The Five Disciplines of Intelligence Collection

I rented this book as required for an intelligence collections course I as taking. It is a good rundown on the different INT disciplines and the bureaucratic organizations managing the different INT categories. This book does not really touch on the various collection programs used to manage collections, or what the nomenclature of those requirements are, so reading this book will not teach you about intelligence collection management beyond gaining a foundational understanding of what the various INTs are used for.

I had to get the book for class, so did not exactly get it because I “wanted to.” It was a good read though. I liked the structure of each section. Everything simple enough to understand while also diving a bit deeper.

An excellent resource for any intelligence collector or analyst. The chapters are written by world-class experts in each discipline with an excellent final chapter on collection management written by Drs. Lowenthal and Clark. Each chapter defines the elements of the particular intelligence discipline, its history and producers, as well as how the INT is managed and explores likely future trends. An extensively researched and documented text that is nonetheless an approachable resource that would make an excellent addition to any intelligence related syllabus.

Bought this as a textbook for my class; good book

Thought I bought new, book came with an obsurd "Amazon Rentals" sticker on it. Looks used and abused. Will not be buying books needed for school from Amazon ever again.

most relevant for today’s challenges

Get a clue. You shop out your sources like a monkey in a candy store.

I found this to a great source for looking up details on how the IC defines the types of data it gathers. It's not necessarily a straight-read type of title, but I do keep it by my sofa, when reading the daily paper. It helps to better understand the viability of such things like the use of patrol planes along the Arabian Gulf borders or how the raw data of the Steele Dossier helps inform the decision makers, for example.