I've gone on a reading/news/information binge recently and the following are things that have been purchased and read completely or purchased and read partially (the list would be a lot longer if I included the books/magazines/journals I purchased but havn't touched yet)
(1) Inside the CIA by Ronald Kessler
Kessler explores such diverse subjects as the agency's employment policies (the CIA, he maintains, prefers aggressive, manipulative recruits willing to lie and to break the laws of foreign countries), the director's daily presidential briefing, the CIA's counter-narcotics efforts, the physical plant itself ("The CIA compound is indeed a spooky place") and the agency's struggle to create a viable public-relations policy. As to the agency's mandate, given the diminution of the Soviet threat, Kessler reports that the CIA is intensifying its effort to track nuclear proliferation, international drug trafficking and terrorism. A largely objective, evenhanded, highly informative survey.
(2) The Economist
everybody's favorite worldwide newspaper. Its not just for economists anymore. :-) But seriously it has some of the best articles about world news out there that I have been able to find recently.
(3) Foreign Affairs Magazine
The preeminent journal of foreign policy and international affairs, has provided government and business leaders, students, and the general public with insightful, thought-provoking analysis on world events for over 80 years. Before it becomes policy, it's in Foreign Affairs.
(4) Foreign Policy Magazine
Covers the arena of international affairs, presenting views on world events from people in the news. Features articles from across the political spectrum that attempt to explain foreign policy as well as shape the debate.
(5) The American Agent: My Life in the CIA by Richard L. Holm
I can't stand paperback books even though they cost less than 1/2 the cost of hardcovers
Dick Holm joined the Central Intelligence Agency in the 1960s and rose rapidly through the ranks to become Bureau Chief in Paris, eventually earning the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the CIA’s highest award. His first posting was in Laos, where he served in the CIA’s “Secret War” against the Communists in the lead–up to the Vietnam War. He was then sent to the Congo and suffered near–fatal injuries after a plane crash in a remote jungle. Healed by local tribesmen, his horrific burns treated with snake oil and tree bark, he then spent two years in a U.S. hospital undergoing extensive surgery. Holm also worked in Hong Kong and Paris and was instrumental in anti–terrorism operations during Carlos the Jackal’s international terror campaign. Having served under thirteen CIA directors, Holm has firm, highly informed views on the policies—past and present, national and international—that determine how, where, and why the CIA works.