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 riveting, behind-the-scenes account one man's journey as an intelligence officer with the elite and secretive Air Force Office of Special Investigations at the height of the Iraq war. A charming and sobering story of the pleasures and consequences that come with wartime intelligence."Consequences by David Grantham provides a unique and fascinating window into the nuts and bolts of OSI counterintelligence operations. You won't be disappointed." - Fred Burton, author of Beirut Rules: The Murder of a CIA Station Chief and Hezbollah's War Against America
Every president has had a unique and complicated relationship with the intelligence community. While some have been coolly distant, even adversarial, others have found their intelligence agencies to be among the most valuable instruments of policy and power. Since John F. Kennedy's presidency, this relationship has been distilled into a personalized daily report: a short summary of what the intelligence apparatus considers the most crucial information for the president to know that day about global threats and opportunities. This top-secret document is known as the President's Daily Brief, or, within national security circles, simply "the Book." Presidents have spent anywhere from a few moments (Richard Nixon) to a healthy part of their day (George W. Bush) consumed by its contents; some (Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush) consider it far and away the most important document they saw on a regular basis while commander in chief. The details of most PDBs are highly classified, and will remain so for many years. But the process by which the intelligence community develops and presents the Book is a fascinating look into the operation of power at the highest levels. David Priess, a former intelligence officer and daily briefer, has interviewed every living president and vice president as well as more than one hundred others intimately involved with the production and delivery of the president's book of secrets. He offers an unprecedented window into the decision making of every president from Kennedy to Obama, with many character-rich stories revealed here for the first time.
When Gail Harris was assigned by the U.S. Navy to a combat intelligence job in 1973, she became the first African American female to hold such a position. Her 28-year career included hands on leadership in the intelligence community during every major conflict from the Cold War to Desert Storm to Kosovo, and most recently at the forefront of one of the Department of Defense's newest challenges: Cyber Warfare. At her retirement, she was the highest ranking African American female in the Navy. A Woman's War: The Professional and Personal Journey of the Navy's First African American Female Intelligence Officer is an inspirational memoir that follows Gail Harris's career as a naval intelligence officer, sharing her unique experience and perspective as she completed the complex task of providing intelligence support to military operations while also battling the status quo, office bullies, and politics. This book also looks at the way intelligence is used and misused in these perilous times.
Technical collection represents the largest asymmetric edge that technologically advanced countries such as the United States and its allies have in the intelligence business. Intelligence veteran Robert M. Clark’s new book offers a succinct, logically organized, and well written overview of technical collection, explained at a non technical level for those new to the field. Filling a void in the literature, The Technical Collection of Intelligence is the only book that comprehensively examines the collection, processing, and exploitation of non-literal intelligence information, including laser, acoustic, and infrared signals; non-imaging optical intelligence sources; and radar tracking and measurement of aerospace vehicles. A compelling final chapter addresses the substantial challenges that come with managing technical collection. A stunning full-color interior design features high quality graphics while a handy "tabs" feature keeps content at the ready. A useful list of recommended books and reports, a glossary of terms, and a list of acronyms make this guide a go-to resource. Technical Collection will prove invaluable to all source analysts, managers of technical collection, customers of intelligence, and recruiters for the intelligence community.
In World War I and the Origins of U.S. Military Intelligence, military historian James L. Gilbert provides an authoritative overview of the birth of modern Army intelligence. Following the natural division of the intelligence war, which was fought on both the home front and overseas, Gilbert traces the development and use of intelligence and counterintelligence through the eyes of their principal architects: General Dennis E. Nolan and Colonel Ralph Van Deman. Gilbert explores how on the home front, US Army counterintelligence faced both internal and external threats that began with the Army’s growing concerns over the loyalty of resident aliens who were being drafted into the ranks and soon evolved into the rooting out of enemy saboteurs and spies intent on doing great harm to America’s war effort. To achieve their goals, counterintelligence personnel relied upon major strides in the areas of code breaking and detection of secret inks. Overseas, the intelligence effort proved far more extensive in terms of resources and missions, even reaching into nearby neutral countries. Intelligence within the American Expeditionary Forces was heavily indebted to its Allied counterparts who not only provided an organizational blueprint but also veteran instructors and equipment needed to train newly arriving intelligence specialists. Rapid advances by American intelligence were also made possible by the appointment of competent leaders and the recruitment of highly motivated and skilled personnel; likewise, the Army’s decision to assign the bulk of its linguists to support intelligence proved critical. World War I would witness the linkage between intelligence and emerging technologies—from the use of cameras in aircraft to the intercept of enemy radio transmissions. Equally significant was the introduction of new intelligence disciplines—from exploitation of captured equipment to the translation of enemy documents. These and other functions that emerged from World War I would continue to the present to provide military intelligence with the essential tools necessary to support the Army and the nation. World War I and the Origins of U.S. Military Intelligence is ideal not only for students and scholars of military history and World War I, but will also appeal to any reader interested in how modern intelligence operations first evolved.
Operational intelligence, knowledge of the enemy’s location and actions, is crucial to effective military operations. The Admirals’ Advantage offers a revealing look at naval operational intelligence based on the findings of a classified Operational Intelligence (OPINTEL) Lessons-Learned Project and a 1998 Symposium at the Navy and Marine Corps Intelligence Training Center. Participants included senior intelligence and operational leaders who explored the evolution and significance of OPINTEL since World War II. Past and current practices were examined with inputs from fleet and shore commands and insights from interviews and correspondence with senior flag officers and intelligence professionals.
A career of nearly three decades with the CIA and the National Intelligence Council showed Paul R. Pillar that intelligence reforms, especially measures enacted since 9/11, can be deeply misguided. They often miss the sources that underwrite failed policy and misperceive our ability to read outside influences. They also misconceive the intelligence-policy relationship and promote changes that weaken intelligence-gathering operations. In this book, Pillar confronts the intelligence myths Americans have come to rely on to explain national tragedies, including the belief that intelligence drives major national security decisions and can be fixed to avoid future failures. Pillar believes these assumptions waste critical resources and create harmful policies, diverting attention away from smarter reform, and they keep Americans from recognizing the limits of obtainable knowledge. Pillar revisits U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War and highlights the small role intelligence played in those decisions, and he demonstrates the negligible effect that America's most notorious intelligence failures had on U.S. policy and interests. He then reviews in detail the events of 9/11 and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, condemning the 9/11 commission and the George W. Bush administration for their portrayals of the role of intelligence. Pillar offers an original approach to better informing U.S. policy, which involves insulating intelligence management from politicization and reducing the politically appointed layer in the executive branch to combat slanted perceptions of foreign threats. Pillar concludes with principles for adapting foreign policy to inevitable uncertainties.
