2019-034 22 Apr 2019 The U S Intelligence Community by Jeffrey T Richelson 7th ed Boulder CO Westview Press 2016 Pp xvi 632 ISBN 978–0–8133–4918–3 Review by Jan D Galla Englewood Cardiac Surgery Associates jan galla@ehmchealth org “Git thar fustest with the mostest ” This often misquoted phrase of an American Confederate general1 epitomizes the simplest of warfare strategies but belies the difficulty of knowing where or when to place one’s resources or what one will face once there This is the realm of intelligence experts who ferret out facts to aid in decision-making But most of the intelligence community is concerned with avoiding or preventing war by gathering secret confidential or classified material of one’s adversaries and sometimes allies in order to better formulate national strategies The present volume gives a sense of the massive government apparatus dedicated to collecting processing disseminating and using such data The late Jeffrey Richelson 1949–2017 a former senior fellow of the National Security Archives compiled this seventh edition of the compendious yet readable U S Intelligence Community Sound intelligence has always been essential to successful military operations 2 But intelligence gathering was not a US priority following World War I as Secretary of State Henry L Stimson noted “Gentlemen do not read each other’s mail ”3 The years leading up to World War II however saw an increase in intelligence activity and skill in deciphering both diplomatic and military communications that later aided the Allies’ war efforts After the war President Harry Truman disbanded the OSS Office of Strategic Services then “authorized studies of the intelligence apparatus required by the United States in the postwar world” 18 The National Security Act of 1947 led to the establishment of the Central Intelligence Agency CIA which the author identifies as the origin of the governmental “business” of intelligence 19 Richelson explains in meticulous detail the functions of the multitude of US intelligence agencies including besides the CIA the National Security Agency the National Reconnaissance Office the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency the little-known National Underwater Reconnaissance Office the Defense Intelligence Agency and the intelligence branches of the various armed services and civilian departments of the federal government as well as the organization of various Unified Commands within the armed services He devotes profusely illustrated chapters to the varied forms of intelligence—signal measurement signature human—as well as sources methods of collection and materials acquisition He also includes a chapter on information analysis management and dissemination Discrete sections treat Covert Action Special Issues including anti-terror uses of intelligence Bulk Collection Transparency Issues and Leaks on recent developments like the Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden disclosures and congressional oversight Of particular interest is Richelson’s contention that 1 Jack Hurst Nathan Bedford Forrest A Biography NY Knopf 1993 247 2 See e g John Keegan Intelligence in War Knowledge of the Enemy from Napoleon to Al-Qaeda NY Knopf 2003 xx 387 3 Henry L Stinson and McGeorge Bundy On Active Service in Peace and War NY Harper 1948 also online 188 1 Galla - 2 as a whole today’s congressional oversight represents a pale legacy when compared to the early days of those commissions first established as temporary bodies in response to charges of improper CIA domestic activities… The current congressional committees … have a poor record in advancing transparency and declassification and seem to have no real interest in pushing agencies to be more transparent or more responsive with regard to FOIA Freedom of Information Act requests or proactive disclosure Nor have they been transparent about the oversight process 577 This may be either objective commentary or the venting of frustrations by a researcher with limited access to classified material he thinks should be public knowledge In such an encyclopedic volume there are naturally errors and infelicities but those I noticed were mostly minor The annoying plethora of abbreviations jargon and technical terminology is only slightly mitigated by the inclusion of an ample glossary 4 Richelson’s discussion of the U-2 spy plane shot down over Cuba omits the name of the pilot Rudy Anderson And there is precious little information about the U-2’s successor aircraft the A-12 CIA designation SR-71 Air Force designation and its intelligence-gathering missions even though “North Korea had made hundreds of attempts to shoot down overflying SR-71s” 530 Neglected here too is the abundant popular literature both online5 and in print 6 regarding this aircraft’s history and the interagency rivalry over its management Although academics and readers seeking an insider’s view of the intelligence community will find other texts more illuminating 7 Jeffrey Richelson’s final book belongs on the bookshelf of anyone interested in the study of intelligence gathering and government surveillance 4 Readers should keep the US Dept of Defense online Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms at the ready 5 E g Dan's Blackbird Page 6 E g Annie Jacobsen Area 51 An Uncensored History of America’s Top Secret Military Base NY Back Bay Books 2011 7 See Peter C Oleson and Robert M Gates AFIO’s Guide to the Study of Intelligence Falls Church VA Assoc of Former Intelligence Officers 2016 Michigan War Studies Review 2019–034