Countering Terrorism: Blurred Focus, Halting Steps(Hoover Studies in Politics, Economics, and Society)

In this third book of a series on intelligence reform, Judge Richard A. Posner evaluates the measures that have been taken in the last two years to implement the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004, which decreed a wholesale reorganization of the intelligence system. Countering Terrorism also addresses broader issues in the struggle against terrorism, such as the failure of criminal law enforcement and the difficulty of devising criteria for allocating counterterrorist funds. Although some successes have been achieved in the effort to make our intelligence system more coherent and effective, notably with respect to intelligence analysis and "open source" intelligence, progress overall has been slow, owing in major part to the deflection of senior officials of the intelligence community from overall supervision and coordination to short-term crisis management. Of particular concern, domestic intelligence remains in serious disarray, dangerously exposing the nation to the emergent threat of homegrown, as distinct from foreign-initiated, terrorism. Published in cooperation with the Hoover Institution

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 1. Thinking in Probabilities Part 3 I. The Role of Intelligence Chapter 4 2. The Road from 9/11; Benchmarking the Intelligence Reorganization Chapter 5 3. Design Problems Chapter 6 4. Successes and Failures Chapter 7 5. The Three-Cultures Problem Chapter 8 6. The Continuing Crisis in Domestic Intelligence Part 9 II. How Else to Counter Terrorism? Chapter 10 7. The Judicialization of Counterterrorism Chapter 11 8. Counterterrorism Strategy and Structure; An Ounce of Prevention? Chapter 12 Conclusion

About the Author :
Richard A. Posner is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago and a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. He is the author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including Uncertain Shield: The U.S. Intelligence System in the Throes of Reform (2006) and Preventing Surprise Attacks: Intelligence Reform in the Wake of 9/11 (2005). He lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Review :
Offer[s] clear, incisive, and informative presentations accessible to general readers concerned with U.S. governmental operations in matters of terrorism and counterterrorism. Highly recommended. As Judge Posner's book ably demonstrates, reform of the U.S. Intelligence Community has a long way to go, notwithstanding the recent Intelligence Reform Act passed into law by the Congress. His analyses of 'three cultures' and the problems of domestic intelligence is especially outstanding.