Spies, secret messages, and military intelligence have fascinated readers for centuries but never more than today, when terrorists threaten America and society depends so heavily on communications. Much of what was known about communications intelligence came first from David Kahn's pathbreaking book, The Codebreakers. Kahn, considered the dean of intelligence historians, is also the author of Hitler's Spies: German Military Intelligence in World War II and Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boat Codes, 1939-1943, among other books and articles.
Kahn's latest book, How I Discovered World War II's Greatest Spy and Other Stories of Intelligence and Code, provides insights into the dark realm of intelligence and code that will fascinate cryptologists, intelligence personnel, and the millions interested in military history, espionage, and global affairs. It opens with Kahn telling how he discovered the identity of the man who sold key information about Germany's Enigma machine during World War II that enabled Polish and then British codebreakers to read secret messages.
Next Kahn addresses the question often asked about Pearl Harbor: since we were breaking Japan's codes, did President Roosevelt know that Japan was going to attack and let it happen to bring a reluctant nation into the war? Kahn looks into why Nazi Germany's totalitarian intelligence was so poor, offers a theory of intelligence, explicates what Clausewitz said about intelligence, tells-on the basis of an interview with a head of Soviet codebreaking-something about Soviet Comint in the Cold War, and reveals how the Allies suppressed the second greatest secret of WWII.
Providing an inside look into the efforts to gather and exploit intelligence during the past century, this book presents powerful ideas that can help guide present and future intelligence efforts. Though stories of WWII spying and codebreaking may seem worlds apart from social media security, computer viruses, and Internet surveillance, this book offers timeless lessons that may help today's leaders avoid making the same mistakes that have helped bring at least one global power to its knees.
The book includes a Foreword written by Bruce Schneier.
David Kahn is universally regarded as the dean of intelligence historians. Recounting the desperate efforts to gather information during World War II and the Cold War, he provides insight into the dark realm of intelligence and code that will fascinate cryptographers, intelligence personnel, and the millions interested in military history, espionage adventure, and world affairs. By revealing the past, the book helps guide present and future intelligence efforts. Kahn is the author of The Codebreakers and Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boats Codes, 1939-1943, which was the basis for the movie U-571.
When it comes to documenting the history of cryptography, David Kahn is singularly one of the finest, if not the finest writers in that domain. For anyone with an interest in the topic, Kahn's works are read in detail and anticipated. ... For those that have read some of Kahn's other works and are looking for more, How I Discovered World War IIs Greatest Spy and Other Stories of Intelligence and Code will be an enjoyable read. -Ben Rothke, Information Security Manager, Wyndham Worldwide Corp., writingon Slashdot.orgHow I Discovered World War II's Greatest Spy and Other Stories of Intelligence and Code is the latest book by the distinguished intelligence historian David Kahn. This volume is a collection of thirty articles by Kahn, all of which have been previously published in a variety of publications, but have been brought together here as they are viewed by Kahn as having enduring value to intelligence historians and complement his earlier books. ... Kahn offers students of intelligence history a context and useful starting point for their work. ... an interesting and worthwhile collection.-Alan MacLeod, University of Leeds, writing in the Journal of Military History, July 2014
