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Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence, 3d Edition 3rd Edition, Kindle Edition
- ISBN-13978-1574883459
- Edition3rd
- PublisherPotomac Books Inc.
- Publication dateMay 30, 2002
- LanguageEnglish
- File size641 KB
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
- Daniel K. Blewett, Loyola Univ. Lib., Chicago
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
“Easy to read and understand.”—Library Journal
“The best place for the general reader to start learning about the real world of intelligence work.”—Robin W. Winks, author of Cloak and Gown: Scholars in the Secret War
“Silent Warfare is the ideal primer on intelligence. It offers not only a comprehensive introduction to the subject, but an analysis of intelligence that exposes the flaws in the conventional wisdom of the intelligence community. A superbly balanced work.”—Elliott A. Cohen, professor and director of strategic studies, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University
“Contains many insights. . . . Well worth reading.”—Ray S. Cline, former deputy director of the CIA
About the Author
Abram N. Shulsky was a senior fellow at the National Strategy Information Center in Washington when he wrote Silent Warfare. He currently serves in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Product details
- ASIN : B005CWJ82W
- Publisher : Potomac Books Inc.; 3rd edition (May 30, 2002)
- Publication date : May 30, 2002
- Language : English
- File size : 641 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 265 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 1574883453
- Best Sellers Rank: #888,407 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer Reviews:
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Customers find the book pretty informative and easy to read. They also appreciate the examples and good examples.
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Customers find the book's content informative, enjoyable, and well-rounded. They also appreciate the examples and find it easy to read.
"...The book is an excellent introduction to the discipline of intelligence independent of specific agencies or practices of the IC...." Read more
"...for the book, you can’t help but think that this book was relatively well researched and its sources go well beyond just newspaper articles...." Read more
"...Abram Shulsky and Gary Schmitt have written a excellent book on the world of intelligence...." Read more
"...It covers a wide variety of information without getting to in-depth into any one subject, so it feels like a pretty well-rounded experience...." Read more
Customers find the book easy to read and short.
"...I thought the book was pretty good and very easy to read. In fact, I think I read it during Christmas holiday leave...." Read more
"...Easy to read and plenty of examples. Well done." Read more
"This book was incredibly informative, concise, and written for those who want a good lesson on intelligence policy...." Read more
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"Silent Warfare" is the best introduction I have found to the arcane world of intelligence and is an excellent textbook for an introductory course. However, in a utopian world that course would be taught over a year and in its second semester students would read another excellent intelligence text, "Intelligence From Secrets to Policy" by Mark Lowenthal, which moves from the abstract to general, but specific practices and operations of the U.S. IC. The two books compliment each other very well.
One reviewer mentioned that there wasn’t much here that you couldn’t get from “following the news.” I’m not quite sure what made the reviewer make that claim. If you just glance at the notes section for the book, you can’t help but think that this book was relatively well researched and its sources go well beyond just newspaper articles. I’ve read some books where practically every footnote or endnote is a reference to some newspaper article. That’s not the case with this book. Sources range from government reports and books written by other experts in the field to articles from industry journals that may or may not require you to buy a subscription (e.g., Studies in Intelligence, International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, …). Some newspaper articles ARE cited. I think I saw one to an article in Foreign Affairs and another to a Washington Post article, but clearly this book isn’t just a compilation of news tidbits that one reader might have you believe. In fact, the notes for this book are some of the most detailed, yet most interesting notes I’ve seen in a book. In fact, I underlined and made notes on many of them.
My intention is not to make this post a thorough, top to bottom review of the book. It’s received 31 reviews in addition to what blurb may be found on the jacket cover, so I figure someone has probably already “been there, done that.” However, I do want to address another “critical” review of the book, which addresses its lack of thoroughness on counterintelligence. First of all, if you read the cover of the book, you’ll know that this is not a book specifically on counterintelligence. It is a book on intelligence, of which counterintelligence is merely one aspect. I don’t think the author tries to pretend otherwise. Granted, the book doesn’t go into great detail on some sections (its section on codes and ciphers comes to mind), but I do think it gives just enough to pique the interest of readers and whet their appetite for more. As for counterintelligence, specifically, the author does devote an entire chapter to it and I will admit that if you are already working in intelligence or have in the past, some of this will be very basic for you and/or be something you’ve heard repeated over and over again. Classification levels come to mind here and, more specifically, the issue of “overclassification." But even entry-level intelligence practitioners may find it interesting to know that:
“In recent years, the same issue [overclassification] has surfaced in other countries, particularly Great Britain, where the laws governing the release of governmental information are much stricter than in the United States.” (p. 102)
Lastly, allow me to point out another aspect of this book that I believe adds to its credibility as a book worthy of purchase for those interested in this topic: the number of editions for it. I haven’t read this anywhere, so I don’t know how valid this line of reasoning is, but it would seem to me that if a book is worthy of a second or third update/revision, there’s a reason for it. An author isn’t going to take the time to update and a publisher isn’t going to spend the money for reprint if a book isn’t selling. SILENT WARFARE, now in its third edition, clearly must be appealing to someone, somewhere … and for a reason.
My biggest problem with this book is that at points it reads like a college textbook, which isn't always a particularly good thing. I also found some of the sections that talked about the relations between policy and intelligence to be pretty dull. Overall this book is a pretty informative and a mostly enjoyable read.







