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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 327.1273
EAN num: 9781933116020
ISBN number: 1933116021
Label: CQ Press
Manufacturer: CQ Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 334
Printing Date: October 01, 2005
Publishing house: CQ Press
Sale Popularity Level: 66589
Studio: CQ Press
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Product Description:
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
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Rated by buyers 
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Mark Lowenthal, a long-time veteran of the Intelligence Community, is the author of "Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy," a superb introduction into the American Intelligence Community and its transition from the long Cold War against the Soviets to the current battles against rogues states and transnational terrorists.
Lowenthal writes at the survey level for an audience with a general understanding of American history and governmental processes but limited knowledge of how intelligence fits into either. In sequencial steps, Lowenthal explains what intelligence is supposed to be, how U.S. intelligence developed, and how the Intelligence Community operates. He reviews the intelligence process, the major collection disciplines, and the moving parts of subcomponents such as analysis, counterintelligence, and covert action. The last chapters explore the difficult issues of interaction with policy-makers, oversight, and transformation.
Lowenthal's narrative is remarkable on at least two counts. He appreciates just how challenging it is to produce timely, accurate, and useful intelligence, and he is exceptionally even-handed in describing all the things that can go right or wrong in the process. While no one topic is covered in significant depth, his coverage of the whole is very solid and perfectly suited to entry-level classes on intelligence and its interaction with policy. A nice selection of anecdotes and examples help provide depth to what might otherwise turn into dry narrative.
"Intelligence: From Secrets To Policy" is very highly recommended as an introduction to the intelligence business for use at the collegiate level and for the general reader.
Rated by buyers -
This is a very good primer on US intelligence. It is the 3rd edition.
We used this book as a core reading material for US policy and intelligence course
Rated by buyers -
I was assigned this book for a class I teach and have learned a great deal about the intelligence community through reading/prepping for class. While much of the IC has changed since publication, the concept is detailed enough for even my most novice students to grasp and for more practiced professionals to get a firm grasp on how the different aspects of the IC operate independently and together with policy makers.
Rated by buyers 
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This is as good a primer on the US intelligence community as you're likely to come across in open literature. Mr. Lowenthal is well qualified to provide insights into the IC, though I'd have to caveat it by saying his CIA-centric view often shows up in the text. As someone who sees things from the DoD perspective, I'll agreeably disagree on some of his observations regarding roles and missions. The 3rd edition is good with most of the recent changes in the IC, though some even more recent changes have not been reflected in the book.
Rated by buyers -
Dr. Lowenthal has done an excellent job of introducing the reader to the field of intelligence in general (what it is, what it isn't), and to the United States' Intelligence Community in particular. He devotes a few chapters to the broad topic of intelligence and its history, the current makeup and structure of the Intelligence Community (IC) in the United States, and future iterations and problems for the IC (particularly in the United States), then transitions into an in-depth discusion of the various aspects of intelligence, such as collection disciplines, analysis, and policy implications. I'd strongly recommend this to anyone who has an interest in the field of intelligence, from a novice to a seasoned analyst.
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