"In the entrance of the CIA headquarters looms a huge marble wall into which seventy-one stars are carved - each representing an agent who has died in the line of duty. At the base of this wall lies "The Book of Honor," in which the names of these agents are inscribed - or least thirty-five of them. Beside the dates of the other thirty-six, there are no names. The identity of these "nameless stars" has been one of the CIA's most closely guarded secrets. ". "But what the CIA keeps secret in the name of national security is often merely an effort to hide that which would embarrass the agency itself - even at the cost of denying peace of mind for the families and honor due the "nameless stars. " Ted Gup has uncovered the identities, and the stories, of the men and women who died anonymously in the service of their country. In researching The Book of Honor, Gup interviewed over four hundred current and former covert CIA officers, immersed himself in archival records, death certificates, casualty lists from terrorist attacks, State Department and Defense Department personnel lists, cemetery records, obituaries, and tens of thousands of pages of personal letters and diaries. "--BOOK JACKET.