Link to Australian Inspector General of Intelligence website and link to reports section. Perhaps handy for mining data on Australian Intel from a govt perspective?
http://www.igis.gov.au/annual.cfm
Australian Intel Reports
Link to Australian Inspector General of Intelligence website and link to reports section. Perhaps handy for mining data on Australian Intel from a govt perspective?
http://www.igis.gov.au/annual.cfm
The French, advised by good intelligence...
of this most dreadful preparation,
shake in their fear...and with pale policy seek
to divert the English purposes
Hevry V Act 2
An intelligence oriented reading list, specificly aimed at folks entering the U.S. DoD intelligence world;
-The Craft of Intelligence by Allen W. Dulles (THE primer on intelligence). This is an excellent discussion of intelligence from requirements through collection to analysis. Dulles presents it so well that, despite the clear Cold War spin, the relevance is timeless.
-The U.S. Intelligence Community by Jeffrey T. Richelson (A comprehensive work on U.S. Intel; be sure to get the 5th edition).
-My Adventures as a Spy by Robert Baden-Powell (fun and motivational, but lots of valid nuggets, and can be found as a .pdf online).
-Aids to scouting for N.-C.Os. & men by Robert Baden-Powell (avail from www.military-info.com, there is a .pdf floating around though) (a valuable historical perspective; how it worked before radio and PowerPoint).
-Handbook of Intelligence and Guerilla Warfare by Alexander Orlov (how the other side, the USSR, used to do it, kind of like studying course notes from the O.S.S. or early CIA).
-I can't think of a single, good work on analysis for less than $100, but should I see one, I'll forward it. The Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_analysis) in intel analysis isn't bad, and has links to better materials.
-The Compleat Strategyst: Being a Primer on the Theory of Games of Strategy; by J. D. Williams. This is the best book on game theory for liberal arts majors (including history majors). What this provides is a language from discussing conflict and politics that is low on emotion, allowing more level-headed discussion. (If you have the maths, "Games and Decisions: Introduction and Critical Survey" by R. Duncan Luce, Howard Raiffa is better, but sigma notation makes my head spin.)
-Statistics for Dummies. Numbers do, in fact, lie. But with a little preparation, they don't have to lie to you.
How about Robert Clark's Intelligence Analysis: A Target-Centric Approach, a solid read and available for about half that price.Originally Posted by Van
A much more basic level review of fundamentals is Lisa Krizan's Intelligence Essentials for Everyone - and its half that again.
Cynthia Grabo's Anticipating Surprise: Analysis for Strategic Warning (discussed here before) has a narrower focus, but is the classic in the field of warning intelligence.
Then there's the other classic read on analysis and policy that I've mentioned here a couple of times, Knowing One's Enemies: Intelligence Assessment Before the Two World Wars
I could go on. But those are just a few examples of why I do not see where the $100 entry margin applies for the purchase of good books on intelligence analysis.....
Target audience is everything
As I said,. Not saying your recommendations are not good, but not the first books I'd hand to a junior enlisted, an NCO coming from a non-intel MOS, or a 2nd Lieutenant.folks entering the U.S. DoD intelligence world
Great recommendations for the next stage of education though!
You might also consider
Surprise Attack: The Victim's Perspective , by Ephraim Kam.
As much about the psychology of analysis as surprise.
On that note;
"Psychology of Intelligence Analysis" by Richard Heuer, available as a .pdf from the CIA web site. Along with anything by Sherman Kent, available from the same web site.
Clark's book is definitely what I'd hand to a cherry analyst for a read. As is Heuer's. Krizan's is at a more basic level and is geared for non-intel folks.
Expanding on target audience, there is also a narrow shelf of required reading depending upon whether the new guy is assigned to a tactical or strategic unit, and even narrower depending upon unit mission. Much also depends on the level of greenness of the new guy - not all newly minted MI guys (enlisted or officer) are equally ignorant - and for retread NCOs, what field they are coming from can drive selection of professional reading.
Given all that, I agree that the latter two books mentioned first post are better read once one has some experience to lend necessary context to the material. But I could also throw out a qualifier; I've had new guys who were civilian history buffs prior to putting on the uniform who would eat up either one of those books and truly enjoy the insights into events in the context of their newly chosen field.
In any case, I wasn't throwing out a new list - nor am I now - simply stating with examples that there is plenty of good professional reading in the intelligence field available for less than $100 a copy.
Marine Corps and Navy Reading Lists
You can find the Marine Corps Director of Intelligence (DIRINT) Recommended Reading List for 2006 here. I'll be coordinating the 2009 revision over the next several months.
The Marine Corps Professional Military Education Reading List is here. A number of us are writing discussion guides for the works on this list--some are available under "Key Documents" in a zip format.
The U.S. Navy Reading List is here.
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