Twenty-First Century Intelligence

Book excerpt: Twenty-First Century Intelligence collects the thinking of some of the foremost experts on the future of intelligence in our new century. The essays contained in this volume are set against the backdrop of the transforming events of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Intelligence plays a central and highly visible role in the global war on terror, and in new doctrines of global pre-emption of threats. Yet the challenges for intelligence services are great as the twenty-first century unfolds. This collection will inform and stimulate new thinking about the current strengths and weaknesses of intelligence services, and about the future paths that they may follow. Behind the controversies of the present over intelligence performance, lie critical questions about how the past and future of an often mysterious but critical arm of the state are linked. This book was previously published as a special issue of the journal Intelligence and National Security.