National Security Intelligence

National Security Intelligence

National security intelligence is a vast, complicated, and important topic, made doubly hard for citizens to understand because of the thick veils of secrecy that surround it. <br /><br />This definitive introduction to the field guides readers skilfully through this hidden side of government. It not only explains the three primary missions of intelligence - information collection and analysis, counterintelligence, and covert action - it also explores the wider dilemmas posed by the existence of secret government organizations in 'open' societies. With over thirty-five years of experience studying intelligence agencies and their activities, Loch Johnson illuminates difficult questions such as why intelligence organizations make mistakes in assessing world events; why some intelligence officers decide to work against their own country on behalf of foreign regimes; and how agencies succumb to scandals, including spying on the very citizens they are meant to protect.<br /><br /><i>National Security Intelligence</i> is tailor-made to meet the interests of students and general readers who care about how nations protect themselves against threats through the establishment of intelligence organizations - and how they continue to strive for safeguards to prevent the misuse of this secret power.<br /><br />