Loch K. Johnson – författare

All democracies have had to contend with the challenge of tolerating hidden spy services within otherwise relatively transparent governments. Democracies pride themselves on privacy and liberty, but intelligence organizations have secret budgets, gather information surreptitiously around the world, and plan covert action against foreign regimes. Sometimes, they have even targeted the very citizens they were established to protect, as with the COINTELPRO operations in the 1960s and 1970s, carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) against civil rights and antiwar activists. In this sense, democracy and intelligence have always been a poor match. Yet Americans live in an uncertain and threatening world filled with nuclear warheads, chemical and biological weapons, and terrorists intent on destruction. Without an intelligence apparatus scanning the globe to alert the United States to these threats, the planet would be an even more perilous place. In Spy Watching, Loch K. Johnson explores the United States' travails in its efforts to maintain effective accountability over its spy services. Johnson explores the work of the famous Church Committee, a Senate panel that investigated America's espionage organizations in 1975 and established new protocol for supervising the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the nation's other sixteen secret services. Johnson explores why partisanship has crept into once-neutral intelligence operations, the effect of the 9/11 attacks on the expansion of spying, and the controversies related to CIA rendition and torture programs. He also discusses both the Edward Snowden case and the ongoing investigations into the Russian hack of the 2016 US election. Above all, Spy Watching seeks to find a sensible balance between the twin imperatives in a democracy of liberty and security. Johnson draws on scores of interviews with Directors of Central Intelligence and others in America's secret agencies, making this a uniquely authoritative account.

How should we define the role of secret agencies in a democratic society? Can a balance be struck between civil liberties and national security? These are questions addressed in Loch Johnson's book, an overview of the CIA and its activities in American affairs, both domestic and foreign.

Loch Johnson's new book explores the subject of covert action, often referred to as a "Third Option" between America's use of diplomacy and warfare---a shadowy approach to international affairs based on the controversial use of secret propaganda, political activities, economic sabotage, and paramilitary operations (whether clandestine warfare or assassinations). The three major instruments that guide United States foreign policy are the Treaty Power, the War Power, and the Spy Power. Within the category of Spy Power is the "Third Option" the use of covert action. Ever since the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1947, the US has often turned to the third option in the conduct of its international relations. This controversial approach includes covert propaganda campaigns, subversive political activities, economic sabotage, and paramilitary operations ranging from clandestine warfare to the assassination of foreign leaders. From the beginning of the Cold War to the present day, America's intelligence and national security agencies have employed all of these "third option" tools in order to advance America's global interests.In The Third Option, the eminent national security scholar Loch Johnson provides a history of American covert warfare from 1947 to the present. In particular, he focuses on the morality and consequences of America's heavily veiled attempts to shape global affairs through its covert actions. Over the course of the book, a fundamental question comes into focus: Of what value has the Third Option been to the US as a complement to the nation's more open battlefield and diplomatic initiatives? Just as importantly, Johnson exposes the conflict between this controversial approach to achieving America's international objectives and the ideals that the US has always propounded: democracy, human rights, and liberalism. The Third Option closes with a sharp assessment of the policy, measuring its failures versus its successes. A richly detailed synthesis of America's covert action program ever since it became the world's preeminent power, this book serves as an ideal introduction for anyone interested in US foreign and national security policy.

Intelligence: The Secret World of Spies, An Anthology, is the most up-to-date reader in intelligence studies. Editors Loch K. Johnson and James J. Wirtz present a diverse, comprehensive, and highly accessible set of thirty-five readings by leading experts in the field. This unique volume features coverage of many topics including methods of intelligence collection, intelligence analysis, the danger of intelligence politicization, relationships between intelligence officers and the policymakers they serve, covert action, counterintelligence, accountability and civil liberties, cybersecurity and intelligence, and the global struggle against ISIS.The anthology includes:* Articles examining a wide variety of important issues (satellite surveillance, 9/11, the search for WMDs in Iraq, homeland security, and counterterrorism)* An epilogue analyzing the current state of intelligence* Introductions at the beginning of each piece that help to contextualize chapter content* Discussion questions at the end of each chapter that reinforce key concepts and encourage class participation* Comprehensive coverage of many hot topics including the history of intelligence, how the United States gathers and interprets global information, the meaning of security intelligence, methods of intelligence collection, intelligence analysis, the danger of intelligence politicization, relationships between intelligence officers and the policymakers they serve, covert action, counterintelligence, accountability and civil liberties, the implications of major intelligence failures in 2001 and 2003, and intelligence as practiced in other nationsand the implementation of lessons learned from historical major intelligence failures.

Loch Johnson explores the subject of covert action, often referred to as a "Third Option" between America's use of diplomacy and warfare—a shadowy approach to international affairs based on the controversial use of secret propaganda, political activities, economic sabotage, and paramilitary operations (whether clandestine warfare or assassinations). The three major instruments that guide United States foreign policy are the Treaty Power, the War Power, and the Spy Power. Within the category of Spy Power is the "Third Option": the use of covert action. Ever since the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1947, the US has often turned to the third option in the conduct of its international relations. This controversial approach includes covert propaganda campaigns, subversive political activities, economic sabotage, and paramilitary operations ranging from clandestine warfare to the assassination of foreign leaders. From the beginning of the Cold War to the present day, America's intelligence and national security agencies have employed all of these "third option" tools in order to advance America's global interests.In The Third Option, the eminent national security scholar Loch Johnson provides a history of American covert warfare from 1947 to the present. In particular, he focuses on the morality and consequences of America's heavily veiled attempts to shape global affairs through its covert actions. Over the course of the book, a fundamental question comes into focus: Of what value has the Third Option been to the US as a complement to the nation's more open battlefield and diplomatic initiatives? Just as importantly, Johnson exposes the conflict between this controversial approach to achieving America's international objectives and the ideals that the US has always propounded: democracy, human rights, and liberalism. The Third Option closes with a sharp assessment of the policy, measuring its failures versus its successes. A richly detailed synthesis of America's covert action program ever since it became the world's preeminent power, this book serves as an ideal introduction for anyone interested in US foreign and national security policy.

The second edition of The Oxford Handbook of National Security Intelligence is a thoroughly updated state-of-the-art work on the role of secret agencies in defending the democracies and intelligence activities in authoritarian regimes. Edited by Loch Johnson, one of the world's leading authorities on the subject, the handbook examines the topic in full, beginning with an examination of the major theories of intelligence. It then shifts its focus to how intelligence agencies operate, how they collect information from around the world, and the difficulties in disseminating intelligence to policymakers. It also considers the balance between secrecy and public accountability, and the ethical dilemmas that covert and counterintelligence operations routinely present to intelligence agencies. Throughout, contributors factor in broader historical and political contexts that are integral to understanding how intelligence agencies function in our information-dominated age.

The Aspin-Brown Commission of 1995-1996, led by former U.S. Defense Secretaries Les Aspin and Harold Brown, was a landmark inquiry into the activities of America's secret agencies. The purpose of the commission was to help the Central Intelligence Agency and other organizations in the U.S. intelligence community adapt to the quite different world that had emerged after the end of the Cold War in 1991. In The Threat on the Horizon, eminent national security scholar Loch K. Johnson, who served as Aspin's assistant, offers a comprehensive insider's account of this inquiry. Based on a close sifting of government documents and media reports, interviews with participants, and, above all, his own eyewitness impressions, Johnson's thorough history offers a unique window onto why the terrorist attacks of 2001 caught the United States by surprise and why the intelligence community failed again in 2002 when it predicted that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. It will be the first published account by an insider of a presidential commission on intelligence--a companion volume to Johnson's acclaimed study of the Church Committee investigation into intelligence in 1975 (A Season of Inquiry). This examination of the Aspin-Brown Commission is an invaluable source for anyone interested in the how the intelligence agencies of the world's most powerful nation struggled to confront new global threats that followed the collapse of the Soviet empire, and why Washington, D.C. was unprepared for the calamities that would soon arise.

The Oxford Handbook of National Security Intelligence is a state-of-the-art work on intelligence and national security. Edited by Loch Johnson, one of the world's leading authorities on the subject, the handbook examines the topic in full, beginning with an examination of the major theories of intelligence. It then shifts its focus to how intelligence agencies operate, how they collect information from around the world, the problems that come with transforming "raw" information into credible analysis, and the difficulties in disseminating intelligence to policymakers. It also considers the balance between secrecy and public accountability, and the ethical dilemmas that covert and counterintelligence operations routinely present to intelligence agencies. Throughout, contributors factor in broader historical and political contexts that are integral to understanding how intelligence agencies function in our information-dominated age.

How has the end of the Cold War affected America’s intelligence agencies? When are aggressive clandestine operations justifiable, and who should be responsible for deciding to proceed with them? Should the United States engage in more aggressive economic espionage? These are just a few of the issues Loch Johnson examines in this thoughtful assessment of strategic intelligence and its vital role in modern governments. Johnson draws on historical data, more than five hundred interviews, and his own experience working for Congressional committees on intelligence. He begins by defining the functions of intelligence: espionage, counterintelligence, and covert action. He then provides an overview of America’s secret operations abroad, assesses the moral implications of clandestine operations, and offers guidelines for a more ethical approach to the use of secret power. Johnson explores the question of intelligence accountability, looking closely at how well intelligence agencies have been monitored through the forum of Congressional hearings. He compares America’s approach to intelligence with that of other nations, discusses the degree to which intelligence agencies should provide information about foreign businesses, and evaluates how well the U.S. intelligence agencies fared during the Cold War against the USSR. Secret agencies have the capacity not only to safeguard democracy but also to subvert it, says Johnson. As such, they deserve both our support and our scrutiny.

Many experts on security intelligence distinguish ‘mysteries’ from ‘secrets’. Mysteries (e.g. can Pakistan survive the threat it faces from the presence of insurgents in its western provinces?) are worldly phenomena that governments may wish to understand, but which are difficult to fathom given the foibles of human beings, not least their inability accurately to foretell the future. Secrets (e.g. the number of nuclear submarines in the Chinese navy), however, are more susceptible to understanding. Indeed, with the right spy in place, with surveillance satellites in their proper orbit, or with reconnaissance aircraft well-positioned in enemy airspace, secrets can be deduced, but governments are largely limited to thoughtful speculation about the planet’s deeper mysteries. Either way, prudent states will seek to establish intelligence-gathering agencies to ferret out secrets and help productively to ponder mysteries.Serious academic work focusing on issues in and around this kind of activity flourishes as never before, and this new four-volume collection from Routledge’s Critical Concepts in Military, Strategic, and Security Studies series addresses the need for an authoritative reference work to make sense of a rapidly growing and ever more complex corpus of scholarly literature.The first volume in the collection is devoted to the core mission of security intelligence—the collection and analysis of global information (the world’s secrets and mysteries). Nations take the task of acquiring security intelligence (often regarded as ‘the first line of defence’) with the utmost seriousness. Considerable resources—upwards of $50 billion per year in the case of the United States—are spent in the hope of avoiding catastrophic surprises such as the events of 11 September 2001. But, in many nations, intelligence agencies have taken on international assignments beyond this core duty, and they also conduct so-called ‘dirty tricks’. Volume II collects the most important work to describe and critically evaluate such covert action, which can include attempts to manipulate history through the use of propaganda, political and economic operations, and paramilitary activities.Intelligence agencies typically play another important role: guarding state secrets and resources from penetration by foreign governments and factions. The third volume of the collection assembles the essential thinking on the business of counterintelligence. Volume IV, meanwhile, brings together the best work on the vital question of intelligence accountability. Who will guard the guards themselves?Intelligence is fully indexed and includes a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected materials in its historical and intellectual context. It is destined to be valued by scholars and students as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.

This topical volume offers a comprehensive review of secret intelligence organizations and activities. Intelligence has been in the news consistently since 9/11 and the Iraqi WMD errors. Leading experts in the field approach the three major missions of intelligence: collection-and-analysis; covert action; and counterintelligence. Within each of these missions, the dynamically written essays dissect the so-called intelligence cycle to reveal the challenges of gathering and assessing information from around the world. Covert action, the most controversial intelligence activity, is explored, with special attention on the issue of military organizations moving into what was once primarily a civilian responsibility. The authors furthermore examine the problems that are associated with counterintelligence, protecting secrets from foreign spies and terrorist organizations, as well as the question of intelligence accountability, and how a nation can protect its citizens against the possible abuse of power by its own secret agencies.The Handbook of Intelligence Studies is a benchmark publication with major importance both for current research and for the future of the field. It is essential reading for advanced undergraduates, graduate students and scholars of intelligence studies, international security, strategic studies and political science in general.

This topical volume offers a comprehensive review of secret intelligence organizations and activities. Intelligence has been in the news consistently since 9/11 and the Iraqi WMD errors. Leading experts in the field approach the three major missions of intelligence: collection-and-analysis; covert action; and counterintelligence. Within each of these missions, the dynamically written essays dissect the so-called intelligence cycle to reveal the challenges of gathering and assessing information from around the world. Covert action, the most controversial intelligence activity, is explored, with special attention on the issue of military organizations moving into what was once primarily a civilian responsibility. The authors furthermore examine the problems that are associated with counterintelligence, protecting secrets from foreign spies and terrorist organizations, as well as the question of intelligence accountability, and how a nation can protect its citizens against the possible abuse of power by its own secret agencies.The Handbook of Intelligence Studies is a benchmark publication with major importance both for current research and for the future of the field. It is essential reading for advanced undergraduates, graduate students and scholars of intelligence studies, international security, strategic studies and political science in general.

The original edition of A Season of Inquiry, first published in 1986, offered the public an insider’s account of the workings of the Church investigation and of the nation’s espionage agencies, including the CIA’s covert action against the democratically elected regime of Salvador Allende in Chile. In this new edition the author, then a special assistant to Senator Church, revisits the circumstances surrounding the investigation and subsequent, shocking report and reminds us its continuing relevance—in instances such as the Iran-Contra investigation, the 9/11 and Iraqi WMD intelligence failures, the Edward Snowden affair, and, most recently, the US Senate Torture Report. A Season of Inquiry Revisited details a moment that was at once a high-water mark for intelligence accountability in the United States and a low point in the American people’s trust of the agencies sworn to protect them. Coming on the heels of the Watergate scandal, the wrenching experience of the Vietnam War, and the release of the Pentagon Papers, revelations of domestic spying sent a shock wave through the nation and spurred the political establishment to action. While a White House panel focused narrowly on CIA spying at home, the Church Committee enlarged its investigation to include the FBI, the National Security Agency, and a host of other primarily military espionage services, as well as CIA assassination plots around the world. Johnson describes the political players and their pursuit of information, the abuses they discovered, and the remarkable reports they compiled, chronicling a litany of disquieting operations carried out against American citizens and foreign leaders in Latin America and Africa. With a new preface and postscript along with an updated chronology and appendix, this new edition revisits a moment of reckoning in the halls of power. The nation has now arrived at a time when the lessons of the Church Committee warrant special remembering.

The authors systematically analyze runoff elections by assembling a data set that includes primary and general election returns for those states that regularly use runoffs for selecting state legislative, executive, and congressional officials. They also draw upon data for many municipal offices nationwide and examine court cases and legislative efforts aimed at abolishing or altering runoffs.A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

An "experienced overseer of intelligence" maps out the future of American intelligence and securityRecent years have seen numerous books about the looming threat posed to Western society by biological and chemical terrorism, by narcoterrorists, and by the unpredictable leaders of rogue nations. Some of these works have been alarmist. Some have been sensible and measured. But none has been by Loch Johnson.Johnson, author of the acclaimed Secret Agencies and "an experienced overseer of intelligence" (Foreign Affairs), here examines the present state and future challenges of American strategic intelligence. Written in his trademark style--dubbed "highly readable" by Publishers Weekly--and drawing on dozens of personal interviews and contacts, Johnson takes advantage of his insider access to explore how America today aspires to achieve nothing less than "global transparency," ferreting out information on potential dangers in every corner of the world.And yet the American security establishment, for all its formidable resources, technology, and networks, currently remains a loose federation of individual fortresses, rather than a well integrated "community" of agencies working together to provide the President with accurate information on foreign threats and opportunities. Intelligence failure, like the misidentified Chinese embassy in Belgrade accidentally bombed by a NATO pilot, is the inevitable outcome when the nation's thirteen secret agencies steadfastly resist the need for central coordination.Ranging widely and boldly over such controversial topics as the intelligence role of the United Nations (which Johnson believes should be expanded) and whether assassination should be a part of America's foreign policy (an option he rejects for fear that the U.S. would then be cast not only as global policeman but also as global godfather), Loch K. Johnson here maps out a critical and prescriptive vision of the future of American intelligence.

A highly valuable resource for students of intelligence studies, strategy and security, and foreign policy, this volume provides readers with an accessible and comprehensive exploration of U.S. espionage activities that addresses both the practical and ethical implications that attend the art and science of spying.Essentials of Strategic Intelligence investigates a subject unknown to or misunderstood by most American citizens: how U.S. foreign and security policy is derived from the information collection operations and data analysis by the sixteen major U.S. intelligence agencies. The essays in this work draw back the curtain on the hidden side of America's government, explaining the roles of various intelligence missions, justifying the existence of U.S. intelligence agencies, and addressing the complex moral questions that arise in the conduct of secret operations.After an introductory overview, the book presents accessibly written essays on the key topics: intelligence collection-and-analysis, counterintelligence, covert action, and intelligence accountability. Readers will understand how intelligence directly informs policymakers and why democracies need secret agencies; learn how the CIA has become deeply involved in the war-like assassination operations that target suspected foreign terrorists, even some individuals who are American citizens; and appreciate how the existence of—and our reliance on—these intelligence agencies poses challenges for democratic governance.

A highly valuable resource for students of intelligence studies, strategy and security, and foreign policy, this volume provides readers with an accessible and comprehensive exploration of U.S. espionage activities that addresses both the practical and ethical implications that attend the art and science of spying.Essentials of Strategic Intelligence investigates a subject unknown to or misunderstood by most American citizens: how U.S. foreign and security policy is derived from the information collection operations and data analysis by the sixteen major U.S. intelligence agencies. The essays in this work draw back the curtain on the hidden side of America's government, explaining the roles of various intelligence missions, justifying the existence of U.S. intelligence agencies, and addressing the complex moral questions that arise in the conduct of secret operations.After an introductory overview, the book presents accessibly written essays on the key topics: intelligence collection-and-analysis, counterintelligence, covert action, and intelligence accountability. Readers will understand how intelligence directly informs policymakers and why democracies need secret agencies; learn how the CIA has become deeply involved in the war-like assassination operations that target suspected foreign terrorists, even some individuals who are American citizens; and appreciate how the existence of—and our reliance on—these intelligence agencies poses challenges for democratic governance.

National security intelligence is a vast, complex and intriguing topic, made doubly hard for citizens to understand because of the thick veils of secrecy that surround it.In the third edition of his authoritative introduction to the field, world-renowned intelligence expert Loch K. Johnson guides readers skilfully through this shadowy side of government. Drawing on over forty years of experience studying intelligence agencies and their activities, he explains the three primary missions of intelligence, before addressing the wider dilemmas of accountability posed by the existence of secret government organizations embedded in open, democratic societies.Recent developments examined in this new edition include the dysfunctional relationship between the White House and America's secret agencies and fresh threats to democratic societies posed by authoritarian regimes. The new edition also offers, in two separate chapters, an expanded exploration of intelligence collection and analysis as well as new insights into covert action, from the use of propaganda and political operations to the overthrow of governments and assassination plots against foreign leaders. Throughout its pages, the book unpacks the ethical dilemmas of secret activities in the quest of global political and military objectives. It also gets to grips with the inevitable mistakes that are made in assessing world events; why some intelligence officers become traitors against their own countries by spying on behalf of foreign regimes; and how spy agencies can fall into scandalous behavior, including highly intrusive surveillance and harassment against the very citizens they are meant to protect.Comprehensively revised and updated throughout, National Security Intelligence is a vital resource for anyone with an interest in how nations shield themselves against threats through intelligence organizations and operations, and how they strive for safeguards to prevent the misuse of this secret power.

National security intelligence is a vast, complex and intriguing topic, made doubly hard for citizens to understand because of the thick veils of secrecy that surround it.In the third edition of his authoritative introduction to the field, world-renowned intelligence expert Loch K. Johnson guides readers skilfully through this shadowy side of government. Drawing on over forty years of experience studying intelligence agencies and their activities, he explains the three primary missions of intelligence, before addressing the wider dilemmas of accountability posed by the existence of secret government organizations embedded in open, democratic societies.Recent developments examined in this new edition include the dysfunctional relationship between the White House and America's secret agencies and fresh threats to democratic societies posed by authoritarian regimes. The new edition also offers, in two separate chapters, an expanded exploration of intelligence collection and analysis as well as new insights into covert action, from the use of propaganda and political operations to the overthrow of governments and assassination plots against foreign leaders. Throughout its pages, the book unpacks the ethical dilemmas of secret activities in the quest of global political and military objectives. It also gets to grips with the inevitable mistakes that are made in assessing world events; why some intelligence officers become traitors against their own countries by spying on behalf of foreign regimes; and how spy agencies can fall into scandalous behavior, including highly intrusive surveillance and harassment against the very citizens they are meant to protect.Comprehensively revised and updated throughout, National Security Intelligence is a vital resource for anyone with an interest in how nations shield themselves against threats through intelligence organizations and operations, and how they strive for safeguards to prevent the misuse of this secret power.

Given recent experiences with terrorism, clearly even the most democratic societies have a legitimate need for secrecy. This secrecy has often been abused, however, and strong oversight systems are necessary to protect individual liberties. The assembled authors, each well known in the international community of national security scholars, bring together in one volume the rich experience of three decades of experimentation in intelligence accountability. Using a structured approach, they examine the strengths and weaknesses of the intelligence systems of Argentina, Canada, Germany, Norway, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. While these democracies have experimented with methods to make intelligence more accountable, they all have different political systems, political cultures, legal systems, and democratic traditions, thereby presenting an exceptional opportunity to examine how intelligence accountability evolves under disparate circumstances. The contributors draw together the best practices into a framework for successful approaches to intelligence accountability, including a prescription for a model law.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world’s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas.Providing a comprehensive account of America’s constitutional framework, this Advanced Introduction examines how U.S officials carry out America’s foreign policy objectives through diplomacy, trade agreements, secretive covert actions, and the use of military force. Loch K. Johnson delivers an invigorating examination of ethical and legal aspects of American foreign policy as well as providing a new perspective on topics such as domestic politics, diplomacy and policymaking.Key Features include:Analysis of the international setting for U.S. foreign policy activitiesExamination of foreign policy decision making from domestic, individual and international settings.Discussion of the relationship between the United States and other nations, international organizations, and various global factions.Concise and timely, this Advanced Introduction will be a beneficial read to foreign policy, American studies and international relations students and researchers. This will also be a key resource for military academies and organizations seeking a better understanding of the position of the United States in global affairs.