After much discussion, the conversation turned to the idea of digging a tunnel to reach and tap the Soviet phone lines in Berlin. . . .

On balance, however, some valuable information was gathered from the tapped conversations. The U. S. learned, for example, a great deal about the Soviet and Eastern European order of battle, or its military organization. Others feel that the intelligence was valuable to check against similar information obtained from other sources. Tim Weine in his recent history of the CIA, Legacy of Ashes, writes that "the evidence suggests that the CIA gained two invaluable and untainted kinds of knowledge from the taps. The agency learned a basic blueprint of the Soviet and East German security systems, and it never picked up a glimmer of warning that Moscow intended to go to war."

–The Dark Game,
Paul Janeczko

Use the passage from The Dark Game to answer the questions.

What viewpoint is the author suggesting?

What is the author’s primary purpose in this paragraph?