Feet to the Fire: CIA Covert Operations in Indonesia, 1957-1958 (Special Warfare Series)

Of special interest to me were the detailed, almost day-by-day descriptions of events put together by the authors from as many sources as they could access. They begin to give a picture of a "day in the life" of at least some people involved in covert action, with secret supply missions by the Navy, flights to clandestine air strips, a sub popping up off the coast of Sumatra to rescue five CIA men, and a C-46 flying another bunch to safety at Clark AFB. As an American who has lived overseas for many years and met such people, I have long been curious about just what they do. (You can't ask them.)

No individual is portrayed in great depth and it is just as well since most are rather unappealing, coming off as either connivers or flakes, or both. One character that did catch my attention was Fravel "Jim" Brown, a CIA careerist who was present when rebels he was supporting were captured by government paratroopers taking an airfield. He walked up to the paratroopers' commander, introduced himself as "Brown from Caltex," made some small talk, then slipped away. A few days and hundreds of kilometers away Brown was in a rebel-held port as it too was captured, by the same paratroopers. Once again he slipped away. Is there a name for that personality trait, extremely valuable for people in certain professions, that combines chutzpah with blarney?

As an American living in Indonesia, I found the book interesting and very readable. However, I suspect that readers with no knowledge of Indonesian political history or geography will find the narrative a bit tedious unless they are fervent espionage afficionados.


Fascinating, crucial history   December 25, 1999
 11 out of 12 found this review helpful

The real story of Sukarno's reign in Indonesia has been largely forgotten in the West, but I for one continue to be interested in the 1965 military coup, as I don't think any book I've yet read has got to the bottom of that tangled plot. "Feet to the Fire" covers the CIA's efforts in 1957-58 to exert pressure on Sukarno by supporting rebels in Sumatra -- "supporting" seems too mild a word when virtually the only casualties inflicted came as a result of American air-power, which was, under Allen Dulles, meant to be deniable but was not. An American pilot was shot down, kept prisoner until 1962. The history recounted here starts slowly, as perhaps a few too many Indonesian names are thrown at the reader early on, but things clear up fairly soon, and the story really does become quite gripping. And this is history that has never before been revealed! Some of the notes are worth pursuing in the back, also, by the way.