Reshaping National Intelligence for an Age of Information

Rating:
Summary: Core Reference for Intelligence Reform in 2001
Review:

There are other books on intelligence reform--the best being those by Bruce Berkowitz and Allan Goodman and by Loch Johnson--but this book is very special because it is written by an insider who has come to grips with the imperative for change and who is able to articulate the case for change in a way that others have not. This is arguably the single best and most elegant presentation for why our $30 billion a year intelligence industry must be turned upside down and shift resources away from secret satellite technology and toward analysis, analytic tools, and access to open sources of information.

The author very correctly focuses on the fact that intelligence is about getting useful tailored information to the policy consumer, not about secrets per se. He is perhaps the best spokesperson for the view that the old paradigm--collecting secrets at great expense about a single enemy--must be replaced by the new paradigm--making sense of vast quantities of information that is not secret and covers a diversity of constantly changing targets. He correctly focuses on the selection and intelligent analysis of information rather than the collection of isolated secrets--on making the most of open information.

The book is rich with anecdotal examples and makes a compelling case for dismantling the current intelligence stovepipes while simultaneously dismantling the culture of secrecy that prevents the sharing of useful information, not just within the Nation (e.g. with state and local law enforcement) but with coalition government and non-government allies of the moment.

The author, a past Vice Chairman of the National Intelligence Council and a learned man with deep ties to Harvard, the Council on Foreign Relations, and RAND, concludes on a bitter-sweet note that demands Congressional and Presidential reflection. He firmly believes that both the intelligence community budget and as much intelligence analysis as possible should be made public and be in the public service. This book is highly recommended, and could-together with the the other intelligence reform books published in the past two years--reasonably be used as the starting point for a complete make-over of the U.S. Intelligence Community.

Rating:
Summary: Reshaping National Intelligence
Review: This is a slim book (266 pages) that is packed with significant information. Although the book was apparently written for senior intelligence officals and policy makers, it also serves as an excellent introduction to the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) for anyone who wants to know how the IC really operates. Treverton provides the reader with a concise and well crafted outline of the evolution of the IC, a brillant discussion of the relationship of intelligence to policy, and an excellent argument for the increased use of open, as opposed to secret, sources.

Treverton builds a strong case for a major overhaul of the IC and offers a broad, but well thought out, design for a new IC. Incidentally, many of his ideas for the design were anticipated by his sometimes colleagues, Bruce Berkowitz and Allan Goodman in their book "Best Truth", an interesting read that in the end failed to convince, at least this reader, that they knew what they were talking about.

Treverton clearly not only knows what he is talking about, but has laid what could be the coner stone for a new and more relevant IC structure.