New York Times reporter Tim Weiner won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1988--when he worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer--in recognition of a series of articles he wrote detailing explosive growth in secret Pentagon defense spending. His new book, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA , takes a look at “why eleven presidents and three generations of CIA officers have been unable to understand the world; why nearly every CIA director has left the agency in worse shape than he found it; and how these failures have profoundly jeopardized our national security.” If you can’t make it to the Central Library’s Montgomery Auditorium tonight at 7:00 p.m. to see Tim Weiner in person, you can listen to him in conversation with WHYY’s Terry Gross on Fresh Air here ; or check out this 2005 Weekend Edition clip in which Weiner talks about government spending on hypothetical weapons systems.