The New Craft of Intelligence: Achieving Asymmetric Advantage in the Face of Nontraditional Threats

Since the mid-1990s, the concept of strategic asymmetry has been receiving more serious attention from the U.S. Department of Defense. The September 11, 2001, attack on America, in which fully-loaded airplanes used as a form of stealth bomb with aerial fuel explosives hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, marked the beginning of an actual asymmetric war. Its initial dimensions shocked and engaged the Nation. This monograph, by Robert D. Steele, is the third in the Strategic Studies Institute's "Studies in Asymmetry" Series. In it, the author examines two paradigm shifts--one in relation to the threat and a second in relation to intelligence methods. He offers new models for threat analysis and for intelligence operations in support of policy, acquisition, and command of forces engaged in nontraditional asymmetric warfare. He concludes with an examination of the Revolution in Military Affairs and the need for a Revolution in Intelligence Affairs.