups and cloak-and-dagger. For me, it's a book about how the FBI institution and individual FBI agents influence each other, and the results. The author argues that the negative behavior and negative attitudes that she experienced in her small part of the FBI world are the same behavior and attitudes that led to major consequences for the entire FBI and the country. I give the book five stars for this insight alone. Throughout the book, the author reminds the reader of the many outstanding agents she worked with and the outstanding work that the FBI accomplishes. This is not emphasized, because this is not what the book is about. Rather, it's an attempt to analyze what's wrong with the FBI, and how to fix it.

No Backup: A female Agent's Life in the FBI

No Backup: A Female Agent's Lifein the FBI©byRosemary N. Dew and Pat PapeA fascinating read which combines the personal experiences of Special Agent Rosemary Dew who spent thirteen years with the FBI. She was in a unique position to gain insight and has produced a detailed analysis of the culture of the FBI and has delved into the reasons behind some of it's more infamous failures. The overall thrust of the book suggests that the FBI's problems reside within the culture of the organization. Rosemary Dew contends that the FBI will continue to be plagued by embarassing episodes,e.g., the mole in its counter intelligence section who was able to escape detection for decades. Approximately half of the book covers one embarassing episode after another which calls into question the ability of the FBI to learn from its own mistakes. In the world described by the author...the agents who warned of suspicious events before 9-11 might have been taken more seriously if they had been working out of a higher status office like New York City. The book is not just a critical analysis of the Bureau but cites specific episodes from the author's life as an agent. She uses these illustrations as a backdrop to suggest why many of the recent problems within the Bureau are the result of long standing practices and norms where the preservation of one's own job within the organization takes priority and common sense seems to be in rather short supply. She describes in painful detail... blatant examples of racism, sexism and harassment which would not be tolerated in modern law enforcement agencies. The FBI is portrayed as a bureacracy which has lost its moral compass while at the same time trying to occupy a higher moral position through a masterful public relations campaign. Rosemary Dew has gone to great lengths to open up her own life and will probably take some heat from those who are sure that the Bureau can do `No' wrong. Definitely, worth the read but disturbing. There have been other books which have exposed the FBI but this one is unique. Dr. Peter Kassebaum