Intelligence, Military and Political
Intelligence, Military and Political.Intelligence is often referred to as the “second oldest profession,” but for the United States, intelligence is still a relative newcomer as an accepted government function. The United States has been largely free of proximate security threats for much of its history. This fact, and the ongoing lessons from the founders about the dangers of large standing armies, meant that intelligence activities played little role in U.S. history until the mid‐twentieth century.
The term intelligence, as used here, means two significant functions, one large and one small. The large function is the collection, analysis, and dissemination of relevant national security information. The smaller function is covert activities—a broad range of actions intended to influence events overseas with the role of the United States either unknown or at least plausibly denied. This is a very small part of intelligence in terms of manpower...
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