Decision Advantage

Reviews / Votes

This lengthy work gives readers a great deal to ponder, particularly Sims's illustration of the critical roles that intelligence gathering and analysis play in determining the course of conflict, invisible though they often are. * Choice * In a real tour de force, Jennifer Sims develops and deploys a broadened concept of intelligence to show how it can lead to a decision advantage that affects the course of history. The cases studied are unusual and extraordinarily well done. This important book is a pleasure to read and deserves a wide audience." -Robert Jervis, author of Why Intelligence Fails Jennifer Sims takes the reader on a fascinating tour of intelligence failures and successes from the Spanish Armada to today's post-911 world. Her rigorous analysis reminds us that intelligence in war does not need to be perfect; it just needs to be better than the intelligence on the enemy's side." -Scott D. Sagan, Caroline S.G. Munro Professor of Political Science, Stanford University The concept 'decision advantage' is central to the mission of U.S. intelligence * providing policy makers with intelligence to give them an information advantage over other international actors. Indeed, the term 'decision advantage' figures prominently in a display in the offices of the Director of National Intelligence. Jennifer Sims, a long time intelligence veteran, is properly credited with originating the concept and its definition. She has now taken this concept and examined how it worked across a range of historic policy dilemmas, from the threat posed to England by the Spanish Armada to the current issue of cyberspace. Dr. Sims has produced a thoughtful and provocative study that bridges intelligence theory and intelligence history." -Mark M. Lowenthal, Assistant Director of Central Intelligence for Analysis & Production (2002-05), and author of Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy
* Sims has produced a thought-provoking book that seeks to bridge intelligence theory and history. The case-studies are engaging and full of detail on the influence of intelligence on military and diplomatic competition, which will be of interest to a broad audience...Sims's book should be read widely. * Dan Lomas, International Affairs * Jennifer E. Sims's Decision Advantage is an examination of how intelligence has influenced select decision-makers, through three broad periods in history, culminating in a proposed theory of intelligence in international politics...as a historical study of intelligence, the book excels. * Robin Kemp, H-Net * In Decision Advantage, Jennifer E. Sims seeks to correct both popular misconceptions of how espionage operates and rebut the views of those who dismiss its importance in international politics. * Mitchell B. Reiss, Intelligence, Strategy and Governance in the Twenty-first Century *