The Problem of Secret Intelligence - Paperback

by Kjetil Anders Hatlebrekke (Author)

What is intelligence - why is it so hard to define, and why is there no systematic theory of intelligence? Classic intelligence analysis is based on an inference between history and the future - and this has led to a restriction in how we can perceive new threats, and new variations of threats. Now, Kjetil Anders Hatlebrekke rethinks intelligence analysis, arguing that good intelligence is based on understanding the threats that appear beyond our experience, and are therefore the most dangerous to society.

Front Jacket

'I commend Kjetil Hatlebrekke's book. It challenges readers to rethink our approach to the interpretation and use of intelligence, which is crucial to modern governments.' Lord Robin Butler, Former UK Cabinet Secretary, Former Master of University College, Oxford Moving beyond the flawed model of classic intelligence production Why is intelligence so hard to define? Why is there no systematic or adequate theory of intelligence? This book argues that classic intelligence production has been premised on an ill-founded belief in an automatic inference between history and the future, and that the lack of a working theory has exacerbated this problem. Kjetil Anders Hatlebrekke uses classic cases of intelligence failure to demonstrate how this problem creates a restricted language in intelligence communities that undermines threat perception. From these cases Hatlebrekke concludes that intelligence needs to be re-thought and argues that good intelligence is the art of threat perception beyond the limits of our habitual thinking and shared experience. Kjetil Anders Hatlebrekke is Associate Professor at the Norwegian Defence Intelligence School. He has served in the Norwegian Armed Forces since 1990, and served as an intelligence officer in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Anaconda. Cover image and cover design: www.richardbudddesign.co.uk [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN 978-0-7486-9183-8 Barcode

Author Biography

Kjetil Anders Hatlebrekke is Specialist Director Intelligence Development in the Norwegian Intelligence Service and former Associate Professor at the Norwegian Defence Intelligence School. He earned his PhD from King´s College, London. Hatlebrekke has served in the Norwegian Armed Forces since 1990, and in the Intelligence Service for the last 24 years. He has operational experience from Bosnia, Kosovo, the Middle East and Afghanistan. In Afghanistan he served as an intelligence officer in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Anaconda. The unit he was in was awarded the US Navy Presidential Unit Citation. Hatlebrekke has been awarded with the Norwegian Intelligence Service's Medal of Merit, and he was the first to be awarded it publicly.