The Problem of Secret Intelligence

Intelligence, Surveillance and Secret Warfare

by Kjetil Anders Hatlebrekke

What is intelligence – why is it so hard to define, and why is there no systematic theory of intelligence? Classic intelligence analysis is based on an inference between history and the future – and this has led to a restriction in how we can perceive new threats, and new variations of threats. Now, Kjetil Anders Hatlebrekke rethinks intelligence analysis, arguing that good intelligence is based on understanding the threats that appear beyond our experience, and are therefore the most dangerous to society.

336 pages, Paperback

Published February 16, 2021

Reviews

[Noah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hatlebrekke argues that the lack of a suitable theory of intelligence is one of the main causes of discourse failure in the IC. The author goes on to identify discourse failure as a source of our limited threat paradigms and thus intelligence failure. This is not particularly thought-provoking. What makes this book novel is that Hatlebrekke shows how discourse failure is aggravated by "the problem of induction", secrecy and tribal language. The book is at its best when it examines the function of intelligence and considers the multifaceted nature of intelligence through "the twelve images".

Also, if you take a shot every time the author uses the verb "elucidate", you will be drunk by the third chapter.

[Von · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a philosophy of the theory and practice of secret intelligence from that very rare of writers: an operational veteran and philosopher. The book is a highly important one, and is highly likely to become as esteemed as Von Clausewitz’s On War. Try it, stick with it, and you will be well rewarded. It goes to the essence of intelligence activity in a way no other book has done

[David Kritz · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the current best books I have read on intelligence that adroitly makes for a thought-provoking read for scholars and practitioners.