MILITARY INTELLIGENCE

U.S. Naval Intelligence

Overviews

Campbell, Kenneth J. "Leadership in Naval Intelligence: Rear Admiral Donald P. Harvey." Intelligencer 11. no. 2 (Winter 2000): 36-39.

Harvey was Director of Naval Intelligence (DNI) from 1976 to 1978.

Deacon, Richard [Donald McCormick]. The Silent War: A History of Western Naval Intelligence. Newton Abbot, UK: David & Charles, 1978. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1978.

According to Sexton, The Silent War is a "[s]urvey history of the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) and the British Naval Intelligence Division (NID) from their inception[s] to the 1980s."

Constantinides finds the book "[e]asy to read," but adds that it "must be approached with caution because it is a mixture of good sections ... and weak ones, with debatable and (at times) sweeping conclusions." The World War I and World War II sections are the strongest parts of the book; earlier and later coverage is weak.

Dwyer, John B. Seaborne Deception: The History of U.S. Navy Beach Jumpers. New York: Praeger, 1992. [Seymour]

Dwyer, John B. Scouts and Raiders: The Navy's First Special Warfare Commandos. New York: Praeger, 1993. [Gibish]

Ford, Christopher, and David Rosenberg. The Admirals' Advantage: U.S. Navy Operational Intelligence in World War II and the Cold War. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2005.

Mazzafro, NIPQ 21.2 (Jun. 2005), describes this work as an "easy to read, well-researched, and nicely-indexed slim volume." The authors "effectively use a chronological approach to let their research tell the Navy OPINTEL story through the recollections and commentary of those who lived and used it."

While he sees this work offering "many lessons both to the intelligence professional and to anyone doing research into intelligence matters," Guenther, NIPQ 21.3 (Sep. 2005), is disappointed by how much better the book could have been had it reflected Marine Corps participation.

Reveron, DIJ 14.2 (2005), notes that the authors "had unprecedented access to naval intelligence archives and senior consumers and producers of Operational Intelligence (OPINTEL)." They have produced a book that "is a rich history of the origins of Navy OPINTEL, its transformation during the Cold War, and important lessons for the future."

Beyond a cautionary note ("the contention that the Navy’s concept of all-source operational intelligence was in any sense pace setting is open to question"), Peake, Studies 50.1 (Mar. 2006), accepts that "[l]ittle has been published on the topic of naval OPINTEL and this book fills that gap admirably. While it is replete with acronyms (over 130) and turgid Pentagonese, its basic message comes through loud and clear: Intelligence is the admiral’s advantage."

Evans, Proceedings, Mar. 2006, calls this work a "comprehensive and meticulously researched study." It "provides a remarkable insight into the chronicles of U.S. Navy" OPINTEL, and "the impact it had on the ultimate victory of the United States ... during the Cold War."

For Kruh, Cryptologia 30.2 (Apr. 2006), this is a "path-breaking work" that goes "as close to the edge of classification as possible."

See Emil Levine [CAPT/USNR (Ret.)], "NFOIO's Place in the History of OPINTEL: A Commentary on 'The Admirals' Advantage,'" NIPQ 21.2 (Jun. 2005): 21-22.

See also John Prados' review in Journal of Military History 70.3 (Jul. 2006): 865-867, and NIPQ 22.4 (Sep. 2006): 34-35.

Holschuh, Howard [CAPT/USN (Ret.)]. I Briefed a Thousand Stars: My Twenty-Five Years as a Naval Intelligence Officer. Charleston, SC: BookSurge, 2006.

Noland, NIPQ 23.1 (Jan. 2007), comments that this self-published autobiography covers the author's naval career "with style and wit." The "stars" of the title are, of course, the admirals and other flag rank officers Holschuh briefed in his career. Among his assignments prior to retirement in 1972 was that of "Intelligence Briefer for then CNO Admiral Arleigh Burke."

Packard, Wyman H. [CAPT/USN (Ret.)] A Century of U.S. Naval Intelligence. Washington, DC: GPO, 1994. Washington, DC: Office of Naval Intelligence and the Naval Historical Center, 1996.

Bates, NIPQ, Fall 1996, calls this work "the high water mark of Naval Intelligence history.... While Wyman's Preface says it is designed as a research aid for those interested in doing Naval Intelligence history, it is much more.... [T]he first chapter ... is an extremely well written history of [Naval Intelligence] from the years before the establishment of the Office of Naval Intelligence in 1882 to the 1970s." The book's other 39 chapters are devoted to specific aspects of Naval Intelligence.

To Cutler, Proceedings, Nov 1996, this is a "meticulously researched and comprehensive" work. The reviewer for the Naval War College Review 52.1 agrees, calling it "the most comprehensive such record available" and "the definitive reference for some time to come."

Jonkers, AIJ 17.1/2, sees Packard's work as an "outstanding professional compendium, providing context, precedent, and pride of continuity and achievement." Similarly, Kruh, Cryptologia 21.1, finds A Century of U.S. Naval Intelligence to be an "impressive history ... cover[ing] virtually all facets of naval intelligence" and providing "much valuable information about the work of ONI."

Packard, Wyman H. "The History of ONI." Naval Intelligence Professionals Quarterly [4 pts.] 3, no. 3 (Fall 1987): 2-3; 4, no. 1 (Winter 1988): 6-11; 4, no. 2 (Spring 1988): 3-6; and 4, no. 3 (Fall 1988): 8-12.

Petersen: "Packard's serial account of the Office of Naval Intelligence is also a sound organizational history."

Packard, Wyman H. "Notes on the Early History of Naval Intelligence in the United States." ONI Review 12 (Apr.-May 1957): 169-175.

Packard, Wyman H. "The Origins of Naval Intelligence Professionals." Naval Intelligence Professionals Quarterly 5, no. 3 (Fall 1989): 17-18.

Shields, Henry S. A Historical Survey of U.S. Naval Attachés in Russia, 1904-1941. Washington, DC: Defense Intelligence School, 1970. [Petersen]

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