INTELLIGENCE LITERATURE: SUGGESTED READING LIST
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0005383505
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Document Creation Date:
June 23, 2015
Document Release Date:
April 28, 2009
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April 16, 2009
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Body:
Intelligence Literature
Intelligence Literature: Suggested
Reading List
Intelligence
iterature
APPROVED FOR
RELEASED DATE:
23-Apr-2009
^ World War II & Before
^ CIA & OSS History
^ Biographies & Memoirs (CIA Careers)
^ Women in Intelligence
^ Espionage
^ Operations: Counterintelligence (CI)
^ Operations: Covert Action (CA)
^ Analysis
^ Technology
^ War on Terrorism
^ General Interest
^ Reference
This brief bibliography of intelligence literature provides a wide spectrum of views on
intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency. The readings cover history, technology,
opinion, and some of the key personalities associated with intelligence. The book lists offer the
reader personal and academic views on intelligence, its role in national security, and the forces
that have shaped it over the years.
This is not intended to be a complete list of works on intelligence, and it will be updated as
needed.
Inclusion of a work on the list does not imply endorsement by the US Government or any of its
agencies or branches.
Questions, suggestions and comments are welcomed and should be sent to: Contact Us
Note: Central Intelligence Agency publications are linked to those books on our website.
[Top of page]
Alan Harris Bath
Tracking the Axis Enemy: The Triumph of Anglo-American Naval Intelligence.
Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas, 1998.
An account of the importance naval intelligence played in WWII.
Willam B. Feis
Grant's Secret Service: The Intelligence War from Belmont to Appomattox.
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2002.
A look General Ulysses Grant's use of intelligence in the Civil War.
Thaddeus Holt
The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War.
New York: Scribner, 2004.
A study of the various deception operations the Allies conducted against the Axis
during WWII.
Douglas J. MacEachin
The Final Months of the War with Japan: Signals Intelligence, U.S. Invasion
Planning, and the A-Bomb Decision.
Washington, D.C.: History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1998.
The importance of signals intelligence at a critical juncture in WWII.
David Robarge
Intelligence in the War for Independence.
Washington, D.C.: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1997.
Use of intelligence operations in America's fight for freedom.
P.K. Rose
Black Dispatches: Black American Contributions to Union Intelligence During the
Civil War.
The story of African-American contributions to Union intelligence during the Civil
War.
Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
Enigma: The Battle for the Code.
New York: John Wiley & Sons, inc., 2001.
The story of the incredible efforts of the Allies to obtain the Enigma machine and
break the Nazi code.
Simon Singh
The Code Book: The Evolution of Secrecy from Mary, Queen of Scots to Quantum
Cryptography.
New York: Doubleday, 1999.
A history of codes and ciphers and the role they play in warfare and politics.
Robert W. Stephan
Stalin's Secret War: Soviet Counterintelligence Against the Nazis, 1941-1945.
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2004.
An examination of Soviet military counterintelligence and deception operations
against the Nazis during WWII.
For the President's Eyes Only-Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency
from Washington to Bush.
New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1995.
Ray Cline
The CIA: Reality vs Myth--The Evolution of the Agency from Roosevelt to Reagan,
(Revised edition of The CIA under Reagan, Bush and Casey).
Washington, DC: Acropolis Books, 1982.
The author, a former top official of the Agency, discusses what clandestine work in
an open society is like, why it is needed, and how it can be carried out effectively.
Arthur Darling
The Central Intelligence Agency An Instrument of Government to 1950.
A look at the bureaucratic struggles that led to the development of the CIA and the
battles that ensued afterward.
Directors of Central Intelligence as Leaders of the U.S. Intelligence Community -
1946-2005
Washington, DC: Center for The Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency,
2005.
A comprehensive study of how politics, institutions, and personalities influenced
the DCI's ability to oversee the Intelligence Community.
Ted Gup
The Book of Honor: The Secret Lives and Deaths of CIA Operatives
New York: Random House, 2000
Journalist Ted Gup presents the stories of many of the CIA officers who died in the
service of their country.
Loch K. Johnson
The Central Intelligence Agency: History and Documents.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Johnson, a professor at the University of Georgia who worked for the Church
Committee, discusses both the history of the Agency and the theory of intelligence
as he grapples with the issues of secret intelligence in a free society.
Foreign Intelligence: Research and Analysis in the Office of Strategic Services
1942-1945.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989
An intellectual history of OSS's Research and Analysis Branch.
Ronald Kessler
The CIA At War: Inside the Secret Campaign Against Terror.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 2003
A look at the major events of the Agency from the 198os to the present based
mainly on interviews with DCIs and former Agency personnel.
William M. Leary, ed.
The Central Intelligence Agency: History and Documents.
Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1984.
This book reprints Anne Karalekas's "History of the Central Intelligence Agency,"
originally published in Book IV of the Church Committee's report. Leary has added
an introduction and an appendix of historical documents.
Operatives, Spies and Saboteurs: The Unknown Story of the Men and Women of
WWII's OSS.
Through OSS officer interviews and archive records, O'Donnell tells some heroic
and often amazing OSS officer tales that have not been told before.
Honorable Treachery: A History of Intelligence, Espionage, and Covert Action
from the American Revolution to the CIA.
A wide-ranging study by a former Agency officer places intelligence in general and
the CIA in particular in historical context.
John Ranelagh
The Agency: The Rise and Decline of the CIA.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987.
A comprehensive and well-researched history of the CIA written by a British
author, this work provides a sharp description of the people and events that
created the Agency. The most recent comprehensive treatment.
On the Front Lines of the Cold War: Documents on the intelligence War in Berlin,
1946-1861.
Donovan and the CIA: A History of the Establishment of the Central Intelligence
Agency.
Troy studies the concept of centralized intelligence from 1939-1947 and describes
the bureaucratic battles involved in trying to establish a central intelligence
organization. He had access to many classified documents, some of which appear
in the book.
Michael Warner, ed.
The CIA Under Harry Truman
Washington, D.C.: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1994.
The early years of the Agency under the President who created it.
Michael Warner
The Office of Strategic Services: America's First Intelligence Agency.
Washington, D.C.: CIA History Staff , Center for the Study of intelligence, 2000.
The story of CIA's WWII predecessor.
H. Bradford Westerfield, ed.
Inside the CIA's Private World: Declassified Articles from the Agency's Internal
Journal, 1955-1992.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996.
Declassified articles from the Agency's "Studies in Intelligence" authored by mostly
CIA employees and covering a wide range of intelligence topics.
Robin Winks
Cloak and Gown: Scholars in the Secret War, 1939-1961.
New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc. 1987.
An account of the beginnings of the link between the American academic
community and the Intelligence Community beginning with the creation and
running of the Research and Analysis Branch of the OSS.
Clarence Ashley
CIA Spymaster
Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 2004
A biography of legendary CIA case officer George Kisevalter, who handled the
extremely important Soviet assets Pyotr Popov and Oleg Penkousky.
Mary Bancroft
Autobiography of a Spy.
New York: Morrow, 1983.
The author worked for Allen Dulles in Switzerland in World War II.
Anthony Cave Brown
The Last Hero: Wild Bill Donovan
New York: Times Books, 1982.
The biography of the father of the Office of Strategic Services, CIA's predecessor.
Victor Cherkashin with Gregory Feifer
Spy Handler: Memoir of a KGB Officer
New York: Basic Books, 2005
When CIA officer Aldrich Ames and FBI special agent Robert Hanssen offered
their services to the KGB, Victor Cherkashin was the man they encountered in the
Washington Embassy. He tells his side of the story in this memoir.
Duane it Clarridge with Digby Diehl
A Spy For All Seasons: My Life in the CIA
Dulles, VA: Brassey's, 2004
Colorful "Dewey" Clarridge was the role model for a dynamic case officer in the
CIA that DCI Bill Casey wanted. Their interaction makes good reading as does the
balance of Clarridge's career during some turbulent times in the Cold War.
Lost Victory: A Firsthand Account of America's Sixteen-Year Involvement in
Vietnam.
Former DCI Colby tells of his role while serving intelligence and CIA
Headquarters.
From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They
Won the Cold War.
Gates, a former Director of the CIA, gives an autobiographical look at the White
House and National Security planning and policy during the five administrations
in which he served.
Tom Gilligan
CIA Life: 10,000 Days with the Agency.
Connecticut: Foreign Intelligence Press, 1991.
The author covers his 28-year career from his recruitment through his training as
a CIA operations officer, culminating with his assignment as chief of applicant
recruitment in New England.
Peter Grose
Gentleman Spy: The Life of Allen Dulles.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.
A biography of the Director who many consider a "legendary figure".
Richard Helms with William Hood
A Look Over My Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency.
New York: Random House, 2003.
Richard Helms, former OSS officer and longtime Director of Central Intelligence,
looks at his career and world of intelligence. Helms reviews his role in many
operations and discusses the relationship of the Agency with the White House and
Congress.
A look at America's involvement in East Asia through the eyes of an operations
officer who rose through the ranks to become the first Chief of Station in China
and eventually Ambassador to that country
Richard L. Holm
The American Agent: My Life in the CIA.
London: St. Ermin's Press, 2003.
What is involved in being a CIA operations officer through the eyes of a retired
officer. This book reviews an entire career, the type of training, various
assignments, family considerations, and retirement considerations.
The Reader of Gentleman's Mail: Herbert 0. Yardley and the Birth of American
Codebreaking.
The story of the man who revolutionized code breaking in America, making it part
of peace time intelligence gathering and not just for war.
Oleg Kalugin
The First Directorate: My 32 years in Intelligence and Espionage Against the West.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994.
The head of the former KGB tells about life in the intelligence world on the other
side.
Patrick E. Kennon
The Twilight of Democracy.
New York: Doubleday, 1995.
The author offers the lessons he learned from his 25 years as a global political
analyst for the CIA.
Tom Mangold
Cold Warrior: James Jesus Angleton: The CIA's Master Spy Hunter.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1991.
Mangold is a BBC producer whose biography of the CIA's famous head of
counterintelligence will probably hold the field until the Agency releases its files on
such topics as the investigation of Soviet defectors' claims.
Antonio J. Mendez
The Master of Disguise: My Secret Life in the CIA.
New York: Morrow, 1999.
The story of the ex-operative whose blend of artistry and insight saved many lives
in the field.
Ludwell Lee Montague
General Walter Bedell Smith as Director of Central Intelligence.
University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1992.
The biography of the DCI credited with defining the Agency's structure and
mission in its early years.
Floyd L. Paseman
A Spy's Journey: A CIA Memoir
St. Paul, MN: Zenith Press, 2004
A fine candid account of how a young man comes to join the CIA's clandestine
service, raise a family, and rise to high position after a number of careers ups and
downs.
Joseph E. Persico
Casey: From the OSS to the CIA.
New York: Viking Penguin, 1990.
The biography of William J. Casey, Director of Central Intelligence from 1981 to
1987.
David Atlee Phillips
The Night Watch: 25 Years of Peculiar Service.
New York: Atheneum, 1977.
The memoirs of a senior CIA operations officer whose career involved many of the
Agency's most important covert activities.
Thomas Powers
An account of the evolution of CIA as seen in the professional career of Richard
Helms, from his OSS service in World War II through his years as Director of
Central Intelligence from 1966-1973.
John Prados
Lost Crusader: The Secret Wars of CIA Director William Colby.
New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
The story of the career of the former OSS officer and Director of Central
Intelligence, William Colby, who served during a controversial period in the
Agency's history.
Evan Thomas
The Very Best Men--Four Who Dared: The Early Years of the CIA.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995.
Written by the first "outsider" allowed to see the CIA's own secret histories of its
operations in the first twenty years of its existence. This book relates how the
Agency saw itself through the eyes of the men who made the history.
George Tenet
At the Center of the Storm.
New York: HarperLuxe, 2007.
The controversial memoir by the DCI whose tenure spanned 9/11, the fall of the
Taliban, the Iraq WMD debate, and the first phase of the war in Iraq.
Stansfield Turner
Secrecy and Democracy--The CIA in Transition.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1985.
The author reviews his controversial tenure as DCI under President Carter. He
discusses the problems involved in operating a secret intelligence organization in a
democratic society.
The story of the head of the East German foreign intelligence service, one of the
most professional and successful opponents faced by the CIA.
Sarah Helm
A Life In Secrets: The Story of Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of SOE
London: Little Brown, 2005
In the "man's world" of WWII European intelligence, Atkins rose quickly to a key
position in Britain's Special; Operations Executive (SOE) selecting agents and
sending them to Europe. After the war she went searching for those who hadn't
returned. This book tells her story.
Cast No Shadow: The Life of the American Spy Who Changed the Course of World
War H.
The story of Amy Elizabeth Thorpe Pack who spied for the British Security
Coordination and the Office of Strategic Services. Her work led to the acquisition
of the Italian and French naval ciphers prior to America's landing in North Africa
and other critical data.
Melissa Boyle Mahle
Denial and Deception: An Insider's View of the CIA from Iran-Contra to 9/11
New York, Nation Books, 2004
The author was a successful operations officer in the CIA's clandestine service. In
he book she tells how that came about, what the training was like, and share some
of her experiences in espionage.
Veteran of the OSS, Elizabeth McIntosh relates her own experiences and those of
fellow OSS women in this book that reveals interesting stories and long kept
secrets from WWII.
Judith Pearson
Wolves At The Door : The True Story of America's Greatest Female Spy
Guildford, CT: The Lyons Press, 2005
Pearson tells the story of American Virginia Hall who became first a British agent
with the French resistance, then an OSS officer behind the Nazi lines, and finally a
CIA officer. All this despite the slight handicap of her wooden leg. She was the only
women in WWII to receive the Distinguished Service Cross.
Tammy M. Proctor
Female Intelligence: Women and Espionage in the First World War.
New York: New York University Press, 2003.
This book examines several important but little known espionage cases involving
female spies during WWI.
Margaret Rossiter
Women in the Resistance.
New York: Praeger, 1991.
Stories of the Allied women who were part of the WWII resistance movement
behind German lines.
Elizabeth R. Varon
Southern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van Lew, A Union Agent
in the Heart of the Confederacy
New details from archives highlight this biography of this very successful Union
agent who lived in the South.
Operations: Counterintelligence
Pete Earley
Confessions of a Spy: The Real Story of Aldrich Ames.
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1997.
The most complete story of the Aldrich Ames spy case.
William Hood
Mole.
New York: W. W. Norton, 1987.
This story about a Russian mole in the Soviet military intelligence service and his
CIA case officer illustrates the use of tradecraft in espionage.
William R. Johnson
Thwarting Enemies at Home and Abroad: How To Be A Counterintelligence
Officer
Bethesda, MD: Stone Trail; Press, 1987
The single best introductory book on the subject. Written by a professional of
particular merit, it covers all the basics of counterintelligence.
Robert Lindsey
The Falcon and the Snowman: A True Story of Friendship and Espionage.
London: Jonathan Cape, 1980.
The story of Christopher Boyce and Andrew Lee, whose espionage compromised
satellite collection capabilities.
David C. Martin
Wilderness of Mirrors
New York: Bantam Books, Inc. 1980.
A controversial yet thought-provoking treatment of some well-known intelligence
cases from a counterintelligence perspective.
David Wise
The Spy Who Got Away: The Inside Story of Edward Lee Howard, the CIA Agent
Who Betrayed His Country's Secrets and Escaped to Moscow.
New York: Random House, 1988.
The story of a former CIA agent who went to the other side.
David Wise
Spy: The Inside Story of How the FBI's Robert Hanssen Betrayed America.
New York: Random House, 2002.
The story of former FBI agent Robert Hanssen's life as a spy and the government's
hunt to capture him.
[Top of page]
Operations: Espionage
The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the
KGB.
This book is based on KGB archival documents describing people and operations
in the West from the 19208 to 1984. There is much new here; spies are exposed,
operations described and KGB procedures detailed. A monumental contribution to
Cold War espionage history.
Christopher Andrew and Vasli Mitrokhin
The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB Battle For the Third World
New York: Basic Books, 2005
This is the second volume based on Mitrokhin's documents stolen from the KGB
archives and leaves no doubt as to Soviet strategic objectives in the Third World.
Milt Bearden and James Risen
The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA's Final Showdown with the KGB
New York: Random House, 2003
A best treatment in one book of the Aldrich Ames and Roberts Hanssen cases, CIA
operations in Afghanistan in the late 198os, and the career of a well-known case
officer.
Partners At The Creation: The Men Behind Postwar Germany's Defense and
Intelligence Establishments.
The story of how CIA post WWII assisted Germany in establishing their foreign
intelligence service.
Christopher Felix [pseudonym for James McCarger]
A Short Course in the Secret War.
New York: Dell Books, 1988.
Second edition. (revised)
A textbook of basic espionage techniques, tradecraft, and day-to day operations in
the world of spies.
David E. Murphy, Sergei A. Kondrashev, and George Bailey
Battleground Berlin: CIA vs. KGB in the Cold War.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997.
Definitive account of intelligence operations in Berlin written by a trio of insiders,
Murphy (CIA), Kondrashev (KGB) and Bailey (journalist and intelligence officer).
The authors had access to CIA and KGB archives.
Harry A. Rositzke
CIA's Secret Operations: Espionage, Counterespionage, and Covert Action.
Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1988.
Candid review of Agency clandestine activities during the first 30 years of the Cold
War by a former CIA operations officer.
Jerrold L. Schechter and Peter Deriabin
The Spy Who Saved the World: How a Soviet Colonel Changed the Course of the
Cold War.
New York: Scribner's, 1992.
The story of how Col. Oleg Penkovsky, a GRU officer working jointly for the CIA
and the British, passed secrets about the Soviet missile program to the U.S. in the
early 196o's. Penkovsky's efforts were instrumental in shaping the response to the
Cuban Missile Crisis. Schechter had access to newly declassified CIA files on
Penkovsky.
A Secret Life: The Polish Officer, His Covert Mission, and the Price He Paid to Save
His Country.
The biography of the Polish Army Colonel who became the CIA's most important
asset during the tumultuous Solidarity period.
Kenneth J. Conboy
Feet to the Fire: CIA Covert Operations in Indonesia, 1957-1958.
Annapolis MD: Naval Institute Press, 1999.
An examination of an early covert action operation in Indonesia.
Kenneth J. Conboy and James Morrison
The CIA's Secret War in Tibet.
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2002.
The story of CIA's involvement in Tibet's revolt against China.
William J. Daugherty
Executive Secrets: Covert Action and the Presidency
Lexington, KY: 2004.
An experienced covert action operations officer tells what today's covert actions
involve and how they work under the constraints imposed by Congress.
Roy Godson
Godson takes a look at counterintelligence and covert action during the past 45
years. Though both elements aren't always grouped together, this book establishes
the author's opinion that the combination of the two helped this country achieve
many objectives not possible through conventional means.
Raiders of the China Coast: CIA Covert Operations During the Korean War
(Special Warfare Series).
Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1999.
The world of clandestine partisan operations during the Korean War.
Cord Meyer
Facing Reality: From World Federalism to the CIA.
New York: Harper & Row, 1g8o.
The story of the career of a Yale graduate and World War II Marine hero whose
postwar idealism finally brought him to the CIA, where he became a senior
operations officer and head of its covert action operations.
John Prados
Safe for Democracy: The Secret Wars of the CIA.
Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2006.
A recently revised version of Prados's comprehensive, critical overview of U.S.
presidents' reliance on Agency and military covert actions to achieve foreign policy
objectives.
Kermit Roosevelt
Countercoup: The Struggle for the Control of Iran.
New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1979.
Story of the Agency's most notorious covert action that involved the coup that
overthrew Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq in August 1953.
Roosevelt, one of the Agency's Iranian experts, was in charge of the operation.
Sam Adams
War of Numbers: An Intelligence Memoir.
South Royalton, Vermont: Steerforth Press, 1994.
The story of a well-documented controversy between Sam Adams and the
Pentagon.
Carol Dumaine and L. Sergio Germani (eds.)
New Frontiers of Intelligence Analysis: Shared Threats, Diverse Perspectives, New
Communities
Washington, DC: Sherman Kent School, Central Intelligence Agency, 2005.
These imaginative articles discus various analytic techniques and concepts that
suggest ways current practices can be improved, and the problems of dealing with
vast amounts of open source and classified data.
Ben B. Fischer
At Cold War's End: U.S. Intelligence on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe,
1989-1991.
Washington, D.C.: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1999.
A look at intelligence gathered at the end of the cold war.
Harold P. Ford
CIA and the Vietnam Policymakers: Three Episodes 1962-1968.
Washington, D.C.: History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1998.
Three case studies show how policymakers used CIA intelligence during the
Vietnam War.
Roger Z. George and James B. Bruce, eds.
Analyzing Intelligence: Origins, Obstacles, and Innovations.
Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2008.
A collection of insightful articles by experts inside and outside the Agency dealing
with the history, practice, and purposes of intelligence analysis.
Gerald K. Haines and Robert E. Leggett, eds.
CIA's Analysis of the Soviet Union 1947-1991.
Washington, D.C.: CIA History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence, 2001.
A look at CIA's analytical performance during the Cold War through recently
declassified documents.
John Helgerson
Getting to Know the President: CIA Briefings of Presidential Candidates, 1952-
1992.
Washington, DC: Center for Study of Intelligence, CIA, 1995.
A look at how Agency briefers attempt to adapt their briefings to the experience,
priorities and working patterns for each president.
Richards J. Heuer, Jr.
Psychology of Intelligence Analysis.
Washington, D.C.: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 2000
An examination of the analytical thought process.
Sherman Kent
Strategic Intelligence for American World Policy.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966.
A look at analysis and the theory and practice of intelligence, written in 1949 by an
OSS veteran and Yale professor who helped establish CIA's Board of National
Estimates in 1950 and led that office for many years.
Woodrow J. Kuhns
Assessing the Soviet Threat: The Early Cold War Years.
Washington, D.C. : Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1997.
CIA's production of analysis in the early years of the cold war.
Donald P. Steury, ed.
Intentions and Capabilities: Estimates on Soviet Strategic Forces, 1950-1983. [PDF
43MB*7
Washington, D.C.: History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1996.
A look at Intelligence Community estimates on the strength of the former Soviet
Union.
Donald P. Steury, ed.
Sherman Kent and the Board of National Estimates: Collected Essays.
Washington, D.C.: History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1996.
The collected writings of the father of intelligence analysis and estimates.
[Top of page]
Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra Secret National Security Agency from the
Cold War Through the Dawn of a New Century
A follow-on to his book, The Puzzle Palace, Bamford updates the organizational
and technical changes that have occurred and adds the closest look yet at the USS
Liberty shooting incident.
James Bamford
The Puzzle Palace: A Report on America's Most Secret Agency.
Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1982.
A journalistic account of the history of NSA.
Michael R. Beschloss
Mayday: Eisenhower, Khruschev and the U-2 Affair.
New York: Harper & Row, 1986.
An in-depth look at the personalities, politics and events surrounding the shoot
down of the U-2 plane on May 1, 1960.
Dino Brugioni
Eyeball to Eyeball: The Inside Story of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
An "I was there" account by one of the CIA's senior photo-interpreters. This book
details the importance of technical collection and how policymakers use
intelligence.
William Burrows
Deep Black: Space Espionage and National Security.
New York: Random House, 1986.
Journalist Burrows surveys the American overhead reconnaissance program.
Dwayne Day, John M. Logsdon, and Brian Latell, eds.,
Eye in the Sky: The Story of the Corona Spy Satellites.
Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998.
A collection of essays dealing with the technical, political, and strategic aspects of
the United States' first espionage satellite program.
H. Keith Melton
Ultimate Spy
London & New York: Dorling Kindersley, Ltd., 2002 (2nd ed).
A pictorial history of tradecraft devices and how they were used.
H. Keith Melton
CIA Special Weapons and Equipment: Spy Devices of the Cold War.
New York: Sterling Publishing, 1993.
The "tools of the trade" from one of the largest private collections of spy devices in
the world.
Gregory W. Pedlow and Donald E. Welzenbach
The CIA and the U-2 Program, 1954-1974.
Washington, D.C.: History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1998.
The well documented declassified official history of Agency's first manned
overhead reconnaissance program.
Chris Pocock
50 Years of the U-2: The Complete Illustrated History of the "Dragon Lady"
Atlen, PA; Schiffer Military History, 2005
A fine book about the spy plane that made intelligence history.
Ben R. Rich with Leo Janos
Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed.
New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1994.
A history of the U-2, the SR-71 (Black-bird), and the stealth fighter with a
bureaucratic melody underlying the astounding success of Lockheed's most
famous secret division.
David Robarge
Archangel.
Washington, D.C.: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 2007.
A brief official history of the Agency's innovative spyplane, based largely on newly
declassified documents.
Kevin Ruffner, ed.
CORONA: America's First Satellite Program. [18.4MB*]
Washington, DC: CIA History Staff, 1995.
A collection of declassified documents and imagery from the CORONA program.
Sherry Sontag
Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage.
New York: Public Affairs, 1998.
Little known tales of underwater espionage.
Phillip Taubman
Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the CIA, and the Hidden Story of America's Space
Espionage.
A good overview of the technological advances in aerial and satellite
reconnaissance in the 195os and 196os.
Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the
Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001.
New York: Penguin Press, 2004.
An examination of the military, political, and intelligence events leading up to 9/11.
Thomas H. Kean, Chair
The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on
Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Authorized Edition
New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004; hardbound with index. Also available
at http://www.fas.org/irp/offdoes/9ucomm.html. [external link disclaimer]
An investigation and analysis of the facts and incidents that led to 9/11, with
recommendations for organizational changes that eventually led to t he creation of
the Director of National; Intelligence.
Sundri Khalsa
Forecasting Terrorism: Indications of Proven Analytic Techniques
Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press: 2004.
A book for beginners on what to look for when thinking about potential terrorist
acts.
Peter Lance
loon Years for Revenge: International Terrorism and the FBI - The Untold Story
New York: HarperCollins, 2003.
A well documented account of the events leading up to 9/11 with emphasis on the
role of the FBI.
This former CIA analyst gives a very readable account of the fundamentals of
terrorist networks.
First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA Spearheaded the War on Terror in
Afghanistan
Within hours of the 9/11 attacks, Gary Schroen was planning to take a team to
Afghanistan to support the resistance and assess the situation on the ground. This
book is his firsthand account of those 4o days.
Stansfield Turner
Terrorism and Democracy
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991
Former DCI Turner lays out his views on what would become the nations number
one threat after 9/11.
Lorenzo Vidino with a Foreword by Steven Emerson
Al Qaeda in Europe: The New Battleground of International Jihad
Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2oo6
A view of al-Qaeda from various national perspectives with a discussion of how
each plans to deal with the threat.
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Knowing Your Friends: Intelligence Inside Alliances and Coalitions from 1914 to
the Cold War (Cass Series-Studies in Intelligence).
David M. Barrett
The CIA And Congress: The Untold Story from Truman to Kennedy
Lawrence, KS: The University Press of Kansas, 2005
A well documented treatment of the sometimes stormy relationship between the
law makers and the early intelligence community.
Bruce D. Berkowitz and Allen E. Goodman
Best Truth: Intelligence in the Information Age
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2000
The authors look at the problems in today's intelligence community and suggest
what can be done to correct the problems they identify.
Peter Berkowitz (ed.)
The Future of American Intelligence
Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 2005
This book contains a series of provocative articles that make suggestions for the
future on a broad range topics from intelligence and the Congress, to
counterintelligence, basic espionage, counterinsurgency intelligence, and the
problems that come with major reorganizations.
Allen Dulles
The Craft of Intelligence.
New York: Harper and Row, 1963.
Dulles presents the history of intelligence, describes techniques of espionage and
counterespionage, and discusses the role of intelligence in international events
from World War II through 1961.
John J. Fialka
War By Other Means: Economic Espionage in America.
New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.
An examination of American industry in the post-cold war world becoming the
target of foreign governments and corporations seeking to drain its brains and
technology.
A Cold War Conundrum: The 1983 Soviet War Scare.
Washington, D.C.: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1997.
An examination of a potentially perilous time in cold war history.
Ben B. Fischer
Okhrana: The Paris Operations of the Russian Imperial Police.
Washington, D.C.: Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1997.
An exploration into the workings of the Russian Imperial Police in the late 19th
and early loth Century.
Jan Goldman
Ethics of Spying
Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2006
A collection of articles looking at the elements of ethical behavior and asking
whether there is any reason that a intelligence professional, as opposed, for
example, to a doctor or politician, should have difficulty behaving ethically?
Oleg Gordievsky and Christopher Andrew
KGB, The Inside Story of its Foreign Operations from Lenin to Gorbachev.
New York: Harper Collins, 1990.
A history of the KGB and the career of one of its senior officers who for eleven
years was one of the West's most important spies.
Frederick P. Hitz
The Great Game: The Myth and Reality of Espionage.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.
A contrasting look between the reality versus the fictional treatment of espionage
from a former CIA officer's point of view.
Pat M. Holt
Secret Intelligence and Public Policy: A Dilemma of Democracy
Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1995
A former staff member of Senate Select Committee on intelligence, Pat Holt offers
practical advice on basic intelligence and about how intelligence and the Congress
should function. constructively.
Loch Johnson and James Wirtz (eds.)
Strategic Intelligence: Windows Into a Secret World-An Anthology
Los Angeles, CA: Roxbury Publishing Company, 2004.
A collection of articles that discuss the major issues of strategic intelligence-
covert action, espionage, liaison with foreign services, and the problems of
politicalization.
Scott Koch and Brian D. Fila
Our First Line of Defense, Presidential Reflections.
Washington, D.C.: Center for the Study of intelligence, 1996.
A compilation of presidential opinions on U.S. intelligence.
Walter Laqueur
A World of Secrets: The Uses and Limits of Intelligence.
New York: Basic Books, 1985.
This work takes a critical look at how intelligence is used to understand foreign
events that may affect the U.S.
Mark M. Lowenthal
Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy.
Washington: Congressional Quarterly Press, 2006. (3rd ed.)
An informative discussion about intelligence and the intelligence community.
Count de Alexandre Marenches
The Fourth World War: Diplomacy and Espionage in the Age of Terrorism.
New York: William Morrow and Company, 1992.
Count de Alexandre de Marenches, the longest serving chief of French Intelligence
gives a long-range forecast for the future of intelligence gathering.
Mark Riebling
Wedge: The Secret War Between the FBI and CIA.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994.
The title refers to the arbitrary division between domestic counterintelligence
activity and foreign counterintelligence which created a "fundamentally flawed
intelligence system."
Jennifer Sims and Burton Gerber (eds.)
Transforming Intelligence
Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2005.
An academic and a intelligence professional present a very interesting collection of
articles on various topics from the ethics to the operational problems associated
with intelligence.
Britt Snider
The Agency and the Hill: CIA's Relations with Congress, 1946-2004.
Washington, D.C.: CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence, 2008.
A study of the CIA's relationship with Congress.
Athan Theoharis, Richard Immerman, Loch Johnson, Kathryn Olmsted, and
John Prados
The Central Intelligence Agency: Security under Scrutiny
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006
A look at the CIA since its inception, with entries on its leaders and more on the
various successes and controversies that are part of its history.
Ralph Edward Weber, ed.
Spymasters: Ten CIA Officers in Their Own Words.
Wilmington, Del: SR Books, 1999.
Ten former top-ranking CIA officers give their perspectives on the American
intelligence world, its practices and the issues it faces.
[Top of page]
Rodney P. Carlisle, (ed.)
Encyclopedia of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, 2 volumes
Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2006
Includes short commentary on the famous and important cases of espionage and
gives the student a basis for further research. As with all encyclopedias, important
details are sometimes in error and should be checked before citing.
George Constantinides
Intelligence and Espionage: An Analytical Bibliography
Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1983
Though somewhat out of date, this remains a fine bibliography with crisp incisive
comments for many important books.
Charles E. Lathrop
The Literary Spy: The Ultimate Source for Quotations on Espionage and
Intelligence
New Haven: CT: Yale University Press, 2004
This unique book offers 3,000 quotations on the intelligence profession arranged
in 64 categories.
G. J. A. O'Toole
The Encyclopedia of American Intelligence and Espionage
New York: Facts on File, 1988.
Compendium of the people, events, terms and tools that played a role in the
history of intelligence in America.
Neal H. Petersen
American Intelligence, 1775-1990: A Bibliographical Guide
Claremont, CA: Regina Books: 1992
The most comprehensive bibliographic treatment of the topic with entries in
categories for easier identification. Though not annotated, this volume gives a good
idea of what was available until the end of the Cold War.
Boston: The OSS/Donovan Press, 2000.
A comprehensive guide to books about the OSS.
Norman Polmar
Spy Book:The Encyclopedia of Espionage
New York: Random House, 2004
By far the best of the espionage encyclopedias, though not without some relatively
small detail errors.
The Honorable Laurence H. Silberman and The Honorable Charles S. Robb (co-
chairmen).
The Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding
Weapons of Mass Destruction: Report to the President of the United States
(Washington, DC: GPO, 2005). Also available at
http://www.fas.org/irp/offdoes/wmdeomm.html. [external link disclaimer]
Every aspect of intelligence operations, analysis, and support, is examined in an
effort to determine why estimates concluded WMD existed in Iraq when none were
ever found.
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1945-1950, Emergence of the Intelligence
Establishment.
A definitive collection of declassified documents on the events and legislation that
created CIA.
Bruce W. Watson
United States Intelligence: An Encyclopedia.
New York: Garland Publishers, 1990.
Listing of terms and events pertinent to the world of intelligence gathering.
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