Words of Intelligence: A Dictionary

As noted in the foreword, with the creation of Homeland Security, the need for a standard vocabulary for the intelligence community became a priority. This concise dictionary is an attempt to document the operational and evolving intelligence vocabulary.

More than 600 entries range in length from one or two sentences to a paragraph, with the occasional page-long entry (derogatory information, for example). Librarians and information professionals will find the five pages of definitions for terms beginning with information as defined in the intelligence context to be of special interest. Starting with analysis and finishing with information warriors, the way the intelligence community perceives informationand its use is unique. Mixed in with the entries for intelligence terms are brief definitions of key events that were either missed, affected, or successfully noted through the use of intelligence, including Iran, fall of the shah; Korean War;and Yom-Kippur War. The dictionary concludes with 20 pages of notes along with an appendix of what author Goldman considers essential Web sites of intelligence agencies in the U.S. as well as selected international agencies. Before the dictionary proper are 20 pages of acronyms used in the U.S. government and military.

This is a unique title for the uninitiated. It would be of interest in public libraries–although the paperback binding would not hold up–and in universities teaching in the security and intelligence disciplines. Recommended. Terri Tomchyshyn