Historical Perspectives
The American Candidate
*US Intelligence, Theodor Heuss, and the Making of West Germany’s First President
Thomas Boghardt
The many accolades about his opposition to the Nazis and his pro-democratic bent that were pronounced upon the death of Theodor Heuss in 1963 do not tell the full story of Heuss’s ascendancy to president. Heuss’s postwar career unfolded under the US military occupation, when the intelligence services of the US Army played a significant role in the democratization of German society. US intelligence officials enlisted Heuss in this effort.
Remembering Louis Austin O’Jibway
*A Native American Hero in the OSS and CIA
John Whiteclay Chambers II
Louis Austin O’Jibway served with an OSS amphibious unit along the Burma Coast and then won a Bronze Star for heroism with an OSS paratrooper operational group against Japanese forces in China. Later, as a paramilitary specialist, O’Jibway was one of the few American Indians in the CIA during the Cold War. After O’Jibway was killed in Laos in 1965, CIA posthumously awarded his family medals for his meritorious service in Southeast Asia.
Remembering a Triumph in Intelligence
*Fifty Years after “Black September” in Jordan
Bruce Riedel
The Jordanian civil war in 1970, better known as Black September, was decided by an intelligence success led by King Hussein and his chief of intelligence. It was a mystery for years until revealed in the memoir of a former CIA officer serving in the region at the time. President Richard Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger took great credit for managing the Black September crisis, but in fact their role was marginal to the outcome of the biggest threat to Hussein’s survival.
Intelligence in Public Media
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know
Reviewed by Dr. Bowman H. Miller, PhD
Russians Among Us: Sleeper Cells, Ghost Stories and the Hunt for Putin’s Agents
Reviewed by J. E. Leonardson
House of Government: A Saga of the Russian Revolution
Reviewed by Leslie C.
Betrayal in Berlin: The True Story of the Cold War’s Most Audacious Espionage Operation
Reviewed by Gary Keeley
Reviewed by Ryan Shaffer
Japan’s Spy at Pearl Harbor: Memoir of an Imperial Navy Secret Agent
Reviewed by Stephen C. Mercado
At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor
Reviewed by Michael J. Hughes
The Walls Have Ears: The Greatest Intelligence Operation of World War II
Reviewed by J. E. Leonardson
The Force: The Legendary Special Ops Unit and WWII’s Impossible Mission
Reviewed by J. R. Seeger
Monash’s Masterpiece: The Battle of Hamel and the 93 minutes that Changed WWI
Reviewed by James Noone
Intelligence Officer’s Bookshelf—June 2020
Compiled and reviewed by Hayden Peake
Contributors
Thomas Boghardt is a senior historian at the US Army Center of Military History. He is the author of several books, including The Zimmermann Telegram (2012) and Spies of the Kaiser (2005). His official history of US Army Intelligence operations in Germany is scheduled for publication in 2021 under the title: Covert Legions: U.S. Army Intelligence in Germany, 1944–1949.
John Whiteclay Chambers II is author of a dozen books, including OSS Training in the National Parks and Service Abroad in World War II (National Park Service, 2008), published in paperback as Bang-Bang Boys, Jedburghs, and the House of Horrors: A History of OSS Training and Service Abroad in World War II (Uncommon Valor Press, 2016).
Leslie C. is an officer in CIA’s Directorate of Operations.
Michael J. Hughes is course director of the Surprise & Warning Workshop at CIA’s Sherman Kent School of Analysis.
Gary Keeley is a member of CIA’s History Staff.
J. E. Leonardson is the penname of an analyst in CIA’s Directorate of Analysis.
Stephen Mercado is a former Open Source Enterprise officer. He enjoys reading intelligence history in several languages.
Dr. Bowman Miller, PhD teaches graduate courses at NIU. He had served 36 years in Air Force counterintelligence and in the Department of State (INR) doing all-source foreign affairs analysis.
Jim Noone is a retired senior DIA officer.
Hayden Peake has served in the CIA’s Directorates of Operations and Science and Technology. He has been compiling and writing reviews for the “Intelligence Officer’s Bookshelf” since December 2002.
Bruce Riedel is the head of the Brookings Institution’s Intelligence Project. He is a 30-year veteran of the CIA and was advisor on the National Security Council (NSC) to four presidents.
J. R. Seeger is a retired CIA paramilitary officer and frequent reviewer of books in the field.
Ryan Shaffer is a writer and historian. His academic work explores Asian, African, and European history.