Why Secret Intelligence Fails

Intelligence officials are reluctant to talk about intelligence successes, claming “the secret of our success is the secret of our success”. But these officials also shy away from talking about failures, largely because doing so would expose their shortcomings and maker policy makers more reluctant to accept and act on the intelligence they receive. Michael Turner argues that the root causes of failures in intelligence can be found in the way it is organized and in the intelligence process itself. Why Secret Intelligence Fails provides a frank discussion of the problems of the intelligence community. While examining the causes of intelligence failures, the book also explores how the intelligence community functions, making I an excellent primer on secret intelligence. Rather than focusing on case studies, the book takes a holistic approach, beginning with structural issues and all the dysfunctions that emanate from them. Turner explores each step of the intelligence cycle –priority setting, intelligence collection, analysis, production, and dissemination –to identify the “inflection, and dissemination –to identify the “Inflection points” within each stage that contribute to intelligence failures. Finally, he examines a variety of plans that, if implemented, would improve American intelligence. Terrorist threats have raised the stakes for intelligence organizations, where single failure can lead to catastrophe. Why Secret Intelligence fails suggests ways to minimize those failures. Urner’s timely book is written in Jargon-free prose for the informed reader inter4sted in the debate over various security policies, but he also brings enough depth to his subject that even experts will find this a must-read.