| In composing The Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security (EEIS), our goal was to shape a modern encyclopedia offering immediate value to our intended readers by emphasizing matters of espionage, intelligence, and security most frequently in the news.
EEIS is not intended as a classical “spy book,” filled with tales of daring operations. Instead, within a framework of historical overviews, EEIS emphasizes the scientific foundations, applications of technology, and organizational structure of modern espionage, intelligence, and security. High school and early undergraduate students can use this book to expand upon their developing awareness of the fundamentals of science, mathematics, and government as they begin the serious study of contemporary issues.
EEIS is also intended to serve more advanced readers as a valuable quick reference and as a foundation for advanced study of current events.
EEIS devotes an extensive number of articles to agencies and strategies involved in emerging concepts of homeland security in the United States. Faced with a daunting amount of information provided by agencies, organizations, and institutes seeking to put their best foot forward, we have attempted to allocate space to the topics comprising EEIS based upon their relevance to some unique facet of espionage, intelligence, or security—especially with regard to science and technology issues—as opposed to awarding space related to power of the agency or availability of material.
A fundamental understanding of science allows citizens to discern hype and disregard hysteria, especially with regard to privacy issues. Spy satellites powerful enough to read the details of license plates do so at peril of missing events a few steps away. With regard to electronic intercepts, the capability to identify what to carefully examine—often a decision driven by mathematical analysis—has become as essential as the capacity to gather the intelligence itself. Somewhere between the scrutiny of Big Brother and the deliberately blind eye lie the shadows into which terrorists often slip.
With an emphasis on the realistic possibilities and limitations of science, we hope that EEIS finds a useful and unique place on the reference shelf.
It seems inevitable that within the first half of the twenty-first century, biological weapons may eclipse nuclear and chemical weapons in terms of potential threats to civilization. Because informed and reasoned public policy debates on issues of biological warfare and bioterrorism can only take place when there is a fundamental understanding of the science underpinning competing arguments, EEIS places special emphasis on the multifaceted influence and applications of the biological sciences and emerging biometric technologies. Future generations of effective intelligence and law enforcement officers seeking to thwart the threats posed by tyrants, terrorists, and the technologies of mass destruction might be required to be as knowledgeable in the terminology of epidemiology as they are with the tradecraft of espionage.
Knowledge is power. In a time where news can overwhelm and in fact, too easily mingle with opinion, it is our hope that EEIS will provide readers with greater insight to measure vulnerability and risks, and correspondingly, an increased ability to make informed judgments concerning the potential benefits and costs of espionage, intelligence, and security matters. |