The Rise and Fall of Intelligence: An International Security History - Softcover

Warner, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1626160465 ISBN 13: 9781626160460

Publisher: Georgetown University Press, 2015

This sweeping history of the development of professional, institutionalized intelligence examines the implications of the fall of the state monopoly on espionage today and beyond. During the Cold War, only the alliances clustered around the two superpowers maintained viable intelligence endeavors, whereas a century ago, many states could aspire to be competitive at these dark arts. Today, larger states have lost their monopoly on intelligence skills and capabilities as technological and sociopolitical changes have made it possible for private organizations and even individuals to unearth secrets and influence global events. Historian Michael Warner addresses the birth of professional intelligence in Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century and the subsequent rise of US intelligence during the Cold War. He brings this history up to the present day as intelligence agencies used the struggle against terrorism and the digital revolution to improve capabilities in the 2000s. Throughout, the book examines how states and other entities use intelligence to create, exploit, and protect secret advantages against others, and emphasizes how technological advancement and ideological competition drive intelligence, improving its techniques and creating a need for intelligence and counterintelligence activities to serve and protect policymakers and commanders. The world changes intelligence and intelligence changes the world. This sweeping history of espionage and intelligence will be a welcomed by practitioners, students, and scholars of security studies, international affairs, and intelligence, as well as general audiences interested in the evolution of espionage and technology.

Review:

Explores a series of international, domestic, or technological crises and how governments and intelligence professionals scrambled to meet these challenges, only to see these innovations shape future events in sometimes unanticipated and unwanted ways.

--James J. Wirtz "Political Science Quarterly "

A spectacular contribution to the literature. In it he covers an enormous amount of complex and nuanced material in an extremely easy style, yet his substantial chapter notes and bibliography fully support the academically inclined reader. Were I ever again to teach the history of intelligence, Rise and Fall would unquestionably be my primary text.

--Captain Steven E. Maffeo, U.S. Naval Reserve (Retired) "Proceedings "

A good guide to the nature of both sides of intelligence systems

--Father James V. Schall, S.J. "Catholic Pulse "

In examining the evolution of intelligence, Warner offers a remarkly apt and insightful work that will inform and benefit any serious scholar interested in intelligence. At the same time Warner offers an eminently accessible journey through the twists and turns in technological development. . . . Warner has done a remarkable job in setting the stage for future discussions of whose truth and whose lies will shape the future of intelligence development and employment. Knowing where we have come from is the first necessary step in mapping the future. Warner's book gets us off on the right foot in that discussion.

--Intelligence and National Security

Historically accurate and thoroughly researched, yet its suspenseful narrative grabs the reader and makes the 400 pages race by. This book is indeed hard to put down, and provides interesting analyses of why the industry developed the way it did. . . . a must-buy for intelligence buffs.

--Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies

Warner masterfully addresses a subject that is at once problematically secretive and bogglingly expansive . . . [and] ensures that the work remains welcomingly accessible and informative. . . . The book shines meaningful light on a topic that craves existence in the shadows.

--H-Net Reviews

This is no less than a tour de force. It is certainly what was necessary to succeed in such an ambitious, self-appointed endeavour: to write, to quote the subtitle of the book, an 'International Security History, ' virtually encompassing the entire world from the second industrialisation to the digital revolution. . . . The qualities of the book are many and undisputable. First and foremost, the author demonstrates his undeniable knowledge of the topic. Even the most informed readers will benefit from the quasi 'insider' status of the author, from his intimate, first-hand knowledge of the American national security structure.

--European Review of International Studies

A fine assessment of intelligence processes through the years.

--Midwest Book Review

Extensively documented . . . Will challenge students while giving the interested reader important context about the role of intelligence in international relations.

--Intelligencer

Michael Warner has done the impossible. In this excellent and concise volume, he has captured the rise of professional and organized espionage by states, while also explaining its integration with the ideological and technical revolutions of the last hundred years. This is not an easy task since the secret world is a complex and labyrinthine one, yet he has done it with remarkable lucidity.

--International Affairs

About the Author:

Michael Warner is a historian for the Department of Defense and was formerly a historian for the Central Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. He has taught at American University, Johns Hopkins University, and Columbia University.

• Publisher: Georgetown University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1626160465
• ISBN 13: 9781626160460
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 426