Fixing the Spy Machine: Preparing American Intelligence for the Twenty-First Century

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With the end of the Cold War and the dawning of a new century, the U.S. intelligence system faces new challenges and threats. The system has suffered from penetration by foreign agents, cutbacks in resources, serious errors in judgment, and what appears to be bad management; nonetheless, it remains one of the key elements of America's strategic defense. Hulnick suggests that things are not as bad as they seem, that America's intelligence system is reasonably well prepared to deal with the many threats to national security. He examines the various functions of intelligence from intelligence gathering and espionage to the arcane fields of analysis, spy-catching, secret operations, and even the business of corporate espionage. Hulnick offers a variety of ideas for making the system work better and for attracting the kinds of new intelligence professionals who will build a stronger intelligence system in the next century. Fixing the Spy Machine suggests that the role of the Director of Central Intelligence, the person who runs both the CIA and oversees the U.S. Intelligence Community, should be depoliticized and made stronger. It also concludes that people are responsible for making the system function, not its bureaucratic structure. Still, intelligence managers are going to have to become less risk-averse and more flexible if the system is to function at its best.

Reviews

"Art Hulnick has succeeded where many others fail by summarizing decades of experience inside the U.S. intelligence community with today's students of intelligence in mind. In this lively review of enduring intelligence issues, he identifies the core problems created by the presence of secret organizations in American democracy. Fixing the Spy Machine also explains how the communication revolution is changing the way intelligence agaencies do business and the steps needed to bring U.S. intelligence into the information age. Students will enjoy the way Hulnick describes the nuts and bolts of the U.S. intelligence community, while experts will appreciate the way he describes how organizational cultures hampter innovation and performance. If you ever wanted to learn about the day-to-day issues that confront intelligence professionals, Fixing the Spy Machine is the book for you."-James J. Wirtz Associate Professor of National Security Affairs Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California and author of The Tet Offensive: Intelligence Failure in War
"At a time when many lurid and exaggerated charges are circulating in the general public, Arthur Hulnick has provided one of the most accurate guides to understanding American intelligence operations. Drawing upon long years of first-hand experience, his clear and cogent critique deserves a wide hearing among specialists and non-specialists alike."-Jefferson Adams Professor of History, Sarah Lawrence College Chair of the Intelligence Studies Section of the International Studies Association
"Publication of Fixing the Spy Machine will be welcome news to those teaching the growing number of college courses on intelligence, as well as to students and general-interest readers. Art Hulnick, drawing on his own roots as an intelligence practitioner and his considerable experience as an intelligence author and teacher, gives us a candid and highly readable survey and commentary on what makes America's intelligence "machinery" tick, and what it might take to make it run smoothly in the in the 21st century."-John Hollister Hedley, Ph.D. Author and Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Recently Retired as Chairman of CIA's Publication Review Board
"Hulnick's book is well written and researched...the paperback version will be an excellent text for undergraduate courses in intelligence and national security. Undergraduate collections as well."-Choice
""Hulnick's book is well written and researched...the paperback version will be an excellent text for undergraduate courses in intelligence and national security. Undergraduate collections as well.""-Choice

Author Bio

ARTHUR S. HULNICK is a thirty-five year veteran in the intelligence profession, including seven years as an Air Force Intelligence Officer and twenty-eight years in various assignments in the Central Intelligence Agency./e He has been teaching about intelligence at Boston University since 1989, first as a CIA Officer-in-Residence, and, after his retirement from the CIA in 1992, as a regular member of the faculty. He has published numerous articles on intelligence matters and serves on the Editorial Board of The Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence. He is an active member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO) and is a member of the board of its New England chapter.