Best products from r/Intelligence

Markus Wolf, Man without a face About east german intelligence

Ion Pacepa, Red Horizons: The Extraordinary Memoirs of a Communist Spy Chief About rumanian intelligence in the communist era.

He also wrote the Kremlin's legacy, but that is more speculative and about the political changes, still a good book.

Pacepa has a trilogy: The Black Book of the Securitate from 1999, and recently (3 weeks ago) published: Disinformation: Former Spy Chief Reveals Secret Strategy for Undermining Freedom, Attacking Religion, and Promoting Terrorism, but I haven't read these, if anyone has an opinion on them, please share them here or in pm please!


U/animalfarmpig already mentioned Psychology of Intelligence Analysis, but you just can't stress enough the importance of that book, it discusses the very basics of analysis so well, that this should be the first anyone reads and if I may: this book should be at the very top of the suggested reading list.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Ride From Two Directions August 6, 2012
By Randall Masteller
http://www.amazon.com/Stinger-Nick-Daley-Series-ebook/dp/B008SF6VF2/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1344883445&sr=1-4

The first book in the Nick Daley series is a captivating and thrilling excursion and it takes you to its conclusion via two separate routes. Taking place in the mid 80's when the Soviet Union was fighting in Afghanistan, that plot revolves around the pursuit of a notorious mujahadeen leader. Daley wants to find him to provide weapons on behalf of the CIA. A beautiful American female reporter who was once that leader's lover and friend at Berkeley seeks an interview with him. The book follows both parties as their paths meet, diverge, and meet again. One thing that keeps you glued to the pages is that both threads are extremely interesting. Daley must play politics with the Pakistanis and his own bosses while playing cloak and dagger with everyone else. The reporter must deal with the fact that she is an independently minded woman in a land that does not appreciate such a thing and usually refuses to acknowledge it. When you throw in a KGB agent ordered to eliminate the warrior and all who support him, you have that great ride I mentioned.

When I put the book down at the end, I had to say "Wow". Then I went in search of the next book.

Well done, Ms. Chambers. You have a fan in me and a promise to buy all the Nick Daley's you decide to write.

This is the book I was talking about before. America the Vulnerable: Inside the New Threat Matrix of Digital Espionage, Crime, and Warfare.

You should check it out, it's very informative yet scary at the same time. It was written by Joel Brenner who wasn't the DCI for the CIA (I was mistaken in my original comment), he was the "inspector general of the National Security Agency, then as the head of counterintelligence for the director of national intelligence."

>then it will only be a matter of time before stuxnet, duqu, flame et al are reverse-engineered and deployed against American interests.

It's been a while since I listened to the audio book of it but I believe this was a major concern of his.

There's so much we don't know. Something gleamed from the book was that the US was the first to major player in hacking other countries. Today China ranks number one in hacking attempts on other countries but in the 80's and 90's America was number one. Cyber weapons like Stuxnet might as well be as powerful as nuclear arms. China has definitely penetrated our power grid and other crucial systems. However, if China ever did launch an attack the US Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) would retaliate.

The mission statement of CyberCom:

>According to the US Department of Defense, USCYBERCOM "plans, coordinates, integrates, synchronizes and conducts activities to: direct the operations and defense of specified Department of Defense information networks and; prepare to, and when directed, conduct full spectrum military cyberspace operations in order to enable actions in all domains, ensure US/Allied freedom of action in cyberspace and deny the same to our adversaries."

We are probably in their systems too, just like they are in ours. It's the nuclear arms race all over again. All the major powers have nukes...who's going to be the first to use them? Who's going to pull the trigger first?

It's probably better that most people don't know that we are living a few mouse clicks and keystrokes away from being sent back to the stone-age.

OPSEC goes hand in hand with trade-craft. There are a lot of books on Amazon claiming to be OPSEC field guides. While they're out-dated, if you can generalize their goals, it's useful.
http://www.amazon.com/Operations-Security-OPSEC-ebook/dp/B001IDYH9S

There are also corporate espionage / competitive intelligence books that go through this topic. Some get overly James Bond-y especially since today's tradecraft is less "chalk on the mailbox" and more secure electronic communications.
http://www.amazon.com/s/field-keywords=tradecraft

Arthashastra by Kautilya.

This is a really old book, and a lot of the technical terms, such as the denotation of currency, demand some meandering of imagination, but it does make an interesting read. What I found most fascinating about this (some 2000 year old text) is how sophisticated their tactics of surveillance, secrecy and deception were - and the parallels that exist in society today. It helps unearth the principles and techniques from the gizmos.

EDIT: Formatting.

Oh, fuck off. How great could they be if they got caught? James Angleton said it best:

>"You will never read about successful spies in the newspaper or watch them being interviewed on TV talk shows. Only failure makes a spy famous. Success guarantees that the public will never know the spy's name--and neither will the victims who suffered the results of his efforts."

You really have to wonder what's up with with an agency that glamorizes the idea of betraying people's trust for a living. Getting manipulated into doing somebody else's dirty work while being run by a handler is one of the shittier jobs I can imagine--but all the "strategic messaging" being pushed through movies, TV and video games makes being an expendable patsy seem downright awesome.

And when you have serious, well-respected senior defense analysts being script advisers for crappy "comedies" like The Interview? JFC! It's really the icing on the cake. Wisner's Might Wulitzer delivers.

All these fucking Cheese Wizards are really outdoing themselves lately, I tell you what. lol
^^^.

Recommended reading: The Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion.

>Americans create 57% of the world's advertising while representing only 6% of its population; half of our waking hours are spent immersed in the mass media. Persuasion has always been integral to the democratic process, but increasingly, thoughtful discussion is being replaced with simplistic soundbites and manipulative messages.Drawing on the history of propaganda as well as on contemporary research in social psychology, Age of Propaganda shows how the tactics used by political campaigners, sales agents, advertisers, televangelists, demagogues, and others often take advantage of our emotions by appealing to our deepest fears and most irrational hopes, creating a distorted vision of the world we live in.


Bonus track: George Formby on the MidiTizer: When I'm Cleanin' Windows. lol

Your academic experience demonstrates qualities that would be desirable across the community. The FBI after 9/11 has a mission that spans foreign and domestic intelligence domains.

Read Mark Lowenthal's book, Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy, to gain a foundational knowledge of the community. Do not be dissuaded by the price. Lowenthal releases a new edition every couple years, and its use as a textbook demands a high price. You can aquire a previous edition at a cheaper price and be equally served. https://www.amazon.com/Intelligence-Secrets-Mark-M-Lowenthal/dp/1506342566/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1541909928&sr=1-1&keywords=lowenthal+intelligence+from+secrets+to+policy

Structured Analytic Techniques for Intelligence Analysis is really good, I've got it sitting on my desk right now.

The Thinker's Toolkit: 14 Powerful Techniques for Problem Solving is good for more general analysis.

Mathematical Methods in Counterterrorism is pretty advanced, but gives some really interesting depth.

Depends on what kind of intel you are interested in... Government DoD or policing or ? Any INTs interest you more than others? Bottom line is just start googling and reading whatever you can get your hands on--follow the rabbitholes. That said, here are a couple solid reads for ya:

Psychology of Intelligence Analysis - Heuer


Geographic Profiling

On the MI side, this isn't a bad list.

The Craft of Intelligence: America's Legendary Spy Master on the Fundamentals of Intelligence Gathering for a Free World by Allen W. Dulles

He didn't officially work the government? Do you have a source for that? Because he was in the US Army, then an employee of the CIA, before becoming a civilian contractor. Sources are as follows:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7


Additionally, even Russia has admitted that he was an agent under their control. Although his original intention may have been noble, it is an utter impossibility that he would be granted a visa, despite the high-profile manhunt, unless he agreed to concessions and, at the very least, a thorough debrief with FSB officials.

Source:
1

Here's the thing about the world of counterintelligence: it has the effect of making people seem delusional after a while.

I agree that USG often puts spins on stories to assist the media in creating their biased interpretation of a "fact-based narrative" (HR 6393, Title V, Sec. 501 (1) (C) lead to legalizing counterintelligence propaganda against certain countries to be used on American Citizens, for instance (signed in 2016, became effective 2017)), however, I think you should realize that sometimes these spins are one step ahead of your thoughts--such as to make you seem a fool of yourself (again, please refer to this book).

Often times, facts are mixed with lies. For you to say that the government has 'created extremism' and 'did 9/11', for instance, is a conspiracy theory--a word propagated by the USG to refer to someone who is often paranoid or delusional. That's what you seem to be when you say these things, and that's why no one will take it seriously. 10% of whistleblowers are said to be diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia (I forgot where I got that statistic, I'll go find it if you ask me to though).

Alex Jones, for instance, is very often mentioned in conversations of intelligence within the intelligence community (also depending on the job and the operation, but namely psychological and/or informational ones as far as I'm aware).

My point is, Orwellian governments are very real and current, but just be careful about what how you go about assuming things. I really recommend you read this book.

Chiang could not keep the landlords from exploiting the peasants, and he would not fight aggressively against the Japanese. Check out Barbara Tuchman's Stillwell and the American Experience in China. She is a superb historian who was born in China, the daughter of missionaries. Her analysis of Chiang is brilliant, and you can see why the American military got fed up with Chiang. https://www.amazon.com/Stilwell-American-Experience-China-1911-1945-ebook/dp/B00KUQITNE/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3K7VUAY5NXXPD&keywords=stillwell+and+the+american+experience+in+china&qid=1557703019&s=gateway&sprefix=stillwe%2Caps%2C317&sr=8-3

A Century of Spies, by Jeffrey Richelson might be worth checking out. In general, Richelson has done a fair amount of "history of American Intelligence" types of books.

http://www.amazon.com/Century-Spies-Intelligence-Twentieth/dp/019511390X/ref=la_B000APNPG6_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406137379&sr=1-8

thanks, that exactly the book i want. i also found some Disinformation by ex-Romanian spy chief Paceca:
https://www.amazon.com/Disinformation-Undermining-Attacking-Promoting-Terrorism/dp/1936488604