Executive Protection Jobs

Showing posts with label espionage. Show all posts

Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA ReviewThis is an astonishingly well balanced book that while deeply critical of CIA and its senior management also credits its strengths and successes. The author, Melvin Goodman, spent some 34 years as an analyst within the Directorate of Intelligence (DI) of CIA. His principal criticism is that CIA directors in collusion with the executive branch have routinely politicized not merely intelligence products, but the very processes of research and analysis basic to intelligence production. He further argues that most intelligence `failures' can be traced to the practice of far too many at CIA to distort the intelligence process to support policy decisions and even to suppress sound, contrary intelligence. He also sees the growing `militarization' of the U.S. Intelligence System as further evidence that the Intelligence Community (IC) is moving from producing objective and accurate intelligence to producing intelligence that supports the ideologies and prejudices of its masters.
Goodman supports his argument with a remarkably detailed chronicle of CIA intelligence production over the last 35 years. This chronology emphasizes those instances where political pressure and the need to support a particular point of view took precedence over the need to produce accurate intelligence. Also, although he doesn't say so directly, he demonstrates the truth that intelligence is only as good as the system it serves. Unlike so many books on intelligence, this book actually identifies both the good guys and the bad .guys of CIA over the years. In particular he has a fascinating analysis of CIA Directors from Bill Casey (1980-1986) onward that is quite devastating. Although his principal target is the deleterious effect of the politicization and militarization of intelligence, he also effectively criticizes CIA's analytic and clandestine tradecraft.
This is an absolutely important critique of the course of CIA and by extension the entire U.S. Intelligence Community. However, given the controversial claims made by Goodman and the fact he actually names his heroes and villains, the reader might ask does he really know what he is talking about? In this reviewer's opinion, the answer is yes he does. Having been personally involved in a number of specific intelligence events that he chronicles, this reviewer would argue that Goodman has accurately described them. This is a book that ought to guide any effort to reform the U.S. Intelligence System.
Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA Overview

Want to learn more information about Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Killer Instinct Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Killer Instinct? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Killer Instinct. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Killer Instinct ReviewKiller Instinct, although not as fast paced a thriller as Paranoia or Company Man and to be honest not in the same masterpiece quality league as those novels nevertheless is still a great read.
In Killer Instinct, Jason Steadman lives a highly stressful corporate life in the fast paced area of sales in one of the world's major TV and other electronic appliance suppliers. Job security is a big issue, his boss treats him like a doormat as well as steals his ideas and there are rumours going around that the Tokyo owners will soon decide if they are to be shipped to Dallas, which his pregnant wife refuses to contemplate or closed down all together when merged with other acquisitions. Stressed out and driving while talking on his mobile phone he looses control and his badly damaged car needs to be towed. Having nothing in common with Kurk the tow truck driver on the long ride to the garage, who is a dishonourably discharged Iraq/Afghanistan serving special forces soldier, he comments on a baseball game call and soon discovers they share a passion for the game. Jason's company softball team is terrible so he invites the driver to come along and as they become better friends Jason helps the poor guy out and gets him a job in security in the company. Kurk tells him he never forgets a favour and soon every hurdle the Jason whinges about seems to miraculously turn around in his favour. Soon Jason's rivals suspect Jason is responsible and when he confronts Kurk he realises he can only have Kurk as either a loyal brutally helpful friend or a deadly enemy.
A must read and if you haven't already done so also check out Paranoia and Company Man as well.
Killer Instinct Overview

Want to learn more information about Killer Instinct?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Secret and Sanctioned: Covert Operations and the American Presidency Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Secret and Sanctioned: Covert Operations and the American Presidency? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Secret and Sanctioned: Covert Operations and the American Presidency. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Secret and Sanctioned: Covert Operations and the American Presidency ReviewStephen Knott starts this fast paced book by recounting the myth that covert operations in America began with the Cold War, and searches for the truth or falsity of this belief. Then Knott recounts the history of covert operations in America, beginning during the Revolutionary war with George Washington. Knott points out how the founding fathers understood the value of secrecy and espionage run by the executive branch to maintain secrecy and deniability.
Knott explains how Washington created a contingency fund to pay for spies and secret diplomacy. Jefferson bribed Indians to gain territory and started to overthrow the Pasha of the Barbary pirates. Madison planned covert operations to gain Spanish Florida, to gain land, stop Indian attacks, and get Spain out of North America. Then Knott describes the efforts of Joel Poinsett for President Madison in Argentina and Chile where he tried to incite independence from Spain, and cut down the influence of the British. Eventually Poinsett worked in Mexico on behalf of President Monroe. Andrew Jackson sent Robert Anthony to Mexico to try and get Texas, to help protect New Orleans. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln supported covert efforts throughout Europe and Canada supporting the Union through propaganda in newspapers.
Knott concludes the book by showing how during the nineteen-seventies, congressmen wanted to control covert operations and set up a congressional oversight in the belief that this is what the founding fathers would have wanted. But, as we have seen, the founding fathers believed in covert operations with no congressional oversight, because even then congress could not keep a secret. Knott's book is full of surprising anecdotes detailing the use of covert operations by the founding fathers.Secret and Sanctioned: Covert Operations and the American Presidency Overview

Want to learn more information about Secret and Sanctioned: Covert Operations and the American Presidency?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

SOE in France: An Account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France 1940-1944 (Government Official History Series) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy SOE in France: An Account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France 1940-1944 (Government Official History Series)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on SOE in France: An Account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France 1940-1944 (Government Official History Series). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

SOE in France: An Account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France 1940-1944 (Government Official History Series) ReviewIf you only buy one book on the history of SOE in france then this should be the one. The job was to set Europe ablaze in the words of Churchill and they were a thorn in Germany's side. The operations and agents who carried them out are described in great detail including the nightmare of capture by the Gestapo and death in the camps or by firing squad. I have had a copy for years and value it greatly.SOE in France: An Account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France 1940-1944 (Government Official History Series) Overview

Want to learn more information about SOE in France: An Account of the Work of the British Special Operations Executive in France 1940-1944 (Government Official History Series)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

The Women Who Lived for Danger: The Agents of the Special Operations Executive Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Women Who Lived for Danger: The Agents of the Special Operations Executive? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Women Who Lived for Danger: The Agents of the Special Operations Executive. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Women Who Lived for Danger: The Agents of the Special Operations Executive Review"They flirted with men...and with death!"
"Sky-Girl spied for 7 Months"
"No plane so Spy Girl died"
"All these unknown young girls have proved one thing forever. The toughest tests of courage and endurance faced by men can be passed with honor by women."
Marcus Binney introduces the reader to 10 young, bold, brilliant and fascinating women recruited to go behind enemy lines, passing themselves off as ordinary citizens, and leading normal lives-in constant danger of arrest and execution. At a time when survival didn't just require physical toughness, but the ability to live a cover story that could hold up under the toughest interrogation, women simply excelled. They were not commandos with masterful martial arts moves, nor modern Bond girls-this was an age when young women wouldn't bicycle for fear of bulky muscular thighs-they were simply charismatic and brilliant and displayed cool courage, intelligence, and adaptability in every situation-passing themselves off as country wenches by afternoon and chic Parisiennes by night. Putting country, and service to Britain and the Allied forces above all concerns for personal safety-they organized dropping grounds for explosives destined for the Resistance; helped operate escape lines for pilots shot down over Europe, and provided the Allies with vital intelligence.
This book is addictive, inspiring, and well worth ordering and sharing with the other women in your life.The Women Who Lived for Danger: The Agents of the Special Operations Executive Overview

Want to learn more information about The Women Who Lived for Danger: The Agents of the Special Operations Executive?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization ReviewIt's hard to take a fresh look at a book that has already been so well reviewed, but I feel that I do have a few more worthwhile comments, hence another review.
Even though PUZZLE PALACE has been around for eighteen years, it still seems to be the best researched book on NSA that's available. It would be nice if Bamford could update us on what has happened in those intervening years.
None of the following is classified information. I was an enlisted man in the Army Security Agency, stationed in the Philippines, from 1955 to 1957. I had been trained as a French Linguist at the Army Language School. It wasn't until I got to the Philippines that I even knew that there was an organization known as the National Security Agency (NSA). Even more amazing is the fact that, until I read Bamford's book, I had no idea how what I was doing fit into the scheme of things. Thanks, James Bamford, for clearing that up for me some forty five years later. Better late than never, they say.
What I think that Bamford has done so well is to tell the true story of the creation of a modern "Frankenstein's Monster." He presents a cogent case for the very real need for communication interception and code breaking in the early days of NSA's existence. He proceeds to take us through, step by step, the process whereby a protector of our freedoms seems to have evolved into a threat to those very freedoms.
According to Bamford, the communications security community seems almost paranoid in their fears that "unless we absolutely control it, it's dangerous." They are devious enough to get around any and every safeguard to the privacy of the individuual that might be established. To wit: Jimmy Carter, when he was President, put a few safeguards in place. With time on their side, the NSA waited until Ronald Reagan was President and got him to remove those safeguards. (See page 374 of the 1982 hardback edition.)
It makes one wonder: In today's world of e-mail, high speed faxes, cel phones, etc., all using the air waves, is anything sacred or has Orwell's prediction come true. As I mentioned above, I'd really like for Bamford to bring us up to date.
A few reviewers have complained about problems keeping up with all the initials used in PUZZLE PALACE. One has to understand that no discussion of the magnitude of the situation can be held without mentioning all of the organizations and committees involved.
It is true that a bit of hard work on the part of the reader is necessary to get all, or most, of the impact of the information contained in PUZZLE PALACE, but I think that the knowledge gained is definitely worth the effort.The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization Overview

Want to learn more information about The Puzzle Palace: Inside the National Security Agency, America's Most Secret Intelligence Organization?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon's Secret World Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon's Secret World? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon's Secret World. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon's Secret World ReviewThe U.S. National Security Act of 1947 established a national security structure which was felt to be necessary to protect the U.S. from what was perceived as serious threats from foreign and domestic enemies. Almost immediately a parallel structure, invisible to public, was created as a compliment to the public national security establishment. This parallel structure is what this absolutely fascinating book refers to as the "black world."
According to Trevor Paglen, a geographer by trade, this black world can bounded by adroit compilation of blank areas on official maps, deleted passages from official documents, and acute observations of restricted areas and activities. Well he has certainly done a very thorough job of it. He begins with the secret and unacknowledged government test sites scattered throughout the country, but especially in the South Western U.S. that actually employ an astonishingly large number military and civilian workers yet still are literarily off the map. He subsequently tackles such arcane topics as black operations, black funding, and a host of other unacknowledged, often denied, U.S. activities including questionable and even illegal programs and operations. Perhaps the most discouraging information he provides is how easily it is for officials of the black world to hoodwink congress and the media, both nominal guards against government excesses. Certainly the most astonishing thing he reveals is that the black world in total may employ as many as 4 million military and civilians who carry secret or higher clearances. The fact that this many people can be involved and yet so many black activities remain completely off the gird is pretty scary in itself.
This reviewer has tremendous respect for the academic discipline of geography. It combines some of the best features of social and physical science and perhaps is the most effective system for understanding the phenomenon of Globalization. Some 60 years ago one branch of geography that was called "cultural geography" sought to describe the relationship between societies and the environment in which they lived. The term may no longer be used, but Paglen is a cultural geographer in the best sense of the term.
Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon's Secret World Overview

Want to learn more information about Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon's Secret World?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

International Intelligence Cooperation and Accountability (Studies in Intelligence) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy International Intelligence Cooperation and Accountability (Studies in Intelligence)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on International Intelligence Cooperation and Accountability (Studies in Intelligence). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

International Intelligence Cooperation and Accountability (Studies in Intelligence) ReviewThere are some good contributions in this book, and it is certainly recommended for institutional purchase, but the price is utterly outrageous and completely unacceptable for the individual professional, scholar, or practitioner interest in learning from these authors. The book should be offered immediately at no more than $35.00.
The book is focused on governments. Worse, it is focused on governments exchanging secret or sensitive information with one another. While there is one extraordinary chapter on intelligence in international operations, the book as a whole is government centric a decade (or two) after the rest of us began routing around government. The new meme is M4IS2: Multinational, Multiagency, Multidisciplinary, Multidomain Information-Sharing and Sense-Making, and the eight tribes that do M4IS2 (when properly led, which is almost never) are academic, civil society, commerce, government, law enforcement, media, military, and non-government/non-profit.
The general concept of the book, that a frame of reference for accountability is needed, is a good one, but overlooks the obvious fact that 80-90% of information sharing must be multinational, multiagency, and not secret--unclassified open sources and methods are the vast majority of what needs to be shared. In that context, I would suggest that all governments fail the most basic accountability test: they persist in spending taxpayer money on secret intelligence that provides, "at best" 4-10% of what the full range of government needs for decision-support are. It's time we start holding secret intelligence accountable for being largely worthless in the overall scheme of human affairs, and in relation to the ten high-level threats identified and prioritized by the United Nations High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges, and Change.
See Also:
Peacekeeping Intelligence: Emerging Concepts for the Future
A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility, Report of the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change
Most but not all of my review on intelligence books (over 300) can be found by searching for:
Worth a Look: Book Reviews on Intelligence (Most)
All my reviews at Phi Beta Iota the Public Intelligence Blog connect back to the Amazon page for each book.International Intelligence Cooperation and Accountability (Studies in Intelligence) Overview

Want to learn more information about International Intelligence Cooperation and Accountability (Studies in Intelligence)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq ReviewI was disappointed to read Michael Rubin's review of Brendan O'Leary et al., The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq, where Rubin wrote that my article "Turkey's New Neighbor, Kurdistan" "undercuts the collection's quality" because it simply "rehashes history but does not address mutual security, trade, and Tigris River water allocation." Rubin must have been reading my article with his eyes wide shut because all one has to do is read my pp. 227-29 where, despite what Rubin wrote, I do indeed analyze especially, issues of mutual security as well as trade. My basic argument is that "Turkey needs to realize that as the more powerful partner it could become the natural leader and protector of either a national Kurdistan in a federal Iraq or an independent Kurdistan which would serve as a buffer between Turkey and possible Islamist-driven instability to the south" (p. 229). I also argue that Iraqi Kurdistan "must continue to assure Turkey it will not foment armed rebellion among the Kurds in Turkey, either directly or indirectly" (p. 228). Furthermore, I analyze how "Kurdistan's treatment by Turkey will be inspected by EU parliamentarians determined to ensure that Turkey is worthy of membership [and mention how] Kurdistan in Iraq and Turkey have joint interests in commercial cross-border cooperation" (p. 228). I encourage others to read the rest of my article to judge the accuracy of Rubin's characterization of it as simply an article that "rehashes history." I think others too will be disappointed how Rubin has treated my article in such an inaccurate and cavalier manner.
Michael M. GunterThe Future of Kurdistan in Iraq Overview

Want to learn more information about The Future of Kurdistan in Iraq?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

The Quiet Threat: Fighting Industrial Espionage in America Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy The Quiet Threat: Fighting Industrial Espionage in America? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on The Quiet Threat: Fighting Industrial Espionage in America. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

The Quiet Threat: Fighting Industrial Espionage in America ReviewI came across this book as I did my advanced degree in competitive intelligence at American Military University.
With globalization, outsourcing, consolidation, convergence and the constantly advancing information age in which we find ourselves today, it has become more challenging for businesses and organizations to reconcile the necessity to be inclusive and open with the need for security. Chances for unwitting and seemingly unavoidable loss of competitive secrets have multiplied, even as information thieves have become more stealthy; always seeming to be a step ahead of contemporary security measures. Mendell shows how twenty-first century business dynamics have made it such that partners and associates are easily turning to aggressors before some companies realize it. This is not fear-mongering. The threats are real , as this book shows. The threat to the integrity of the competitive information of US firms is quite serious. Yet, such information seem to be at the mercy of highly sophisticated and motivated national and international information hoodlums. But no more can these thugs operate with ease. In The Quite Threat, Mr. Mendell has crafted a handbook for every company or organization in the United States that has any competitive secret at all to protect. Indeed, as the book states, "friendly competitors don't exist - whether domestic of foreign." Yet, this book goes beyond enabling security professionals to sharpen their skills as spy catchers, but to make them super experts in counterintelligence and as collectors of intelligence themselves. In other words this book emphasizes proactive intelligence strategies more than reactive techniques. Indeed, it creates agents on the offensive. My fear is that in spite of this book, many firms will still underestimate the threat that they face until something happens, when the damage is already done. I decry the fact that despite the sordid espionage cases that abound, as this book shows, many executives still think that it can't happen to them until it's too late.
There are many other books that address corporate espionage but, I seriously recommend this book because it is very comprehensive and yet precise - with only about 184 information-packed pages (Nwankama Nwankama).
The Quiet Threat: Fighting Industrial Espionage in America Overview

Want to learn more information about The Quiet Threat: Fighting Industrial Espionage in America?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Information Operations: Warfare and the Hard Reality of Soft Power (Issues in Twenty-First Century Warfare) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Information Operations: Warfare and the Hard Reality of Soft Power (Issues in Twenty-First Century Warfare)? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Information Operations: Warfare and the Hard Reality of Soft Power (Issues in Twenty-First Century Warfare). Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Information Operations: Warfare and the Hard Reality of Soft Power (Issues in Twenty-First Century Warfare) ReviewThis is a first rate effort, but it is incomplete and overly U.S. centric. A new expanded edition is needed soonest.
For myself the best chapters were on "Intelligence Support: Foundations for Conducting IO" and "Information Projection: Shaping the Global Village." Other chapters on the language of IO, information protection, related and supporting activities, and implementing IO were good.
The most important point in this book from my point of view was its observation that modern war is only 15-25% military action, and the rest must be a unified national campaign that leverages all sources of national power **for which IO is the glue that provides the inter-agency coherence.** These authors understand and teach, very ably, how IO is at the heart of managing complex coalition contingency operations.
The book over-all shows a real appreciation for the role that must be played by non-military agencies, coalitions, and private sector organizations including religions, academics, and business as well as media personalities.
The discussion of the "information battlespace" is useful, as are the illustrations. There is an excellent "strategy to task" section helpful to anyone actually implementing IO.
The authors are to be commended for emphasizing that knowing the enemy is not enough--you must know yourself and be firmly grounded in reality rather than ideological fantasy, if the IO message is to have traction. The authors also address, diplomatically but directly, the limitations of the traditional insular military planning process (especially the secretive intelligence process), and clearly articulate the need for open processes that can embrace and leverage varied communities of interest, non-US as well as US.
The authors also raise an extremely important issue to which they cannot provide an answer, but which must be resolved sooner than later: the urgency of being able to educate Americans about global realities and threats, without being accused of propagandizing Americans. [This is one reason why Congressman Simmons, on both the House Armed Services Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee, is so important--he understands that the state intelligence centers and networks we are advocating can serve two functions: as bottom up dot collectors, and as disseminators of real world open source intelligence to the state and local publics.]
One minor nit: the authors assume that because most of the 9-11 hijackers had Saudi passports they were Saudi. My understanding is that they were a mixed bag with passports of convenience from Saudi Arabia for those who were not Saudi.
The book concludes with cursory attention to Russian, Chinese, and Australian IO doctrine and practices, and does not address Iranian, Indian, Pakistani, and Venezuelan-Cuban IO, which are of considerable importance.
The book, very understandably, does not spend a lot of time on Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) or the need to properly monitor all information in all languages all the time, but the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence has clearly articulated the need to do "universal coverage, 24/7, in all languages, at the neighbood level of granularity" (this is an abdiged paraphrase) and DoD appears well on its way to doing just that. I recommend that this book be read in conjunction with Max Manwaring and John Fishel's Uncomfortable Wars Revisited (International and Security Affairs Series) with Max Manwaring's edited work on The Search for Security: A U.S. Grand Strategy for the Twenty-First Century which emphasizes key moral messages; and my own IO book, Information Operations: All Information, All Languages, All the Time which focuses exclusively on information peacekeeping or the foreign language content side of IO, and has a comprehensive annotated bibliography. Specialty books that I recommend to IO practitioners include Larry Beinhart's Fog Facts: Searching for Truth in the Land of Spin Robert Cialdini's Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Collins Business Essentials); Robert Parry's Lost History: Contras, Cocaine, the Press & 'Project Truth' and John Hasling's The Audience, The Message, The Speaker with Public Speaking PowerWeb.Information Operations: Warfare and the Hard Reality of Soft Power (Issues in Twenty-First Century Warfare) Overview

Want to learn more information about Information Operations: Warfare and the Hard Reality of Soft Power (Issues in Twenty-First Century Warfare)?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence, 3d Edition Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Are you looking to buy Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence, 3d Edition? Here is the right place to find the great deals. we can offer discounts of up to 90% on Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence, 3d Edition. Check out the link below:

>> Click Here to See Compare Prices and Get the Best Offers

Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence, 3d Edition ReviewSilent Warfare is probably the best introductory text available covering the subject of intelligence. It reads like a text book, but that's because it basically IS a textbook. It's a serious academic text rather than a cloak and dagger story. This is one to read for understanding rather than necessarily for pleasure.
The book is fairly short but covers all the bases in terms of types of intelligence, types of intelligence organisation, the various debates surrounding the subject etc. It is, perhaps inevitably, somewhat America-centric. British intelligence and the KGB stick their heads into the picture from time to time, largely to provide illustrative comparisons rather than as studies in themselves.
When making a point, the authors generally try to provide historical examples and comparison, which is helpful, especially for the beginner. It also helps to enliven the text a bit.
The book is extremely well sourced and many of the end notes contain further explanations and are extremely interesting in themselves.
The only thing I feel the book lacks, and this is a fairly minor quibble, is a bibliography. This would have been very useful, especially in what is intended to be an introductory textbook. A bibliographical essay with suggestions for recommended further reading would have been even better.
Quibbles aside, this is a very good primer and to the best of my knowledge there are no books on the market that can compete with it in terms of providing a solid academic introduction to the subject. People with a serious interest in intelligence would be well advised to follow this book up by taking a look at the works of Michael Herman, which provide more in-depth coverage (especially "Intelligence Power in Peace and War") and a non-American (in this case British) angle - though they may be a little heavy for the absolute novice.
To sum up, if you have never read an academic book on intelligence before this is the one to go for.Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence, 3d Edition Overview

Want to learn more information about Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence, 3d Edition?

>> Click Here to See All Customer Reviews & Ratings Now

CATEGORY