The Craft of Intelligence: Dulles's Account of CIA Operations and Spycraft

Allen Dulles's book, based on his experience from World War II through the Cold War, summarizes intelligence practices from the late twentieth century. Dulles served as director of the CIA for eight years and discusses intelligence collection, surveillance, and the role of intelligence in a free society. The account includes personal anecdotes and addresses events like the Bay of Pigs.

Use Cases

• Analyzing historical espionage techniques based on descriptions of surveillance and defector use
• Studying the formation of national policy based on discussions of intelligence estimates
• Examining Soviet recruitment methods based on Dulles's knowledge of Soviet espionage
• Researching the philosophy of intelligence in democratic societies based on the book's stated theme

Strengths

• Authored by a premier intelligence officer with nearly half a century of experience
• Covers a wide historical period from World War II to the Cold War
• Includes discussion of specific intelligence devices like the U-2 plane

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Data may reflect temporal bias inherent to the author's personal perspective

Provenance

Source

Allen W. Dulles

Collection Method

Personal account and summary of professional experience

Time Range

Late twentieth century (World War II through Cold War)