Michael A. Turner – författare

This compendium of over 500 entries on the most important and relevant personalities, programs, activities, and agencies of U.S. intelligence, beginning with the Sons of Liberty before the onset of the Revolutionary War until the most recent reorganization of the U.S. intelligence community, covers the myriad pieces of legislation that have governed the activities of U.S. intelligence, from the National Security Act of 1947, which still constitutes the fundamental law setting up modern U.S. intelligence, to the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which established the new position of the Director of National Intelligence. Each entry is cross-referenced for easy navigation and provides a definition as well as a brief but complete historical evaluation of the subject. The A to Z of United States Intelligence traces more than two centuries of history in the chronology. The introduction explains just what intelligence is and does, showing how U.S. intelligence operations have evolved. Appendixes list Directors and Deputy Directors of Central Intelligence. The bibliography provides the most relevant and important sources for those interested in further reading.

While the United States has had some kind of intelligence capability throughout its history, its intelligence apparatus is young, dating only to the period immediately after World War II. Yet, in that short a time, it has undergone enormous changes—from the labor-intensive espionage and covert action establishment of the 1950s to a modern enterprise that relies heavily on electronic data, technology, satellites, airborne collection platforms, and unmanned aerial vehicles, to name a few. This second edition covers the history of United States intelligence, and includes several key features: Chronology Introductory essayAppendixesBibliographyOver 600 cross-referenced entries on key events, issues, people, operations, laws, regulationsThis book is an excellent access point for members of the intelligence community; students, scholars, and historians; legal experts; and general readers wanting to know more about the history of U.S. intelligence.

The notion of 'Quality' in business performance has exploded since the publication of the first edition of this classic text in 1989. Today there is a plethora of performance improvement frameworks including lean–Six Sigma and the latest version of ISO 9001, offering an often confusing variety of ways to achieve business excellence.Quality guru John Oakland’s famous TQM model, in many ways a precursor to these frameworks, has evolved to become the ultimate holistic overview of performance improvement strategy. Incorporating the frameworks that succeeded it, the revised model redefines Quality by:Accelerating changeReducing costProtecting reputationThe popular, practical, jargon-free writing style, along with ten supporting case studies, effortlessly ties the model to its real-life applications, making it easy to understand how to apply what you’ve learned to your practices and achieve sustainable competitive advantage.Guiding readers through the language of TQM and OpEx and all their recent developments, including data analytics, this book sets out a clear way to manage change. This exciting update of a classic is all the busy student or professional will need to begin understanding how to manage Quality and achieve Operational Excellence.

The notion of 'Quality' in business performance has exploded since the publication of the first edition of this classic text in 1989. Today there is a plethora of performance improvement frameworks including lean–Six Sigma and the latest version of ISO 9001, offering an often confusing variety of ways to achieve business excellence.Quality guru John Oakland’s famous TQM model, in many ways a precursor to these frameworks, has evolved to become the ultimate holistic overview of performance improvement strategy. Incorporating the frameworks that succeeded it, the revised model redefines Quality by:Accelerating changeReducing costProtecting reputationThe popular, practical, jargon-free writing style, along with ten supporting case studies, effortlessly ties the model to its real-life applications, making it easy to understand how to apply what you’ve learned to your practices and achieve sustainable competitive advantage.Guiding readers through the language of TQM and OpEx and all their recent developments, including data analytics, this book sets out a clear way to manage change. This exciting update of a classic is all the busy student or professional will need to begin understanding how to manage Quality and achieve Operational Excellence.

Michael Turner argues that the root causes of failures in American intelligence can be found in the way it is organized and in the intelligence process itself. Intelligence that has gone awry affects national decision making and, ultimately, American national security. Intelligence officials are reluctant to talk about intelligence successes, claiming “the secret of our success is the secret of our success.” But these officials also shy away from talking about failures, largely because doing so would expose the failings of American intelligence and have an impact on policy consumers who may become more reluctant to accept and act on the intelligence they receive.Rather than focusing on case studies, the book takes a holistic approach, beginning with structural issues and all dysfunctions that emanate from them. Turner explores each step of the intelligence cycle-priority setting, intelligence collection, analysis, production, and dissemination-to identify the “inflection points” within each stage that contribute to intelligence failures. Finally, he examines a variety of plans that, if implemented, would reduce the likelihood of intelligence failures.While examining the causes of intelligence failures, Turner also explores intelligence as a critical governmental activity, making the book an excellent primer on secret intelligence. Turner writes in jargon-free prose for the informed reader interested in foreign policy and national security policy matters and brings enough depth to his subject that even experts will find this a must-read.