Intelligence in Peace and War
Course Themes: Key reading
We realise that the amount of literature available on
intelligence can appear daunting. To ease you into certain
topics we’ve put together this note on various themes we
cover in the course. It is, essentially, a short list of where we
would start if we were reading up on these topics.
The Oxford Handbook of National Security Intelligence
Edited by Loch K. Johnson is an excellent starting point for
many aspects of intelligence studies. It is available online, find
it using a KCL Library Search.
The nature and study of intelligence
Themes covered below include:
 The nature and study of
intelligence
 Ethics
 Intelligence failure
 Intelligence in war
 Covert actions
 Intelligence and terror
 Oversight
 Politicisation
 Intelligence and cyberspace
 Interrogation and torture

Peter Gill & Mark Phythian, Intelligence in an insecure world (Cambridge: Polity, 2012)
David Omand Securing the State (London: Husrt, 2010)
Michael Herman Intelligence power in peace and war (Cambridge: RIIA, 1996)
Ethics:
David Omand Securing the State (London: Hurst, 2010)
Jan Goldman, (ed), Ethics of Spying: A Reader for the Intelligence Professional (Oxford. 2006).
Ross Bellaby, 'What's the Harm? The Ethics of Intelligence Collection,' Intelligence and National
Security, Vol. 27, No. 1 (2012), pp. 93-117.
Intelligence failure:
Betts, R., ‘Analysis, War, and Decision: Why Intelligence Failures are Inevitable’, World Politics, Vol.
31, No. 1 (October 1978).
Jervis, R., Why Intelligence Fails: Lesons from the Iranian Revolution to the Iraq War (New York,
2010)
R. Jervis, ‘Reports, Politics, and Intelligence Failures: The Case of Iraq’, Journal of Strategic Studies
(2006).
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Intelligence in war:
Keith Jeffery MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service (London: Bloomsbury, 2010)
John Keegan Intelligence in war : knowledge of the enemy from Napoleon to Al-Qaeda ( London :
Pimlico, 2004)
F. H. Hinsley British intelligence in the Second World War (abridged edition) (London : HMSO, 1994)
Handel, M. (ed.), Intelligence and Military Operations (London, 1990)
Handel, M., War, Strategy and Intelligence (London: Frank Cass, 1989)
Covert actions:
Peter Gill & Mark Phythian, Intelligence in an insecure world (Cambridge: Polity, 2012)
Jennifer D. Kibbe, ‘Covert action and the Pentagon’ Secret Intelligence: A Reader (London:
Routledge, 2009)
Gary C. Schroen, First in an insider's account of how the CIA spearheaded the war on terror in
Afghanistan (New York : Ballantine / Presidio Press, 2007)
John Prados Safe for democracy: the secret wars of the CIA (Lanham : Ivan R. Dee, 2006)
Steve Coll Ghost Wars: The secret history of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden, from the Soviet
invasion to September 10, 2001 (London : Penguin, 2005)
Intelligence and terror:
Gregory Treverton, Intelligence for an Age of Terror (Cambridge University Press: 2009)
Christopher Andrew, The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5 (London: Penguin,
2010).
Amy Zegart, Spying Blind: The CIA, the FBI and the Origins of 9/11. (New Jersey: Princeton
University Press, 2007).
Kean et al. The 9/11 Commission report : final report of the National Commission on Terrorist
Attacks upon the United States (London : W.W. Norton, 2004)
Oversight:
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Aldrich, R., ‘Global Intelligence Co-operation versus Accountability: New Facets to an Old Problem’,
Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 24, No. 1 (2009).
Glees, Davies, Morrison The Open Side of Secrecy (London, The Social Affairs Unit, 2006)
Krieger, Wolfgang, ‘Oversight of Intelligence: A Comparative Perspective’, in National intelligence
Systems, ed. by Treverton, G. and Agrell, W. (Cambridge, 2009)
Politicisation:
Uri Bar-Joseph, ‘The Politicization of Intelligence: A Comparative Study’ International Journal of
Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 26:2 (2013)
Joshua Rovner, Fixing the Facts: National Security and the Politics of Intelligence (New York, 2011)
Richard K. Betts, ‘Politicization of intelligence: costs and benefits’ in Paradoxes of Strategic
Intelligence: Essays in Honour of Michael Handel (London: Frank Cass, 2003)
Michael Handel, ‘The Politics of Intelligence’, Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 2, No. 4,
(October 1987).
Intelligence and cyberspace:
Interrogation and torture:
Maureen Ramsey, “Can the torture of terrorist suspects be justified?”; Chapter 24 in C. Andrew, R.
J. Aldrich, W. K. Wark, eds., Secret Intelligence: A Reader (London, 2008)
Aldrich, R.J. “‘A Skeleton in Our Cupboard’: British Interrogation Procedures in Northern Ireland,”
in Learning from the Secret Past: Cases in British Intelligence History (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown
University Press, 2011) pp. 161-189.
Newbery Samantha, et al. 2009. “Interrogation, Intelligence and the Issue of Human Rights.”
Intelligence and National Security 24: 631-43.
Wisnewski, J.J., Understanding Torture (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2010), especially
Chapters 3, 5, 6 and 8.
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