On Intelligence: Spies and Secrecy in an Open World [Inscribed and Signed by Steele]

This book is about the reinvention of national, defense and business intelligence within the larger context of an open worlda world where "Evil Empires" and the Berlin Wall have fallenbut also a world where transportation, power, financial, and communications infrastructures are so open as to dramatically increase the vulnerability of America to trans-continental epidemics, anonymous information terrorism, and nation-wide power black-outs and financial melt-downs. As the world enters the Information Century, and simultaneously confronts the fragmentation of many nation-states and the emergence of widespread ethnic, tribal and criminal gang terrorism and confrontation, no topic can be more important to federal, state, and local governmentsand to international, national, and local businesses than the topic of "intelligence". Thankfully, there are many positive lessons and methods to be drawn from the U.S. Idrawn upon to make both government and business "smarter" about their environment, their customers, and their competitors. This book is a primer on the role of the intelligence Community, and there are a wealth of open sources and services that can be drawn upon to make both government and business "smarter" about their environment, their customers, and their competitors. This book is a primer on the role of intelligence qua sources, methods, and community at the dawn of the 21st century.

Robert David Steele is the CEO of OSS Inc. and a 25 year veteran of the U.S. national and defense intelligence community. He has been twice-named to the Microtimes 100: "Industry leaders and unsung heroes who...helped create the future", and was the first recipient of the SOURCES eJournal "Sages of the Ages" award. He has served in three of the four Directorates of the Central Intelligence Agency; served overseas in three consecutive and dangerous tours as a clandestine service officer under deep cover; helped program for overhead imagery satellites and support national signals intelligence programs; managed an offensive national-level counterintelligence program; and been the senior civilian responsible for creating the newest U.S. national intelligence production facility, the U.S. Marine Corps Intelligence Center. As OSS CEO he has inventoried open sources and services around the globe, and provides direct open source intelligence support to a variety of government and private sector organizations.