Fixing Intelligence

Security depends on intelligence. This is a discussion of basic problems in American intelligence and how to fix them, outlining fundamental restructuring of this vast network of agencies, technology and human agents. William E. Odom is a high-ranking member of the United States Intelligence community. In the wake of 9/11, Odom has revised and updated a critique he wrote several years before for staffs of the US congressional committee overseeing the vast American intelligence bureaucracy. His recommendations for revamping this essential component of American security are here available for general readers as well as for policymakers. While giving an overview of the world of US intelligence, Odom shows that the failure of American intelligence on 9/11 had much to do with the complex bureaucratic relationships existing among the various components of the Intelligence Community. The sustained fragmentation within the Intelligence Community since World War II is part of the story; the blurring of security and intelligence duties is another.
Odom describes the various components of American intelligence in order to give readers an understanding of how complex they are and what can be done to make them more effective in providing timely intelligence and more efficient in using their large budgets. He shows definitively that they cannot be remedied with quick fixes but require deep study of the entire bureaucracy and the commitment of the US government to implement the necessary reforms.