First published 2007
Judge Richard A. Posner scrutinizes the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 and its implementation over two years of attempted wholesale intelligence system reorganization. This third installment in his intelligence reform series tackles the broader war on terrorism, examining why criminal law enforcement has failed and how officials struggle to create sensible criteria for distributing counterterrorist funding. Posner finds mixed results in efforts to build a more coherent and effective intelligence apparatus. Intelligence analysis and open source gathering have improved, but overall advancement has crawled forward at a frustrating pace. Senior intelligence officials keep getting pulled away from big picture supervision and coordination into immediate crisis response mode. Most troubling to Posner is the chaotic state of domestic intelligence operations, which leaves America vulnerable to homegrown terrorist threats that differ significantly from foreign-initiated attacks. The book offers readers a clear-eyed assessment of where intelligence reform has succeeded and where dangerous gaps remain.
Genres: history, political-science, politics, non-fiction, 21st-century, current-affairs, academic, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism
Period: 21st-century
264 pages · Hardcover · Rowman & Littlefield Publishers