focuses on its most alluring aspects, gleaned often from fictional works
that provide grist for the entertainment industry. This is the world of fan-
tasy, far removed from the real world of secret intelligence, although it has
had an enormous impact on public perceptions of American intelligence.
Those among the public who are suspicious of government in all its forms
see intelligence as a source of evil, a dark world of secrecy and deception
that overthrows legitimate governments, assassinates political leaders, and
tramples the civil liberties of Americans. When these two images are com-
bined, they produce a view of intelligence that is simultaneously titillating
and exciting, and nefarious, uncontrolled, and uncontrollable.
Occasionally, discussions on intelligence are mired in additional con-
ceptual difficulties, owing to the fact that intelligence, as a governmen-
tal activity, exists to illuminate and support the foreign policy objectives
of whichever administration is in office, and so, logically, comes to be
identified with that administration’s foreign policy. Critics of adminis-
tration policy then quickly focus on the role intelligence plays in that
process and typically associate intelligence with sinister activities that
illegally further a dubious foreign policy.
However, intelligence has little to do with implementing policy. There
is a part of secret intelligence, covert action, that is designed to execute
specific aspects of American foreign policy, but it is only a small—
although, unfortunately, the most infamous—part of intelligence.x•PREFACE05-398 (1) FM.qxd 10/20/05 6:13 AM Page x