Preface

Preparing a historical dictionary on U. S. intelligence is a formidable task, for two reasons. First, the subject matter is not what it seems: while the United States has had some kind of intelligence capability throughout its history, its intelligence apparatus is young, dating only to the period immediately after World War II. Yet, in that short a time, it has undergone enormous changes — from the labor-intensive espionage and covert action establishment of the 1950s to an enterprise that today relies heavily on technologically advanced information pathways and seriously expensive gadgets like satellites, airborne collection platforms, and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Second, writing about intelligence matters invariably is fraught with difficulties, not the least of which is the secrecy surrounding intelligence activities. Secrecy is a bulwark of any intelligence service, and this is no different for U. S. intelligence. Therefore, some of what could be known about U. S. intelligence and its activities simply is shrouded in the mists of classification schemes and is unavailable to the public. However, the United States is one of the few countries on the globe that allows discussion and debate, albeit sometimes grudgingly, about its intelligence agencies and their activities. As a result, a surprisingly large number of authors, both from inside and outside the U. S. intelligence community, have written about U. S. intelligence in all its guises. This burgeoning literature makes virtually all facets of the American intelligence enterprise readily available to the public. The richness of this literature is evident in the fact that, even though the author is a former intelligence officer, everything in this dictionary came from publicly available materials.

There is a third complication in writing historically about intelligence— that of coming to terms with the myriad conceptions of intelligence. Appreciating the history of U. S. intelligence requires an understanding of intelligence as an essential governmental activity. The public understandably focuses on its most alluring aspects, gleaned often from fictional works that provide grist for the entertainment industry. This is the world of fantasy, far removed from the real world of secret intelligence, although it has had an enormous impact on public perceptions of American intelligence. Those among the public who are suspicious of government in all its forms see intelligence as a source of evil, a dark world of secrecy and deception that overthrows legitimate governments, assassinates political leaders, and tramples the civil liberties of Americans. When these two images are combined, they produce a view of intelligence that is simultaneously titillating and exciting, and nefarious, uncontrolled, and uncontrollable.

Occasionally, discussions on intelligence are mired in additional conceptual difficulties, owing to the fact that intelligence, as a governmental activity, exists to illuminate and support the foreign policy objectives of whichever administration is in office, and so, logically, comes to be identified with that administration’s foreign policy. Critics of administration policy then quickly focus on the role intelligence plays in that process and typically associate intelligence with sinister activities that illegally further a dubious foreign policy.

However, intelligence has little to do with implementing policy. There is a part of secret intelligence, covert action, that is designed to execute specific aspects of American foreign policy, but it is only a small— although, unfortunately, the most infamous—part of intelligence.