Quote Originally Posted by Jedburgh View Post
Again, I refer you to Knowing One's Enemies, the book I recommended in my first post in this thread.

The studies clearly demonstrate that the personalities and individual biases of the national level leaders - the consumers of strategic intelligence - often have a greater influence upon strategic decision making than does the quality of intelligence or the rapidity of its acquisition.

In theory, I agree with your premise - that rapid acquisition, analysis and dissemination of accurate intelligence to national decision makers increases the likelihood of success. However, I have to state that the historical record puts the emphasis on the word "likelihood". Throughout history, national leaders have often dismissed, cherry-picked or simply refused to consider solid intelligence in favor of other information that played to their personal biases, or simply contrary recommendations from close confidantes whom they trusted more than their intelligence apparatus.

......Another one that previously slipped my mind is For the President's Eyes Only, which is focused on the President as a consumer of intelligence, and looks at the office in that perspective from George Washington to Bush I. However, the first book is really the one that speaks directly to your topic.
The problem is that I'm using realism has a theoretical framework for my thesis, and that model does not allow for analysis of the internal workings of the state, much less the personalities of particular leaders. I think that in order to keep my thesis tight and controlled, I'll have to stick with the state-level analysis and forgo opening up that can of worms. As far as I can see, I'll have to assume that leader personalities are embedded in the broad concept of the state. How do you think I should approach that dilemma?