U.S. Intelligence; Evolution and Anatomy

Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1984. Presumed First Edition Second printing. Trade paperback. Fair. x, 134 pages. Glossary. Notes. Index. The Washington Papers 105. Foreword by David Kahn. Published with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. No dust jacket as issued. Upper right corner of title page clipped off. Some highlighting to text noted. Phone number written in ink on title page. Mark M. Lowenthal is an author was Adjunct Professor at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C. He has written five books and over 90 articles or studies on intelligence and national security. His book Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy has become a standard undergraduate and graduate text. In 1995, Lowenthal served as the staff director of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. In this capacity, he directed the committee's study on the future of the Intelligence Community, "IC21: The Intelligence Community in the 21st Century". Lowenthal was the Senior Specialist in U.S. Foreign Policy at the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. In 2005, Lowenthal retired from a prolific career working with the United States Intelligence Community and a recognized national security affairs expert. He is the former Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Analysis and Production and former Vice Chairman for Evaluation on the National Intelligence Council. He has also served in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), as both an office director and as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State. A comprehensive descriptive analysis of the history, structures, functions, and problems of the U.S. intelligence community. No major twentieth-century power has so short a history of national intelligence agencies or activities as does the United States, and few have been as public or as tumultuous. A major debate has now opened over the future structure, size, and role of U.S. intelligence in the aftermath of the cold war. This book is a history of the U.S. intelligence community--as well as a detailed description of the organization and function of the major components of the community as they existed at the beginning of 1984. The history of the intelligence community can be divided into distinct periods. From its creation in 1947 until the revelations and investigations of 1974-1975, the intelligence community operated under fairly broad grants of authority based on trust. After the Nixon administration, a previously dormant Congress was galvanized to write new oversight provisions and also took on a greater role as a shaper and consumer of intelligence. Lowenthal emphasizes that a competent and challenged intelligence capability is an essential part of the U.S. national security structure, despite the status of external events or threats. The major requirement of this structure, he says, is providing timely, objective, and pointed analysis to policymakers across a wide range of issues.