How Spies Think: 10 Lessons in Intelligence
From the former director of GCHQ, learn the methodology used by the British intelligence agencies to reach judgments, establish the right level of confidence and act decisively.

Intelligence officers discern the truth. They gather information - often contradictory or incomplete - and, with it, they build the most accurate possible image of the world. With the stakes at their absolute highest, they must then decide what to do.

In everyday life, you are faced with contradictory, incomplete information, too. Reading the news on social media, figuring out the next step in your career, or trying to discover if gossip about a friend is legitimate, you are building an image of the world and making decisions about it.

Looking through the eyes of one of Britain's most senior ex-intelligence officers, Professor Sir David Omand, How Spies Think shows how the big decisions in your life will be easier to make when you apply the same frameworks used by British intelligence. Full of revealing examples from his storied career, including key briefings with Prime Ministers from Thatcher to Blair, and conflicts from the Falklands to Afghanistan, Professor Omand arms us with the tools to sort fact from fiction, and shows us how to use real intelligence every day.
1138867030
How Spies Think: 10 Lessons in Intelligence
From the former director of GCHQ, learn the methodology used by the British intelligence agencies to reach judgments, establish the right level of confidence and act decisively.

Intelligence officers discern the truth. They gather information - often contradictory or incomplete - and, with it, they build the most accurate possible image of the world. With the stakes at their absolute highest, they must then decide what to do.

In everyday life, you are faced with contradictory, incomplete information, too. Reading the news on social media, figuring out the next step in your career, or trying to discover if gossip about a friend is legitimate, you are building an image of the world and making decisions about it.

Looking through the eyes of one of Britain's most senior ex-intelligence officers, Professor Sir David Omand, How Spies Think shows how the big decisions in your life will be easier to make when you apply the same frameworks used by British intelligence. Full of revealing examples from his storied career, including key briefings with Prime Ministers from Thatcher to Blair, and conflicts from the Falklands to Afghanistan, Professor Omand arms us with the tools to sort fact from fiction, and shows us how to use real intelligence every day.
21.99 In Stock
How Spies Think: 10 Lessons in Intelligence

How Spies Think: 10 Lessons in Intelligence

by David Omand
How Spies Think: 10 Lessons in Intelligence

How Spies Think: 10 Lessons in Intelligence

by David Omand

Paperback

$21.99 
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Overview

From the former director of GCHQ, learn the methodology used by the British intelligence agencies to reach judgments, establish the right level of confidence and act decisively.

Intelligence officers discern the truth. They gather information - often contradictory or incomplete - and, with it, they build the most accurate possible image of the world. With the stakes at their absolute highest, they must then decide what to do.

In everyday life, you are faced with contradictory, incomplete information, too. Reading the news on social media, figuring out the next step in your career, or trying to discover if gossip about a friend is legitimate, you are building an image of the world and making decisions about it.

Looking through the eyes of one of Britain's most senior ex-intelligence officers, Professor Sir David Omand, How Spies Think shows how the big decisions in your life will be easier to make when you apply the same frameworks used by British intelligence. Full of revealing examples from his storied career, including key briefings with Prime Ministers from Thatcher to Blair, and conflicts from the Falklands to Afghanistan, Professor Omand arms us with the tools to sort fact from fiction, and shows us how to use real intelligence every day.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780241385197
Publisher: Penguin Random House UK
Publication date: 11/01/2021
Pages: 352
Product dimensions: 5.06(w) x 7.81(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

David Omand was the first UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator, responsible to the Prime Minister for the professional health of the intelligence community, national counter-terrorism strategy and "homeland security". He served for seven years on the Joint Intelligence Committee. He was Permanent Secretary of the Home Office from 1997 to 2000, and before that Director of GCHQ.

Table of Contents

Preface to the paperback edition xi

Introduction. Why we need these lessons in seeking independence of mind, honesty and integrity 1

Part 1 An Analyst Sees : Four Lessons In Ordering Our Thoughts

Lesson 1 Situational awareness. Our knowledge of the world is always fragmentary and incomplete, and is sometimes wrong 19

Lesson 2 Explanation. Facts need explaining 39

Lesson 3 Estimations. Predictions need an explanatory model as well as sufficient data 67

Lesson 4 Strategic notice. We do not have to be so surprised by surprise 89

Part 2 Three Lessons In Checking Our Reasoning

Lesson 5 It is our own demons that are most likely to mislead us 109

Lesson 6 We are all susceptible to obsessive states of mind 132

Lesson 7 Seeing is not always believing: beware manipulation, deception and faking 157

Part 3 Three Lessons in Making Intelligent Use of Intelligence

Lesson 8 Imagine yourself in the shoes of the person on the other side 183

Lesson 9 Trustworthiness creates lasting partnerships 208

Lesson 10 Subversion and sedition are now digital 233

Part 4 A final lesson in optimism 273

Acknowledgements 295

Notes and further reading 297

Index 325

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