The Secret State: A History of Intelligence and Espionage

Hughes-Wilson (A Brief History of the Cold War), a leading British authority on intelligence matters, defines and describes the “intelligence cycle”—direction, collection, collation, interpretation, and dissemination—while delivering a thematically organized account of intelligence in contemporary contexts. He begins with human intelligence (HUMINT). Spies, Hughes-Wilson argues, are produced by money, ideology, coercion, ego, and grievance. Their effectiveness is correspondingly random. Signal intelligence (SIGINT), which includes electronic and photographic means, is specific. “Nothing is secret from the eye in the sky”—which enhances the difficulties of collation, interpretation, and dissemination, as illustrated by the Tet Offensive, the Yom Kippur War, Operation Barbarossa, and the attack on Pearl Harbor. Providing timely, accurate information to those who need to know involves security, “the handmaiden of intelligence.” When personnel security is lax or breached, “espionage, sabotage, and subversion” are predictable consequences. In the electronic dimension, WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden exemplify the “fine line between the crime of spying” and the public service of monitoring the modern surveillance state, which largely arose as a response to terrorism. To underscore his points, he includes examples of intelligence fiascos. In an emerging era of cyberwar, Hughes-Wilson concludes that “for good or ill, intelligence will remain at the heart of the world’s affairs.” (Feb.)