|
Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Defence strategy, planning & research > Military intelligence
The imbalance of Pakistan's civil-military relations has caused
misperceptions about the changing role of intelligence in politics.
The country maintains 32 secret agencies working under different
democratic, political and military stakeholders who use them for
their own interests. Established in 1948, The ISI was tasked with
acquiring intelligence of strategic interests and assessing the
intensity of foreign threats, but political and military
stakeholders used the agency adversely and painted a consternating
picture of its working environment. The civilian intelligence
agency-Intelligence Bureau (IB) has been gradually neglected due to
the consecutive military rule and weak democratic governments. The
ISI today seems the most powerful agency and controls the policy
decisions. The working of various intelligence agencies, the
militarisation of intelligence, and ineffectiveness of the civilian
intelligence are some of the issues discussed in the book.
Between 1942 and 1944 a very small, very secret, very successful
clandestine unit of the Royal Navy, operated between Dartmouth in
Devon, and the Brittany Coast in France. It was a crossing of about
100 miles, every yard of it dangerous. The unit was called the 15th
Motor Gunboat Flotilla: crewed by 125 officers and men, it became
the most highly decorated Royal Naval unit of the Second World War.
The 15th MGBF was an extraordinary group of men thrown together in
the most secret of adventures. Very few were regular Royal Naval
officers: instead the unit was made up of mostly Royal Naval
Volunteer Officers and 'duration only' sailors. Their home was a
converted paddle steamer and luxury yacht, but their work could not
have been more serious. Their mission was to ferry agents of SIS
and SOE to pinpoint landing sites on the Brittany coast in Occupied
France. Once they had landed their agents, together with stores for
the Resistance, they picked up evaders, escaped POWs who had had
the good fortune to be collected by escape lines run by M19, as
well as returning SIS and SOE agents. It is a story that is
inextricably entwined with that of the many agents they were
responsible for - Pierre Hentic, Yves Le Tac, Virginia Hall, Albert
Hue, Jeannie Rousseau, Suzanne Warengham, Francois Mitterrand and
Mathilde Carre, as well as many others. Without the Flotilla, such
intelligence gathering networks as Jade Fitzroy and Alliance would
never have developed, and SOE's VAR Line and MI9's Shelburne Escape
Line would never have been realised. Drawing on a huge amount of
research on both sides of the Channel, including private archives
of many of the families involved, A Dangerous Enterprise brings the
story of this most clandestine of operations brilliantly to life.
The secret world of military intelligence - written by a senior
intelligence officer John Hughes-Wilson is a former intelligence
officer and is ideally placed to reveal the secret history of
military intelligence. He takes us 'behind the scenes' of military
and political events from Elizabeth I to Osama bin Laden and the
crisis in the Middle East. The book is divided into three parts.
The first investigates some famous disasters when lack of
intelligence was the decisive factor, e.g. Gallipoli and Dieppe.
The second examines some equally famous examples of good
intelligence being overlooked or ignored, e.g. the 'bridge too far'
battle of Arnhem. The last part goes behind the scenes of some
famous successes, from the capture of Slobodan Milosevic to the
defeat of IRA bombing campaigns and the arrest of a spy ring at the
heart of NATO.
Through its professionalism, daring, and creativity, the Israeli
Intelligence community has made important contributions to
intelligence services around the world in the struggle against
global terrorism. But how much is known about it? How does it work,
and how was it built? Who were the lea ders and driving forces of
the community? What were the defining events in its history? What
are its areas of activity what are the secrets of its success?
Israel's Silent Defender is the first book of its kind an
inside look at the Israeli intelligence community over the last
sixty years. It is a compilation of the writings of those officers
who served and some who still do in the highest positions of the
Israeli intelligence community. In Israel's Silent Defender,
Brigadier Generals (Res.) Amos Gilboa and Ephraim Lapid have
compliled thirty seven essays written by experts and leaders of
Israeli intelligence, among them high-ranking analysts and J2s,
commanders of human intelligence (HUMINT), signal intelligence
(SIGINT), visual intelligence (VISINT) and open source intelligence
(OSINT) units, and heads of the Israel Defense Intelligence (IDI),
the Mossad and the Shabak.
'Damning' - Mail on Sunday 'Gripping and shocking [...] an
unputdownable read' - Stephen Grey, award-winning investigate
journalist and author of GHOST PLANE and THE NEW SPYMASTERS 'This
investigation rings true' - Publishers Weekly On 1 August, 1990,
British Airways Flight 149 departed from Heathrow airport, destined
for Kuala Lumpur. It never made it there, and neither did its
nearly 400 passengers. Instead, Flight 149 stopped to refuel in
Kuwait, as Iraqi troops amassed on the border - delivering the
passengers and crew into the hands of Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi
army, to be used as 'human shields' during their invasion. Why did
BA flight 149 proceed with plans to refuel in Kuwait City, even as
all other flights were rerouted - and even though British and
American governments had clear intelligence that Saddam was about
to invade? The answer lies in an exchange of favours at the highest
echelons of government, and a secret, unaccountable organization -
authorised by Margaret Thatcher - carrying out a 'deniable'
intelligence operation to sneak in a group of intelligence offers
into Kuwait aboard the flight. The plane was the 'Trojan Horse',
and the plan - as well as the horrific, traumatic consequences for
the civilian passengers - has been lied about, denied and covered
up by successive British Governments ever since. Soon to be a major
TV drama, this explosive book is written with the full cooperation
of the survivors, as well as astonishing and conclusive input from
a senior intelligence source. It is a story of scandal, betrayal
and misuse of intelligence at the highest levels of UK and US
governments - which has had direct, horrifying impact on terror
attacks in the West and the shape of the Middle East today. It is
high time the truth is told.
'Pulse-pounding' Sinclair McKay | 'Truly masterful' Damien Lewis |
'Who needs spy fiction, when fact can provide as thrilling a story
as this?' Lindsey Hilsum The Spymaster of Baghdad is the gripping
story of the top-secret Iraqi intelligence unit that infiltrated
the Islamic State. More so than that of any foreign power, the
information they gathered turned the tide against the insurgency,
paving the way to the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi
in 2019. Against the backdrop of the most brutal conflict of recent
decades, we chart the spymaster's struggle to develop the unit from
scratch in challenging circumstances after the American invasion of
Iraq in 2003, we follow the fraught relationship of two of his
agents, the al-Sudani brothers - one undercover in ISIS for sixteen
long months, the other his handler - and we track a disillusioned
scientist as she turns bomb-maker, threatening the lives of
thousands. With unprecedented access to characters on all sides,
Pulitzer Prize-finalist Margaret Coker challenges the conventional
view that Western coalition forces defeated ISIS and reveals a
page-turning story of unlikely heroes, unbelievable courage and
good old-fashioned spycraft. 'Moving, visceral, utterly revelatory.
A stunning tour de force by an author who has lived every word of
it on the ground' Damien Lewis, author of Zero Six Bravo 'This
compelling account of how Iraqi agents infiltrated ISIS takes us
deep beneath the lurid headlines and into a sharply focused world
of courage, ingenuity, terror and love' Sinclair McKay, author of
Dresden 'In Margaret Coker's deeply reported, unputdownable
account, the previously unknown Iraqi heros of the war against the
Islamic State turn out to be braver than Bond and as subtle as
Smiley' Lindsey Hilsum, author of In Extremis 'We all owe a debt of
gratitude to the Falcons Unit for their important role in the fight
against the most lethal terrorist group of our time' Anne
Speckhard, Director of the International Center for the Study of
Violent Extremism
An attack by a British destroyer on a German U-boat in the Eastern
Mediterranean in October 1942 altered the course of the entire war.
The capture of secret coding material from U-559, at the cost of
two of HMS Petard's crew, enabled Bletchley Park's codebreakers to
successfully crack the U-boat cypher. It was the crucial factor in
defeating Hitler's Atlantic U-boat wolf packs before they succeeded
in starving Britain into defeat in the winter of 1942-1943. Here is
the true story of how HMS Petard attacked and captured U-559 in the
darkness of a Mediterranean night. It describes how members of her
crew swam across to the slowly sinking U-boat and captured vital
German Enigma codebooks. But the damage sustained by U-559 in the
earlier attack proved fatal and without warning she sank before
Petard could take her in tow. Two of the destroyer's crew were
trapped in the conning tower and went to the bottom with her. Both
men were later recommended for posthumous awards of the Victoria
Cross but the Admiralty, concerned this might draw unwanted
attention from German Intelligence, instead ordered posthumous
awards of the George Cross, the highest civilian award for bravery.
The imbalance of Pakistan's civil-military relations has caused
misperceptions about the changing role of intelligence in politics.
The country maintains 32 secret agencies working under different
democratic, political and military stakeholders who use them for
their own interests. Established in 1948, The ISI was tasked with
acquiring intelligence of strategic interests and assessing the
intensity of foreign threats, but political and military
stakeholders used the agency adversely and painted a consternating
picture of its working environment. The civilian intelligence
agency-Intelligence Bureau (IB) has been gradually neglected due to
the consecutive military rule and weak democratic governments. The
ISI today seems the most powerful agency and controls the policy
decisions. The working of various intelligence agencies,
militarisation of intelligence and ineffectiveness of the civilian
intelligence are some of the issues discussed in the book.
This book is a professional military-intelligence officer's and a
controversial insider's view of some of the greatest intelligence
blunders of recent history. It includes the serious developments in
government misuse of intelligence in the recent war with Iraq.
Colonel John Hughes-Wilson analyses not just the events that
conspire to cause disaster, but why crucial intelligence is so
often ignored, misunderstood or spun by politicians and seasoned
generals alike. This book analyses: how Hitler's intelligence staff
misled him in a bid to outfox their Nazi Party rivals; the
bureaucratic bungling behind Pearl Harbor; how in-fighting within
American intelligence ensured they were taken off guard by the Viet
Cong's 1968 Tet Offensive; how over confidence, political
interference and deception facilitated Egypt and Syria's 1973
surprise attack on Israel; why a handful of marines and a London
taxicab were all Britain had to defend the Falklands; the mistaken
intelligence that allowed Saddam Hussein to remain in power until
the second Iraq War of 2003; the truth behind the US failure to run
a terrorist warning system before the 9/11 WTC bombing; and how
governments are increasingly pressurising intelligence agencies to
'spin' the party-political line.
The General Staff Division of Fremde Heere Ost (Military
Intelligence Service, Eastern Section) which from 1942 was led by
Reinhard Gehlen, was the nerve-centre of Hitler's military
reconnaissance on the Eastern Front. This department worked
professionally and was operationally and tactically reliable.
However, at a strategic level there were clear deficits: the
industrial capacity of the Soviet arms industry, the
politico-military intentions and the details of the Red Army's
plans for their offensive remained for the most part hidden from
the department. When the Second World War ended, Gehlen put the
documents and personnel of Fremde Heere Ost at the disposal of the
Americans. With their support he was able to build a new foreign
secret service which later evolved into the Federal Intelligence
Service. In this book, military historian Magnus Pahl presents a
complete overview of the structure, personnel and working methods
of Fremde Heere Ost based on a tremendous array of archival
sources. This work includes an extensive case study of the East
Pomeranian Operation 1945. Pahl's study is a significant
contribution to our understanding of German strategic, operational
and tactical thinking on the Eastern Front 1941-45.
Over Iran an RAF Canberra flies a feint towards the Soviet border,
to provoke Soviet air defence radar operators to reveal their
location. He will not deliberately enter Soviet airspace, but the
possibilities for miscalculation, or misunderstanding leading to
tragedy are always there. These flights cost the lives of over 150
US airmen by the end of the Cold War. Also cruising nearby in
Iranian airspace, is a heavily modified US Air Force C-130
transport aircraft. Onboard 10 Special Equipment Operators are
listening through their headphones for Soviet radio and radar
activity. Hearing Soviet ground controllers scramble fighters to
intercept the Canberra. The US operators alert the British aircraft
to the closing MiG's and it quickly alters course away from the
border. This was the life of crews involved in Cold War
intelligence collection flights. Enormous resources were committed
to these operations and they shaped the structure of much modern
military intelligence collection, analysis and sharing. This book
explores their scope, conduct, plus the politics and new
technologies behind these operations that started in the dying
embers of World War Two. It examines how these often complex
missions were planned, coordinated and flown and is supported by
first-hand accounts from pilots, aircrews and intelligence
analysts. It utilises recently declassified British and US archive
material and is illustrated with a wide range of images. The author
examines European and Far East operations and a number of topics
not previously covered in depth elsewhere. These include
authorisation and coordination arrangements for conduct of
overflight and peripheral missions; plus the part played by key
third party states in operations in Scandinavia, Turkey and others.
He looks at why Tyuratam complex was of such major intelligence
interest and details the many resources targeted against it. He
looks at some of the less explored elements of U-2 operations,
including British involvement, plus the development of powerful
lenses intended to enable very long range peripheral photography
and why the long mythologised `Kapustin Yar' overflight probably
never took place with new details and analysis. This comprehensive
book links together the realities of flying, advanced technology
and politics to provide a detailed and illustrated examination of
Cold War aerial intelligence collection.
In a rapidly changing environment, Intelligence Surveillance
developed through different types of technologies, software,
strategies and drones operations in Europe and the United Kingdom.
There are various forms of surveillance mechanisms, including Human
Agents, Computer Programs, and Global Positioning Satellite
Devices. These surveillance devices are now even encroaching into
the personal domain of the individuals without the knowledge of the
individual being watched. In a surveillance state, people live in
consternation, fear, and struggling to protect their privacy,
family life, business secrets, and data. In a short period of time,
it has amassed a rather sordid history of citizen surveillance- and
it continues to be unlawful. These are some of the issues discussed
in the book which has varied articles from the experts on the
subject.
No external observer knows more about Myanmar's security and
intelligence apparatus than Andrew Selth. In this book he presents
an account of the structure and functions of Myanmar's deep state,
along with a tale of personal ambition, rivalry and ruthless power
politics worthy of John Le Carre. A thoroughly educative,
entertaining and intriguing read."" - Professor Michael Wesley,
Dean, College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National
University ""Andrew Selth has once again amply illustrated the
depth and penetration of his study of Myanmar/Burma and its
institutions. This work on the more recent aspects of the country's
intelligence apparatus goes beyond a masterful and comprehensive
analysis of the Burmese intelligence community, and probes the
social and institutional bases of the attitudes giving rise to that
critical aspect of power. We are once again in Dr Selth's debt.
This is required reading for serious observers of the Burmese
scene."" - David I. Steinberg, Distinguished Professor of Asian
Studies Emeritus, Georgetown University ""By lifting the lid on a
pervasive yet secretive intelligence apparatus, Andrew Selth makes
an outstanding contribution to Myanmar Studies. For scholars and
practitioners alike, this book provides an essential history of a
security state that remains powerful even during the transition
away from overt authoritarian rule."" - Professor Ian Holliday,
Vice-President (Teaching and Learning), The University of Hong Kong
Intelligence Operations: Understanding Data, Tools, People, and
Processes helps readers understand the various issues and
considerations an intelligence professional must tackle when
reviewing, planning, and managing intelligence operations,
regardless of level or environment. The book opens by introducing
the reader to the many defining concepts associated with
intelligence, as well as the main subject of intelligence: the
threat. Additional chapters examine the community of intelligence,
revealing where intelligence is actually practiced, as well as what
defines and characterizes intelligence operations. Readers learn
about the four critical components to every intelligence
operation-data, tools, people, and processes-and then explore the
various operational and analytic processes involved in greater
detail. Throughout, the text encourages discovery and discussion,
urging readers to first understand the material, then break it
down, adapt it, and apply it in a way that supports their
particular operations or requirements. Unique in approach and
designed to assist professionals at all levels, Intelligence
Operations is an excellent resource for both academic courses in
the subject and practical application by intelligence personnel.
Globalisation continues to challenge our world at unprecedented
speed. Technological innovations, changing geographical
developments, regional rivalries, and destruction of national
critical infrastructures in several Muslim states due to the US
so-called war on terrorism-all transformed the structures and
hierarchies of societies. The idea of the development of a nation
that sounds on tripods that are food, shelter, and security failed.
The Edward Snowden leaks challenged policymakers and the public
understanding and perspectives on the role of security intelligence
in liberal democratic states. The persisting imbalance of power in
the United States, its institutional turmoil, and intelligence war,
and the noticeably tilting power have made the country feel
vulnerable and prodded it into military ventures. The calibration
of Western allies around Whitehouse as the sole center of
globalization has only brought instability, destruction, and loss
of human lives.
|
|