Intelligence in War
John Keegan
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2003 Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN: 0375400532

Knowledge of the Enemy from Napoleon to Al-Qaeda.

In fiction, the spy is a glamorous figure whose secrets make or break peace, but, historically, has intelligence really been a vital step to military victories? In this breakthrough study, the preeminent war historian John Keegan goes to the heart of a series of important conflicts to develop a powerful argument about military intelligence.

In his characteristically wry & perceptive prose, John Keegan offers us nothing short of a new history of war through the prism of intelligence. He brings to life the split-second decisions that went into waging war before the benefit of aerial surveillance and electronic communications.

In this post-9/11 world, with America & her coalition at war with Islamic terrorists, what we did not know when we should have known it, seems to stir the media into a frenzy & politicians into uttering sophomoric accusations, it makes sense to take the time to dive into John Keegan's sweeping investigation into how useful has been the “intel” gathered, especially during wartime.

In his Introduction, John Keegan writes of the volume of literature on the subject of spies, code & cipher schools & machines, & the deceptions of espionage. There are five fundamental stages of gathering intelligence: acquisition; delivery; acceptance; interpretation & implementation.

As my beloved Webmaster, a retired military intel analyst, is moved to frequently mutter, “guestimations” is basically all intel ever can be, especially when we have “no eyes on the ground”. It being hard to infiltrate an organization unless someone knows someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows... That we had “no eyes on the ground” in the lands where the terrorists dwell, is a legacy from 8 years of the Clinton administration. Human intelligence takes many years of being there, working their way into enemy camps. Given who we are, we're not particularly keen about people who would do such dangerous, thankless & maverick tasks.

So, here is the renowned John Keegan putting his remarkable analytical mind to setting out just how useful (or not!) intelligence has been in the past. He starts way back in time to Alexander the Great & Macedonia & Persia, & then he works his way forward, even touching on the wars between the English & the French in North America, before returning to Europe & Wellington, Napoleon & Nelson. What a grand sweep of history!

In Chasing Napoleon ... “[a]ccurate intelligence in the age of sail was a scarce commodity...” & so we follow the British fleet & Admirals Howe & Nelson in pursuing the elusive Frenchmen. What London Knew recounts the intelligence received through consuls from such far flung places as Italy, Egypt, India. From professors & mineralogists & all kinds odd bodies. Complete with maps.

Then we touch upon Local Knowledge: Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley & the contest between economic systems which we call the American Civil War. Fascinating details, complete with maps.

Then John Keegan discusses Real-Time Intelligence: What, How, Where, When? “Real-time intelligence -- where the enemy was yesterday, in which direction his columns were headed, where he might realistically be expected today...” (Page 26) The start of WWI when the French cavalry failed to detect millions of German troops massing just over the border or when the great sea battles between those massive battleships who couldn't see each other & intelligence, such as it was, was often ignored, always a nightmare.

In Wireless Intelligence we follow the various ways we communicated across the miles from semaphore & flags to the Morse code. On into the 20th century & the invention of wireless, & the mystery of wireless interception by navies during World War I & focuses on Crete when Foreknowledge [was] No Help. & then onto to WWII, where John Keegan ponders on the chain of command & its intel prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor & continues to the Battle of the Midway.

The Epilogue is an update of Military Intelligence Since 1945 & the Conclusion is a discussion on The Value of Military Intelligence, a recapitulation of the cited events & their impact. However, the subtitle is misleading, there are only a few pages about intel gathering in this post-9/11 world. John Keegan has bowed to the seriousness of current events & left well enough alone. As the old saying goes: Loose Lips Sink Ships. As a private citizen, I don't need to know if it means my brothers & sisters are going to get killed because the enemy knows our sources!

Intelligence In War is for the thinking reader who wants a glimpse into the history of military intel as well as learning why what we know when we know it isn't always what we thought it was or what we'd like to know! Military intel is not what wins battles, the lack of it however, is what loses them!

A good read, if repetitive in places. A great reference work.

More from John Keegan:
A History of Warfare
The Second World War
The Face of Battle & more!
(02/22/04)

Rebecca