Remaking Domestic Intelligence (Hoover Institution Press Publication) (Paperback)

by Richard A. Posner (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A new solution for reforming U.S. domestic intelligence Domestic intelligence in the United States today is undermanned, uncoordinated, technologically challenged, and dominated by an agency—the FBI—that is structurally unsuited to play the central role in national security intelligence. Despite its importance to national security, it is the weakest link in the U.S. intelligence system. In Remaking Domestic Intelligence, Richard A. Posner reveals all the dangerous weaknesses undermining our domestic intelligence in the United States and offers a new solution: a domestic intelligence agency modeled on the concept and basic design of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. He details why the FBI, because its primary activity is law enforcement, is not the solution to the problem of domestic intelligence and how a new agency, lodged in the Department of Homeland Security, would have no authority to engage in law enforcement and thus avoid the deep tension between criminal investigation and national security intelligence that plagues the FBI. He also shows how a new U.S. domestic intelligence agency might offer additional advantages over our current structure even in terms of civil liberties. Richard A. Posner is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School.

From the Publisher
A new solution for reforming U.S. domestic intelligence

Domestic intelligence in the United States today is undermanned, uncoordinated, technologically challenged, and dominated by an agency—the FBI—that is structurally unsuited to play the central role in national security intelligence. Despite the importance of domestic intelligence to national security, it is the weakest link in the U.S. intelligence system. In Remaking Domestic Intelligence, Richard A. Posner explains the dangerous weaknesses undermining our domestic intelligence and offers a solution: the creation of a domestic intelligence agency that would be separate from the FBI and have no law enforcement authority or responsibility.

He shows why the FBI, because its primary activity is law enforcement, is not the solution to the problem of domestic intelligence and how a new agency, lodged in the Department of Homeland Security, would, lacking a law enforcement function, avoid the deep tension between criminal investigation and national security intelligence that plagues the FBI—and might even allay concerns that domestic intelligence endangers civil liberties.

Richard A. Posner is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, and the author of Preventing Surprise Attacks: Intelligence Reform in the Wake of 9/11 (2005).

Product Details

• Paperback: 95 pages
• Publisher: Hoover Institution Press; 1 edition (September 16, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0817946829
• ISBN-13: 978-0817946821
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #145,061 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Judgment, March 18, 2006

By	Retired Reader (Maryland) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This monograph makes a compelling case for the creation of a domestic intelligence agency in the manner of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS)and placing such an agency under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Its author, Judge Richard A. Posner, is an intelligence outsider who appears to have a keen understanding of how the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) actually works. He has acquired a good deal of evidence that the culture and law enforcement primary mission of the FBI make it an unsuitable institution to house a domestic intelligence organization. He draws a critical distinction between prosecution, the goal of law enforcement and prevention, the goal of intelligence. As a lawyer he is sensitive to the constitutional issues a domestic intelligence agency must be guided by and provides suggested safeguards to avoid such an agency abusing its powers.
This reviewer was left convinced that domestic intelligence should be a separate effort from the FBI, but is less convinced that a dysfunctional organization like the DHS is the best place to house such an effort. The marginally less dysfunctional Directorate of National Intelligence would seem a better choice for a domestic intelligence agency. In any event, Judge Posner has presented a good argument for creating such an agency. Unfortunately, getting such an agency up and running will require a lot more attention to details than he was able to cover in this short monograph.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Posner is brilliant, April 9, 2007

By	S. L. Schwab "Posner Fan" (Las Vegas, NV) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

How any reader could berate any writings of Judge Posner escapes me. Posner is one of the best writers of our time. His writings are clear, concise, witty, pungent, cogent, insightful, fun, intelligent, heartfelt, marvelous. I recommend everything he has written...I would like to see a seminar or semester of studying Posner and his works with a culminating lecture given by none other than Richard A. Posner. Or better yet a class devoted to all of Posner's writings and Noam Chomsky's writings with a culminating session of the two of them in dialogue. What an evening that would be.