Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy - Softcover

Lowenthal, Mark M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1933116021 ISBN 13: 9781933116020

Publisher: CQ Press, 2006

Synopsis

Whether from satellites or spies, weapon caches or phone records, intelligence is valuable to governments for the information and power it affords policy makers. With the constant need for background, context, and warning as well as an assessment of risks, benefits, and likely outcomes, the intelligence community plays a pivotal role in policy formation. As an intelligence veteran of 30 years, having worked both inside and outside of government, Mark M. Lowenthal details how the intelligence community's history, structure, processes, and functions affect policy decisions in consequential ways. He expertly shows how the intelligence process serves a continually changing agenda given post-9/11 needs and concerns. Moreover, he analyzes how the war on terrorism impacts collection, analysis, and counterintelligence, as well as ethical and moral standards.

Given all of the hearings, briefings, and reports focused on the reorganization and reform of the intelligence community, the third edition of Intelligence represents a major revision. Lowenthal has updated each and every chapter with new material and analysis, including:

• the strategies, influence, and goals of the congressional Joint Inquiry and 9/11 Commission and their recommendations for restructuring the intelligence community
• assessment of the new office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the political pressures that led to its creation
• the bureaucratic maneuvering and power struggles that led to passage of the National Intelligence Security Reform Act of 2004
• the issues surrounding the claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and the subsequent "WMD commissions" appointed by the U.S., Britain, and Australia to investigate this massive intelligence failure
• more integration and comparative analysis of the similarities and differences of intelligence services in Britain, China, France, Israel, and Russia
• a new list of acronyms for handy reference

About this title

Review

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)

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)

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)

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)

About the Author

Mark M. Lowenthal has over forty-one years of experience in U.S. intelligence. He has served as the Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Analysis and Production, Vice Chairman for Evaluation on the National Intelligence Council, staff director of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, office director and as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), and Senior Specialist in U.S. Foreign Policy at the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. He is now the President and CEO of the Intelligence & Security Academy, an education and consulting firm. Dr. Lowenthal received his BA from Brooklyn College and his PhD in history from Harvard University. He serves as an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins University; the National Intelligence University; and Sciences Po (Paris). He was an adjunct at Columbia University from 1993–2007.

Edition details

• Publisher: CQ Press
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1933116021
• ISBN 13: 9781933116020
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 352