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I bought this text a few months ago, having read so many positive reviews on Amazon. Similarly, it does give sound definitions of basic terms and the scope of intelligence. The section about satellites was particularly amusing.
As others have noted, one thing the text does well, is it gives a solid background on what intelligence is and what it is not.I understand that older books are out of date. Similarly, the book predicted how the cost of satellite imaging might go down and that it may become more common for smaller states to use it. While I am not regretting having bought it, I wasn't all too impressed by it.
It provided a lenghty definition of the term 'resolution', which was obviously aimed at a generation that has never used a home computer. I have read and appreciated many of them during my studies. However, for a book whose latest edition came out in 2002 to be this out of touch is laughable.
In this day and age of Google Earth, I literally burst out laughing when reading this section.There are other sections like this, but these two examples were particularly amusing and memorable.To sum up, the less timely sections of this text on humint are well worth your time. Just be warned that you'll have to really bite your lip when reading some of the chapters on 'technology'.
Their concluding chapter lays out a theory of intelligence that may be a useful organizing construct for the student. One of the challenges of teaching Intelligence is getting the student, and the general reader, past the stereotypes, mythology and conspiracy theories to the basics of the world of Intelligence. "Silent Warfare" has however avoided the difficulties of chasing current events by focusing on the theoretical basis of the Intelligence business. The authors' peneultimate chapter describes a uniquely American view of intelligence and the moral issues associated with it. If in places it oversimplifies a complex business, it does so to keep the topic within the view of the reader. The authors start with a definition of intelligence, then describe its basic process--the collection of information and the production, through analysis, of intelligence.
The authors use simple language and lots of historical examples to illustrate their points. "Silent Warfare", by Abram Shulsky and Gary Schmitt, does that in under two hundred clearly written pages, plus extensive endnotes.This third edition was published in 2002, as the US conflict with militant Islamic terrorism was turning into a sustained campaign. The great strength of this book is its commonsense, non-sensational approach. They gamely tackle the controversial subjects of covert action and counterintelligence. They include a thoughtful discussion of the proper management of the intelligence community. The emphasis placed on the value, when properly utilized, of open source information and information technology is noteworthy.
"Silent Warfare" is very highly recommended as an introductory textbook to the study of Intelligence.
Authors Abram Shulsky and Gary Schmitt have written a excellent book on the world of intelligence. There may be other books on this subject, but for me it was a good place to start to learn about the world of intelligence. Areas covered---covert action,counterintelligence,double agents,propaganda and much more. You'll learn what official and nonofficial cover means,tradecraft,counterespionage and different ways our government collects intelligence. Easy to read and plenty of examples. Well done.
Security Studies is a growing field due to increased unrest in the world, the rise of Radical Islam and the potential for conflict with globalization. Shulsky intended this book as an academic tome for an introduction into this arcane world.
The three sources are human intelligence (HUMINT), technical means and Open Source (OS). This book is an excellent introduction to Intelligence gathering.
The next question is what to do with all this information and form it into `Product'. I remembered reading where the Soviet Union shipped 5 tons (that's right - tons).
of openly available documentation, magazines, newspapers, trade magazines, journals, etc., to the KGB for analysis. He does a good job, analyzing the process and using historical cases to enlighten the reader.
Michael Mandaville, Author - "Stealing Thunder" and the coming "Citizen Soldier Handbook: 101 Ways for Every American to Fight Terrorism"
After finishing this book I immediately lent it to a good friend of mine that was looking at getting into the intelligence community and he said the knowledge he gained from the book proved priceless when it came down to picking a career in an industry that can be very diverse and confusing. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in how the intelligence process comes together, and I would insist on someone reading it if they were thinking about getting into it.
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