Contents
Back to the Future
Rethinking Analytic Disciplines, Reordering the Profession
J. Eli Margolis
In this article, senior Defense Intelligence Agency analyst J. Eli Margolis reviews thinking about different kinds of uncertainty (epistemic and aleatory) and uses the construct to suggest an alternative approach to defining analytic disciplines and products.
Historical Perspectives
From the Studies Archive: Genesis of a Project
Intelligence Implications of Disease
Warren F. Carey and Myles Maxfield
Published in Studies in Intelligence in 1972, the article written by two distinguished members of CIA’s Office of Scientific Intelligence explored the implications for intelligence inquiry of outbreaks of meningitis in the People’s Republic of China during 1966–67.
From the National Archive
Allen Dulles on Political Reporting, 1925: Nuts, Bolts, and Philosophy
David A. Langbart
The National Archives archivist responsible for national security agency records uncovered a lecture given in 1925 by the then-Foreign Service officer Allen W. Dulles, who would serve in OSS during WW II and become the first civilian Director of Central Intelligence in 1953. In 1925, he had risen in the ranks of the Foreign Service since joining it in 1916, and delivered this lecture to students at the Foreign Service School, which had only been established the year before.
Review Essays
Covert Action to Promote Democracy in China during the Cold War
Nicholas Dujmovic
Two New Contributions to “Putin Studies”: Putin’s People and Rigged
J. E. Leonardson
Intelligence in Public Media
Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took on the West
Reviewed by Matthew J.
The Quiet Americans – Four CIA Spies at the Dawn of the Cold War –Tragedy in Three Acts
Reviews by Leslie C. and Peter Sichel
The Dragons and the Snakes: How the Rest Learned to Fight the West
Reviewed by George P. Lewis
Chinese Spies: From Chairman Mao to Xi Jinping
Reviewed by David Ian Chambers
Secrets and Spies: UK Intelligence Accountability after Iraq and Snowden
Reviewed by Jason U. Manosevitz
Reviewed by Brent M. Geary
Shatter the Nations: ISIS and the War for the Caliphate
Reviewed by Brent M. Geary
Major General George H. Sharpe and the Creation of American Military Intelligence in the Civil War
Reviewed by David Welker
Intelligence Officer’s Bookshelf—December 2020
Compiled and reviewed by Hayden Peake
Contributors
Warren F. Carey and Myles Maxfield were members of the Life Sciences Division of the Office of Scientific Intelligence in CIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology. Dr. Carey had passed away only months before the article was published in 1972. Dr. Maxfield would serve in CIA for many more years. He died in retirement in 2007.
David Ian Chambers is a retired member of the British Diplomatic Service.
Leslie C. is an officer in CIA’s Directorate of Operations.
Nicholas Dujmovic is the founding director of the Intelligence Studies Program at The Catholic University of America. He retired from CIA after 26 years of service as analyst, manager, editor of the President’s Daily Brief, and CIA historian.
Brent Geary is a member of CIA’s History Staff and a member of the Studies Editorial Board.
Matthew J. serves in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
David Langbart is an archivist at the National Archives, where he is the specialist on records of the foreign affairs agencies.
J. E. Leonardson is the pen name of an analyst in CIA’s Directorate of Analysis.
George P. Lewis is the pen name of an officer in CIA’s Directorate of Science and Technology
Jason U. Manosevitz is an analyst in CIA’s Directorate of Analysis and a member of the Studies Editorial Board.
J. Eli Margolis is a senior intelligence analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency.
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.
Peter Sichel served with OSS and CIA. He resigned from the agency in 1959. His memoir, The Secrets of My Life: Vintner, Prisoner, Soldier, Spy appeared in 2016 (ArchwayPublishing).
David Welker is a member of CIA’s History Staff.