Pulitzer Prize– and National Book Award–winning journalist Tim Weiner, acclaimed author of Legacy of Ashes, returns with his explosive new work The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century. Based on exclusive on-the-record interviews with CIA directors, top spymasters, and undercover officers, Weiner exposes the high-stakes battles shaping America’s intelligence community today—at a moment of unprecedented political and global peril. In this timely talk, he examines the White House’s escalating conflicts with U.S. intelligence, the press, and the very principles of free speech.

“Riveting…How Weiner persuaded so many people to talk on the record is a journalistic feat that should make [THE MISSION] impossible to dismiss.”
—ASSOCIATED PRESS

“Poignant…Weiner’s warnings about the peril facing both the C.I.A. and the United States seem prophetic.”
—NEW YORK TIMES

“No one has opened up the CIA to us like Weiner has, and THE MISSION deserves to win Weiner a second Pulitzer.”
—THE GUARDIAN

Tim Weiner has won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for his reporting and writing on American intelligence and national security. His new book, THE MISSION: The CIA in the 21st Century, was ranked #3 on the New York Times bestseller list upon its publication. He and his wife, Kate Doyle, a human-rights expert, have been fixing up an abandoned house in Putney since 2022.