Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy

Mark M. Lowenthal’s trusted guide is the go-to resource for understanding how the intelligence community’s history, structure, procedures, and functions affect policy decisions. In this Sixth Edition, the author highlights new challenges facing the intelligence community, examining NSA programs, UAVs, the impact of social media, and the effects of the Snowden leaks on collection and Congressional oversight. All transnational issues have been updated, especially to reflect changes in the war on terror. New analytic issues receive attention, including Big Data, multi-intelligence analysis, and shifting demands on the workforce. An expanded chapter on oversight scrutinizes the role of the FISA court, OMB, and GAO.

Mark M. Lowenthal has over forty-four years of experience in U.S. intelligence. He has served as the Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Analysis and Production, Vice Chairman for Evaluation on the National Intelligence Council, staff director of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, office director and as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the State Department′s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), and Senior Specialist in U.S. Foreign Policy at the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. He is now the President and CEO of the Intelligence & Security Academy, an education and consulting firm. Dr. Lowenthal received his BA from Brooklyn College and his PhD in history from Harvard University. He serves as an adjunct professor at the Johns Hopkins University; the National Intelligence University; Sciences Po (Paris); and the Norwegian Defence Intelligence School. He was an adjunct at Columbia University from 1993–2007.