TAKE COVERT ACTION AND SEIZE A COPY OF INTELLIGENCE BEFORE ANYONE ELSE
Intelligence veteran Mark M. Lowenthal details how the intelligence community’s history, structure, procedures, and functions affect policy decisions. With his friendly prose, he demystifies a complicated and complex process. Rich with examples and anecdotes, Intelligence also includes bolded key terms, an acronym list, suggested readings and websites, and a list of major intelligence reviews or proposals.
This new, fully-updated fourth edition highlights many crucial recent developments in reforms, ethics, and transnational issues, including:
• the actual implementation of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) reforms and their successes and strains;
• the ongoing legal, operational, and ethical issues raised by the war against terrorism;
• the growth of transnational issues, such as WMD;
• fresh coverage of analytic standards and analytic transformation;
• more in-depth explanation of geospatial, signal, and human intelligence;
• a new discussion of the lessons of 9/11;
• and, the growing politicization of intelligence in the United States, specifically through the declassified use of National Intelligence Estimates (NIEs).
Table of Contents
Chapters also include Key Terms and Suggestions for Further Reading.
1. What Is “Intelligence”?
Why Have Intelligence Agencies?
What Is Intelligence About?
2. The Development of U.S. Intelligence
Major Themes
Major Historical Developments
3. The U.S. Intelligence Community
Alternative Ways of Looking at the Intelligence Community
The Many Different Intelligence Communities
Intelligence Community Relationships That Matter
The Intelligence Budget Process
4. The Intelligence Process--A Macro Look: Who Does What For Whom?
Requirements
Collection
Processing and Exploitation
Analysis and Production
Dissemination and Consumption
Feedback
Thinking About the Intelligence Process
5. Collection and the Collection Disciplines
Overarching Themes
Strengths and Weaknesses
Conclusion
6. Analysis
Major Themes
Analytical Issues
Intelligence Analysis: An Assessment
7. Counterintelligence
Internal Safeguards
External Indicators and Counterespionage
Problems in Counterintelligence
8. Covert Action
The Decision-Making Process
The Range Of Covert Actions
Issues in Covert Action
Assessing Covert Action
9. The Role of the Policy Maker
The U.S. National Security Policy Process
Who Wants What?
The Intelligence Process: Policy and Intelligence
10. Oversight and Accountability
Executive Oversight Issues
Congressional Oversight
Issues in Congressional Oversight
Internal Dynamics of Congressional Oversight
Conclusion
11. The Intelligence Agenda: Nation States
The Primacy of the Soviet Issue
The Emphasis on Soviet Military Capabilities
The Emphasis on Statistical Intelligence
The “Comfort” of a Bilateral Relationship
Collapse of the Soviet Union
Intelligence and the Soviet Problem
The Current Nation State Issue
12. The Intelligence Agenda: Transnational Issue
U.S. National Security Policy and Intelligence after the Cold War
Intelligence and the New Priorities
Conclusion
13. Ethical and Moral Issues In Intelligence
General Moral Questions
Issues Related to Collection and Covert Action
Analysis-Related Issues
Oversight-Related Issues
The Media
Conclusion
14. Intelligence Reform
The Purpose of Reform
Issues in Intelligence Reform
Conclusion
15. Foreign Intelligence Services
Britain
China
France
Israel
Russia
Conclusion
Appendix 1: Additional Bibliographic Citations and Web Sites
Appendix 2: Major Intelligence Reviews or Proposals
Testimonials
“Mark Lowenthal’s
Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy, now in its fourth edition, is the go-to book for the most comprehensive overview on the U.S. intelligence community. Intelligence processes, policy, and organization are clearly and concisely described, providing those who study intelligence with a complete picture of the IC and its relationship with the executive and legislative branches to date in the evolving, dynamic and highly politicized post-9/11 world of intelligence. I highly recommend this book to academics and practitioners alike! It is a great resource.”
- Michael Bennett, Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Coast Guard and Director, Strategic Intelligence Studies, U.S. Coast Guard Academy“Since 9/11, much attention within the United States and abroad has been focused on the problems within the intelligence community. Lowenthal’s book offers a superior framework for understanding the structure of the intelligence community and the challenges it faces. The fourth edition will bring new insights into some of the most current controversies involving the intelligence community and U.S. policymakers--such as the Valerie Plame case and the ‘Curveball’ incident.”
- Catherine Lotrionte, Georgetown University“Lowenthal’s
Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy, now in its fourth edition, remains the best introduction to the role of the United States intelligence community in the national security policy making process. Popular with academics and practitioners alike, it is the standard text for many university level intelligence and national security courses. Clear, concise, and thoroughly updated to reflect recent changes in the intelligence community, this book demystifies the intelligence process and places it in a contemporary perspective that the general reader also will find informative.”
- Kenneth R. Dombroski, Naval Postgraduate School“Lowenthal’s
Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy remains the mainstay in my undergraduate political science course on intelligence and international security. It strikes an impressive balance between breadth and depth, attending to the important conceptual and political themes, while providing cogent accounts of the unique analytical, organizational, and strategic problems of intelligence policy, all of which are supported by illuminating figures and illustrations and vivid historical examples. The suggestions for further readings at the end of the chapters are gold-mine for students looking to go deeper into particular questions or to bolster their research papers, and a useful reference point for instructors as well.”
- Timothy Crawford, Boston College
Bio(s)
Mark M. Lowenthal, National Intelligence Council
Mark M. Lowenthal has thirty years of experience as an intelligence official in the executive and legislative branches of government and in the private sector. He retired from government service in 2005 after serving for three years as the assistant director of central intelligence for analysis and production and vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council for Evaluation. Dr. Lowenthal is the president and CEO of the Intelligence & Security Academy, LLC, a national security education, training and consulting firm. He is also an adjunct professor at Columbia University.
