Preventing Surprise Attacks: Intelligence Reform in the Wake of 9/11 (Hoover Studies in Politics, Economics, and Society) Book

For interview or review copy requests, please contact Jen Linck at jlinck@nbnbooks.comRichard A. Posner, in the first full-length study of the post-9/11 movement for intelligence reform, argues that the 9/11 Commission's analysis, on which Congress relied heavily in enacting the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, was superficial and its organizational proposals unsound. The Commission, followed by Congress, exaggerated the benefits of centralizing control over intelligence; neglected the relevant scholarship dealing with surprise attacks, organization theory,and the principles of intelligence, and the experience of foreign nations?some of which have a longer history of fighting terrorism than the United States; and as a result ignored the psychological, economic, historical, sociological, and comparative dimensions of the issue of intelligence reform.Posner explains, however, that a ray of hope remains: The reorganization provisions of the new Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act are so vague?as a result of intense politicking?that the actual shape of the reorganized system will depend critically on decisions made by the President in implementing the Act. In a searing critique, Posner exposes the pitfalls created by the new legislation, identifies the issues overlooked by the 9/11 Commission and Congress, and suggests directions for real reform.RICHARD A. POSNER is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago and senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. He is author of hundreds of articles and nearly four dozen books, including An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton (1999); Breaking the Deadlock: The 2000 Election, the Constitution, and the Courts (2001); Public Intellectuals: A Study of Decline (2002); and Catastrophe: Risk and Response (2004).Read More