Spy Chiefs: Volume 1 (Paperback)

Christopher Moran

ISBN 10: 162616519X / ISBN 13: 9781626165199

Published by Georgetown University Press, Washington, DC, 2018

Paperback. In literature and film the spy chief is an all-knowing, all-powerful figure who masterfully moves spies into action like pieces on a chessboard. How close to reality is that depiction, and what does it really take to be an effective leader in the world of intelligence? This first volume of Spy Chiefs broadens and deepens our understanding of the role of intelligence leaders in foreign affairs and national security in the United States and United Kingdom from the early 1940s to the present. The figures profiled range from famous spy chiefs such as William Donovan, Richard Helms, and Stewart Menzies to little-known figures such as John Grombach, who ran an intelligence organization so secret that not even President Truman knew of it. The volume tries to answer six questions arising from the spy-chief profiles: how do intelligence leaders operate in different national, institutional, and historical contexts? What role have they played in the conduct of international relations and the making of national security policy? How much power do they possess? What qualities make an effective intelligence leader? How secretive and accountable to the public have they been?Finally, does popular culture (including the media) distort or improve our understanding of them? Many of those profiled in the book served at times of turbulent change, were faced with foreign penetrations of their intelligence service, and wrestled with matters of transparency, accountability to democratically elected overseers, and adherence to the rule of law. This book will appeal to both intelligence specialists and general readers with an interest in the intelligence history of the United States and United Kingdom. This book grew out of two academic meetings. The first was a panel, organized by Paul Maddrell, on Intelligence Leaders in International Relations at the 55th annual convention of the International Studies Association in Toronto, Canada, in March 2014. This led to a second, a conference entitled Spy Chiefs: Intelligence Leaders in History, Culture Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9781626165199

Synopsis:

In literature and film the spy chief is an all-knowing, all-powerful figure who masterfully moves spies into action like pieces on a chessboard. How close to reality is that depiction, and what does it really take to be an effective leader in the world of intelligence?

This first volume of Spy Chiefs broadens and deepens our understanding of the role of intelligence leaders in foreign affairs and national security in the United States and United Kingdom from the early 1940s to the present. The figures profiled range from famous spy chiefs such as William Donovan, Richard Helms, and Stewart Menzies to little-known figures such as John Grombach, who ran an intelligence organization so secret that not even President Truman knew of it. The volume tries to answer six questions arising from the spy-chief profiles: how do intelligence leaders operate in different national, institutional, and historical contexts? What role have they played in the conduct of international relations and the making of national security policy? How much power do they possess? What qualities make an effective intelligence leader? How secretive and accountable to the public have they been? Finally, does popular culture (including the media) distort or improve our understanding of them? Many of those profiled in the book served at times of turbulent change, were faced with foreign penetrations of their intelligence service, and wrestled with matters of transparency, accountability to democratically elected overseers, and adherence to the rule of law. This book will appeal to both intelligence specialists and general readers with an interest in the intelligence history of the United States and United Kingdom.

About the Author:

Christopher Moran is associate professor of US national security at the University of Warwick. 

Mark Stout is program director of the MA in Global Security Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University and the former historian of the International Spy Museum.

Ioanna Iordanou is a senior lecturer specializing in organizational and business history at the Oxford Brookes University School of Business.

Paul Maddrell is a lecturer in Modern German History at Loughborough University.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Spy Chiefs: Volume 1 (Paperback)
Publisher: Georgetown University Press, Washington, DC
Publication Date: 2018
Binding: Paperback
Condition: new