Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, a leading expert on the history of American espionage, offers a history of U.S. secret intelligence from the nation's founding through the present day. The work chronicles the expansion of intelligence from George Washington's discretionary fund to the 21st century, when U.S. intelligence expenditure reportedly exceeded Russia's total defense budget. It argues that intelligence agencies have historically exaggerated threats to build their organizations and budgets.
Use Cases
- Historical analysis of intelligence agency growth based on the narrative of budget and mission expansion.
- Studying threat perception and institutional self-promotion based on described cases of exaggerated menaces.
- Examining the post-Cold War aims of intelligence based on the discussion of unclear objectives and recent events.
Strengths
- Authored by a recognized expert in the field of American espionage history.
- Provides a long-term historical scope covering from the 1790s to the 21st century.
- Analyzes specific historical cases and figures, such as Allan Pinkerton and claims about Soviet espionage.
Limitations
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
- Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
Provenance
- Source
- Rhodri Jeffreys‐Jones
- Time Range
- 1790s to early 21st century
- Geography
- United States