Intel Wars: The Secret History of the Fight Against Terror [Hardcover]

Matthew M. Aid (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 3, 2012

The United States intelligence establishment is a colossus. With stations in 170 countries, armed with cutting-edge surveillance gear, high-tech weapons, and fleets of armed and unarmed drone aircraft, it commands the most extensive and advanced intel force in history. But America's spy establishment still struggles to keep pace with a host of determined enemies around the world.

In Intel Wars, leading espionage historian Matthew M. Aid delivers the inside stories of our decade-long struggle against terrorism—its hard-won successes and bedeviling failures.

Based on extensive, on-the-ground interviews on the front lines and in D.C., as well as revelations from Wikileaks cables and other newly declassified documents, Intel Wars is the most authoritative account yet written of the secret war that America is still fighting.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In reaction to the attacks of 9/11, the U.S. engaged in a massive expansion of intelligence-gathering organs. Supposedly, we also increased the sharing of information between the various agencies to avoid the failing to connect the dots. But has this huge increase in manpower and money resulted in any improvement in the collection and use of raw intelligence information? Not significantly, according to Aid, a regular commentator on intelligence for various newspapers, radio, and television. He begins with a brief but riveting account of the operation to take out Osama Bin Laden, in which he reveals the vital role played by Pakistani operatives working for the CIA. But from this apparent triumph, he moves to a dreary and familiar picture of bureaucratic rivalry and bungling. He places particular blame on the Bush administration and its inability to sift through the deluge of data provided to develop a coherent policy to fight jihadist terrorists on various fronts but especially in Afghanistan. This work may be unduly negative, but it certainly merits serious consideration by those concerned with our security at home and abroad. --Jay Freeman

Review

"Every chapter in the book is braided with intelligence nuggets. Aid weaves together original reporting, volumes of unclassified documents and his expertise. The book’s chapters on Afghanistan and Pakistan are particularly engrossing…. Aid has written a highly entertaining and interesting book that provides a full-color, detailed snapshot of how the Obama administration is using intelligence to battle terrorism and that hints about how that battle is likely to be waged in the future."—Dina Temple-Raston, The Washington Post

"Aid’s book is full of … revelatory anecdotes. It’s one thing to say that the ISI has helped America’s enemies; it’s another thing to show precisely how."—Ken Dilanian, Los Angeles Times

"If the devil is in the details, then Matthew M. Aid, author of Intel Wars: The Secret History of the Fight Against Terrorism, has written a devilish book indeed … a highly researched look inside the decade’s most important intelligence efforts, and while sobering at best, it’s not always bad news. You just have to look harder for the good news."—Suzanne Kelly, CNN.com

"Intel Wars teems with useful statistics and interesting anecdotes."—Harry Levins, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Aid’s wide-ranging and timely assessment of the current state of U.S. intelligence should appeal to anyone interested in U.S. defense policy."—Publishers Weekly

"An expert update on American security that turns up more problems than solutions."—Kirkus

 

“Merits serious consideration by those concerned with our security at home and abroad.”—Booklist

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Press; 1 edition (January 3, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1608194817
• ISBN-13: 978-1608194810
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.2 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #460,239 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Inside the Secret World January 16, 2012

By Retired Reader

Format:Hardcover

This is an interesting and informed account of how the major players of the U.S. Intelligence Community have conducted what the administration of President George W. Bush usually called the Global War on Terror. In the course of doing this its author, Mathew Aid, does a good job explaining the complexities involved in that War and specifically provides a very good summary of U.S. operations in Afghanistan and rocky relationship with sometimes ally Pakistan. The book does not cover all of the many intelligence pockets that have been directed towards counter-terrorism, but concentrates primarily on the activities of CIA, the FBI, and the NSA, but also notes the work of the military intelligence services and the NGA. Surprisingly the book also provides what appears to be a fair and accurate assessment of the contributions of both the Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Aid provides a balanced and apparently accurate assessment of the overall performance of these agencies. He notes their successes and failures, but makes clear that the U.S. Intelligence System continues to be hampered by serious technical flaws and very weak leadership in its higher echelons. A good read that provides an educated description of how the U.S. in general and its intelligence system in particular has handled the threat of terrorism since the 9/11 tragedy.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars To the point, slightly biased and probably too much information. July 15, 2012

By Ghost71(jeesh)

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Intel Wars, by Matthew Aid, is a solid read that is tightly focused and well edited(Although phrases like "according to an unnamed source" get tiresome to read after a while). Not a lot of flare or fluff just straight forward analysis that covers mostly the years after 9/11 and more so from 2007/08 onward. Informative and for the most part fair in it's criticism. It paints a mixed picture of a sprawling US intelligence community pointing out persistent flaws and shortcomings as well as indicating as much as possible recent succeses and what's working in a post 9/11 era.

A few things should be pointed out though. The books copyright is in 2012 but it went to press mid-late 2011 so recent very important events, especially in North Korea and Syria are notably absent. Additionally in July 2012 the Taliban publicly admits ""At least 70% of the Taliban are angry at al Qaeda. Our people consider al Qaeda to be a plague that was sent down to us by the heavens.......To tell the truth, I was relieved at the death of Osama bin Laden. Through his policies, he destroyed Afghanistan. If he really believed in jihad, he should have gone to Saudi Arabia and done jihad there, rather than wrecking our country."" and they also state that they can't win the war in Afghanistan.

Secondly, despite much criticism in the book being directed toward the Bush administration and Rumsfeld, Aid takes a last second jab at Obama on page 225 in the acknowledgements section, "....the Obama administration, despite promising the American public a new era of transparency in government, has authorized the Justice Department to file criminal indictments against a number of current or former government officials alleged to have leaked classified information to the press.......in this oppressive atmosphere, it seems prudent not to identify the sources who provided information for this book..." I'm not an Obama supporter but I hardly consider it oppressive for a President to want to reign in classified information when peoples lives are at stake. To be honest this book and many others like it should NOT be published at all, and are probably getting people killed in addition to hurting Americas chances of effectively fighting an Intel War. Publishing Intel is not free speech. TMI TMI TMI.

Thirdly, and probably most frightening for average citizens, is the section on domestic terrorism and how the intelligence community is still floating about on the issue. The fact that Al Qaeda will soon be a footnote in many an unread political science textbooks ten years from now is a testament to the successful efforts on the part of both the Bush and Obama administrations in staying the course and bringing the fight to their doorstep. Now as Al Qaeda dissolves and their ideology takes root within different organizations and in lone individuals it's up to the intelligence community to adjust, not panic by arresting kids with model rockets or dry ice bombs or diddling around frisking babies diapers at airports or Irish grandmothers in wheel chairs or soldiers returning home from defending their country. The primary target was and still is muslim men between the ages of 17-35. Their needs to be a direct effort and winning their hearts and minds by countering radical ideology at all levels through arab newspapers, radio, websites, DVDs, film, TV, and even flyers dropped from planes in remote areas combined with increasing economic opportunities in their homelands. Moderate muslim ideology must also be put in the spotlight and given a dominant voice. Otherwise the president will have to make radical choices like immediately deputizing all law enforcement officials to legally conceal and carry and use whatever means necessary to stop lone muslim gunman or using supercomputers to do "Minority Report" type preemptive arrests of citizens based on data analysis.

Lastly, the term "Data Crush" is used by the intel community to explain the frustration at the overload of information that is pouring in that nobody has time to sift through. Has anybody heard of the word 'Algorithm' before? It's not new science and it's how human beings process information everyday. Otherwise we would all be experiencing 'Data Crush'. The human eye is a good example, the periphery is blurred but the brain alerts to movement leaving more processing power for whats in focus. The intel community is trying to focus on everything all at once, they need to create an "eye" that is governed according specific rules, something like a search engine. Throw all the intel into one big pile like a huge encyclopedia set under very broad categories and then create search tools to query, harvest and analyse it. It would be money and manpower well spent.

3.0 out of 5 stars A fair and relatively current compendium of the US Intelligence community May 12, 2013

By James Lennon

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fine as far as it goes, but I would have much preferred more analysis. There are a numerous highly specialized agencies but whoe could the organizational structure of the American Intelligence Community be improved?! Is the leadership and management of the community correct? Can legislation be improved? If so, how?