1st Edition

The Function of Intelligence in Crisis Management Towards an Understanding of the Intelligence Producer-Consumer Dichotomy

By Shaun P. McCarthy Copyright 1998
    321 Pages
    by Routledge

    321 Pages
    by Routledge

    First published in 1998, this work is a study of the relationship between intelligence and policy and focuses on the function of intelligence in crisis management. It provides an integrated approach to the theory of the intelligence process and the principles of crisis management. It identifies those factors that influence the producer-consumer relationship within the context of the Traditionalist vs. Activist approaches, i.e. The Kent-Kendall debate. New insight into the practical limitations of the Traditionalist approach to intelligence is provided. Using terrorism as a crisis phenomenon, the study analyses the function of intelligence and the reasons behind the intelligence and the reasons behind the intelligence failures during the Reagan Administration’s Foreign Policy initiatives in Lebanon, 1981-1985. With its focus on intelligence theory and management, as well as crisis management and policy making, this book will appeal to academics, scholars, intelligence practitioners, historians, policy makers and business management professionals. Although the work focuses on the U.S. intelligence community and the behavioural trends within American intelligence and security organisations, the principles and lessons learned can be applied to business and government in other democracies.

    1. Introduction. 2. Towards an Integrated Theory of Intelligence and Crisis Management. 3. The Bombing of the American Embassy on April 18, 1983 and the marine Barracks on October 23, 1983. 4. The Kidnapping of William Buckley and the Embassy Bombing. 5. The Hijacking of TWA Flight 847: Crisis Management and the Media. 6. Conclusion.

    Biography

    Shaun P. McCarthy

    ’...provides a comprehensive and well documented discussion of the dynamics of the relationships between the crisis managers in the National security Council and the intelligence community...his combination of theory and empirical research does usefully illuminate many key problems in actually integrating with decision making under pressure of a crisis.’ Studies in Conflict ’Shaun McCarthy’s book is aimed at creating a framework according to which crisis management and intelligence as a support function can be analyzed.’ Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management