One man's war against the NVA . . . and the U.S. Army. A true story of terror, heroism and survival in the green hell of Vietnam. 1st Lt. Eric Smith , leader of a military intelligence team nicknamed the Dirty Dozen, recounts his wartime experiences with interrogators, interpreters, prisoners of war and counterintelligence agents. A close, unflinching look at combat intelligence.
A masterly look at the value and limitations of intelligence in the conduct of war from the premier military historian of our time, John Keegan. Intelligence gathering is an immensely complicated and vulnerable endeavor. And it often fails. Until the invention of the telegraph and radio, information often traveled no faster than a horse could ride, yet intelligence helped defeat Napoleon. In the twentieth century, photo analysts didn’t recognize Germany’s V-2 rockets for what they were; on the other hand, intelligence helped lead to victory over the Japanese at Midway. In Intelligence in War, John Keegan illustrates that only when paired with force has military intelligence been an effective tool, as it may one day be in besting al-Qaeda.
The former Director of National Intelligence speaks out in this New York Times bestseller When he stepped down in January 2017 as the fourth United States Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper had been President Obama's senior intelligence advisor for six and a half years, longer than his three predecessors combined. He led the US Intelligence Community through a period that included the raid on Osama bin Laden, the Benghazi attack, the leaks of Edward Snowden, and Russia's influence operation on the 2016 U.S election. In Facts and Fears, Clapper traces his career through the growing threat of cyberattacks, his relationships with Presidents and Congress, and the truth about Russia's role in the presidential election. He describes, in the wake of Snowden and WikiLeaks, his efforts to make intelligence more transparent and to push back against the suspicion that Americans' private lives are subject to surveillance. Finally, it was living through Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and seeing how the foundations of American democracy were--and continue to be--undermined by a foreign power that led him to break with his instincts grown through more than five decades in the intelligence profession, to share his inside experience. Clapper considers such controversial questions as, is intelligence ethical? Is it moral to intercept communications or to photograph closed societies from orbit? What are the limits of what we should be allowed to do? What protections should we give to the private citizens of the world, not to mention our fellow Americans? Is there a time that intelligence officers can lose credibility as unbiased reporters of hard truths by asserting themselves into policy decisions? Facts and Fears offers a privileged look inside the United States intelligence community and addresses with the frankness and professionalism for which James Clapper is known some of the most difficult challenges in our nation's history.
Intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB), the Army's traditional methodology for finding and analyzing relevant information for its operations, is not effective for tackling the operational and intelligence challenges of urban operations. The authors suggest new ways to categorize the complex terrain, infrastructure, and populations of urban environments and incorporate this information into Army planning and decisionmaking processes.
Determining people’s true motives and character is a process that begins in early childhood and never ceases. The process of converting information into intelligence is no different. Myths and assumptions have to be continuously challenged in order to avoid misconceptions, separate fact from fiction, and develop the best course of action. Perception and reality are rarely aligned. It should come as no surprise, therefore, to learn that some of the people and the underlying methodology employed within the military intelligence establishment may not be who or what they seem. This illuminating insider’s look at the life of an intelligence operative and at military life in general, chronicles a successful career in an era that was simultaneously characterized by short-sighted and ineffective policies, and by a succession of high-profile incidents that reflected a corruption of fundamental military standards and values. Military Intelligence Operator is a thought-provoking and insightful commentary that has universal themes. At its heart, is an exploration of how our experiences continually shape and inform our worldview, and why those lessons remain our most valuable resource in an increasingly complex, fragmented, and volatile world.
Pre-eminent war historian John Keegan sets out to answer the question, how much does military intelligence matter to victory? By examining case studies from Nelson’s pursuit of Napoleon’s Fleet across the Mediterranean in 1788 to the Battle of the Atlantic in 1940, Keegan gives us a new history of war through the prism of intelligence.
