Strategic Intelligence for American World Policy [Paperback]

Sherman Kent (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press; New edition edition (October 1966)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691021600
• ISBN-13: 978-0691021607
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,464,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be in every Intelligence Officer's personal library., December 9, 2004

By 

M. Conrad Hunter (Southern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Strategic Intelligence for American World Policy (Paperback)

This book explains why we need to make some strategic changes in order to achieve a higher level of national security. It does not anatomize intelligence or devote many pages to predictions of crises. It does not document at length what has been proven in time-that Americans rely too heavily on quantitative as opposed to qualitative constructs. It takes no position about methods of collection beyond insisting that content must receive as much emphasis as `technical sophistication'. It does not discuss bureaucracy, funding, or government oversight. In fact, one of its major purposes is to separate itself from what the `best and brightest' espoused in their quest for policy based on quantitative and statistical analysis.

It focuses on what I perceive to be the most important, and fundamental forms of intelligence-knowledge, organization, and activity. I believe that it reveals the very essence of intelligence so compellingly that anyone connected with the American intelligence community will be enthralled with the book's message and compelled to act upon it.

This book along with Washington Platt's Strategic Intelligence Production, and National Character in Action act as the cornerstone of American intelligence history and are well worth the cost and effort in locating these rare volumes.