Why Intelligence Fails
Lessons from the Iranian Revolution and the Iraq War (Cornell Studies in Security Affairs Series)
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Narrated by:
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Kevin Pierce
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By:
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Robert L. Jervis
About this listen
The U.S. government spends enormous resources each year on the gathering and analysis of intelligence, yet the history of American foreign policy is littered with missteps and misunderstandings that have resulted from intelligence failures. In Why Intelligence Fails, Robert Jervis examines the politics and psychology of two of the more spectacular intelligence failures in recent memory: the mistaken belief that the regime of the Shah in Iran was secure and stable in 1978, and the claim that Iraq had active WMD programs in 2002.
The Iran case is based on a recently declassified report Jervis was commissioned to undertake by the CIA thirty years ago and includes memoranda written by CIA officials in response to Jervis's findings. The Iraq case, also grounded in a review of the intelligence community's performance, is based on close readings of both classified and declassified documents, though Jervis's conclusions are entirely supported by evidence that has been declassified. In both cases, Jervis finds not only that intelligence was badly flawed but also that later explanations - analysts were bowing to political pressure and telling the White House what it wanted to hear or were willfully blind - were also incorrect. Proponents of these explanations claimed that initial errors were compounded by groupthink, lack of coordination within the government, and failure to share information. Policy prescriptions, including the recent establishment of a Director of National Intelligence, were supposed to remedy the situation.
In Jervis's estimation, neither the explanations nor the prescriptions are adequate. The inferences that intelligence drew were actually quite plausible given the information available. Errors arose, he concludes, from insufficient attention to the ways in which information should be gathered and interpreted, a lack of self-awareness about the factors that led to the judgments, and an organizational culture that failed to probe for weaknesses and explore alternatives. Evaluating the inherent tensions between the methods and aims of intelligence personnel and policymakers from a unique insider's perspective, Jervis forcefully criticizes recent proposals for improving the performance of the intelligence community and discusses ways in which future analysis can be improved.
The book is published by Cornell University Press.
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Story
Most Americans have grown accustomed to accept the version of history that the Soviets were our noble allies and took the brunt of the casualties during World War II. But after decades of research by veteran journalist M. Stanton Evans and intelligence expert Herbert Romerstein, the truth has come to light and is now exposed in Stalin's Secret Agents. Evans and Romerstein focus on the role of secret Communist Alger Hiss at the crucial Yalta Conference of 1945, where vast U.S. concessions were made to Russia....
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Stalin actually ran our war policy!
- By WSV1975 on 07-04-13
By: M. Stanton Evans, and others
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Another Bloody Century
- By: Colin Gray
- Narrated by: David Shaw-Parker
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Many nations, peoples and special interest groups believe that violence will advance their cause. Warfare has changed greatly since the Second World War; it continued to change during the late 20th century, and this process is still accelerating. Political, technological, social and religious forces are shaping the future of warfare, but most Western armed forces have yet to evolve significantly from the Cold War era when they trained to resist a conventional invasion by the Warsaw Pact.
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a must read for those who study warfare
- By Austin on 01-21-24
By: Colin Gray
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The Future of War
- A History
- By: Lawrence Freedman
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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The Future of War - which covers civil wars to as yet unknown nuclear conflicts, proxy wars (real) to the Cold War (not), fashionably small wars to the War to End All Wars (it didn't) - is filled with insight and fascinating nuggets of military history and culture from one of the most brilliant military and strategic historians of his generation.
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A good historical review of the progression of war
- By Ian R. Graham on 06-14-18
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How Wars End
- Why We Always Fight the Last Battle
- By: Gideon Rose
- Narrated by: Gideon Rose
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1991, the United States Army trounced the Iraqi army in battle only to stumble blindly into postwar turmoil. Then in 2003 the United States did it again. How could this happen? How could the strongest power in modern history fight two wars against the same opponent in just over a decade, win lightning victories both times, and yet still be woefully unprepared for the aftermath? Because Americans always forget the political aspects of war.
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Excellent book
- By Luis on 11-04-10
By: Gideon Rose
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The Hundred-Year Marathon
- China's Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower
- By: Michael Pillsbury
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the US government's leading China experts reveals the hidden strategy fueling that country's rise - and how Americans have been seduced into helping China overtake us as the world's leading superpower.
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Fascinating perspective.
- By Rocky Mackintosh on 01-05-17
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On Power and Ideology
- The Managua Lectures
- By: Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: Brian Jones
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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The arguments are concise, and the information is overwhelming. The first two lectures examine the persistent and largely invariant features of foreign policy, the overall framework of order. The third discusses Central America and its foreign policy pattern. The fourth looks at national security and the arms race. And the fifth examines US domestic policy.
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Eye opening
- By Alex on 08-22-15
By: Noam Chomsky
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Kissinger's Shadow
- The Long Reach of America's Most Controversial Statesman
- By: Greg Grandin
- Narrated by: Brian O'Neill
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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A new account of America's most controversial diplomat that moves beyond praise or condemnation to reveal Kissinger as the architect of America's current imperial stance. In his fascinating new book, acclaimed historian Greg Grandin argues that to understand the crisis of contemporary America - its never-ending wars abroad and political polarization at home - we have to understand Henry Kissinger.
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A Rehash of Rehashes...nothing new
- By A. M. on 10-06-19
By: Greg Grandin
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Magnificent Delusions
- Pakistan, the United States, and an Epic History of Misunderstanding
- By: Husain Haqqani
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 14 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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A character-driven history that describes the bizarrely ill-suited alliance between America and Pakistan, written by a uniquely insightful participant: Pakistan's former ambassador to the US. The relationship between America and Pakistan is based on mutual incomprehension, and always has been. Pakistan - to American eyes - has gone from being a stabilizing friend to an essential military ally to a seedbed of terror.
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It it Delusions or Sleeping with the Enemy
- By Shah Alam on 01-28-14
By: Husain Haqqani
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Ike's Gamble
- America's Rise to Dominance in the Middle East
- By: Michael Doran
- Narrated by: Casey Jones
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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In 1956 President Nasser of Egypt moved to take possession of the Suez Canal, thereby bringing the Middle East to the brink of war. The British and the French, who operated the canal, joined with Israel in a plan to retake it by force. Despite the special relationship between England and America, Dwight Eisenhower intervened to stop the invasion.
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Tightly Argued
- By Jean on 01-10-17
By: Michael Doran
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Hegemony or Survival
- America's Quest for Global Dominance
- By: Noam Chomsky
- Narrated by: Brian Jones, Noam Chomsky
- Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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For more than half a century, the United States has been pursuing a grand imperial strategy with the aim of staking out the globe. Our leaders have shown themselves willing, as in the Cuban missile crisis, to follow the dream of dominance no matter how high the risks. Now the Bush administration is intensifying this process, driving us toward the final frontiers of imperial control, toward a choice between the prerogatives of power and a livable Earth.
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Read and open your mind
- By Rupert on 01-15-04
By: Noam Chomsky
What listeners say about Why Intelligence Fails
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Pvo
- 07-18-15
Solid book
This is an interesting book, definitely make you look at Intel differently. The conclusion is very good and interesting.
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- Walden
- 05-28-22
The late Professor Jervis crushed this one
this is an excellent book, where Professor Jervis offers a balanced and comprehensive view of intelligence analysis and how it and its producers relate to policy makers and the policy context that both sets of actors operate within. while this is certainly not a book for beginners, as the reader will require a solid basis of understanding in international relations, security, diplomacy, and intelligence, but Professor Jarvis is describing a world that is exceedingly complex and in which he tries and succeeds to break down into more digestible bites for any curious reader. he succeeds most in his fair and balanced analyzes of the psychological States of politicians and intelligence officers, and uses these psychological perspectives to explain why decisions are made and why mishaps may occur. an excellent example of this is the discussion of wmd Iraq in 2003, specifically how Professor Jervis contracts the seemingly pre decided need of the Bush administration to label Iraq as a hostile regime, versus an intelligence community which either did not adequately Express or was not received through their message that Saddam had many indicators of interest or possession in acquiring extremely dangerous weapons, but the fixation on the colon Powell presentation, and narrowly looking for yellow cake, plutonium 234, aluminum tubes, or centrifuges, obscures the overall pattern of behavior that Saddam was exhibiting at the time, and which may have been more useful in providing a convincing intelligence analysis to policy makers at the time. in short professor jervis's book is indispensable for anyone in the intelligence or policy communities, or anyone in the public interested in a well-researched and very informative book from one of the fields all time great scholars. Rest in Peace Professor Jervis.
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- "btomaz"
- 12-15-22
It’s complicated
I loved the book. Its a masterpiece, but hard to listen at times, not because its not good but because its dense.
Chapter 2 about Iran really hard to listen and focus.
Chapter 4 is a masterpiece.
If you not an IC person… skip it
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