Ric Prado fled Cuba after the 1959 revolution when he was ten years old. He went on to work for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for twenty-four years — an experience he recounts in his recent memoir, Black Ops: The Life of a CIA Shadow Warrior  — and then to work in private military operations, including a stint with Erik Prince and Blackwater.

Like other former CIA memoirists, Prado is unable to publish all the details of his work, and the book features several redactions. Still, his memoir offers valuable insight into the mentality of a prominent member within CIA operations at the turn of the twenty-first century, as well as CIA strategies and activities from Nicaragua to North Korea to North Africa and beyond.

The truth that emerges in Black Ops is that CIA operatives often possess a neocolonial and paternalistic mentality, and a steadfast belief that the United States is rightfully positioned to dominate the world. They feel it’s their duty to intervene to shape global politics, even if that involves undermining or overthrowing democratically elected governments. And they believe that violence and murder are fair means to achieve these objectives.