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Chapter 2
History of
Intelligence in the
United States
Whether the object be to crush an army, to storm a city, or to assassinate
an individual, it is always necessary to begin by nding out the names of
the attendants, the aides-de-camp, the door-keepers and sentries of the
general in command. Our spies must be commissioned to ascertain these.
Sun Tzu
The Art of War
Chapter Objectives
1. Explain why the United States did not develop a robust, sustained
intelligence capability until the twentieth century.
2. Trace the history of early American intelligence eorts from the
Revolutionary War up until World War II.
3. Explain how the “strategic surprise” of Pearl Harbor convinced the
United States that it needed to enhance its intelligence capab ...