Intelligence and surprise attack: failure and success from Pearl Harbor to 9/11 and beyond

摘要

From the point of view of educators in intelligence, whether governmental or private sector, Prof. Dahl's book is an important addition to any curriculum. In contrast with many studies of past intelligence activities, he attempts to study both intelligence failures, which are very widely studied and discussed, and intelligence successes, about which much less is usually known (for reasons which he explains). He takes two kinds of cases, conventional and terrorist surprise attacks, and looks at both successful and unsuccessful attacks. What he is looking for is an answer to what seems to be an obvious question with obvious answers: 'Why does intelligence fail, and how can it succeed?'