Pringle, Robert W. Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Intelligence. Historical Dictionaries of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, No. 5. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2006. Pringle, Robert W. Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Intelligence. Historical Dictionaries of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, No. 5. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2006.
Peake, Studies 51.1 (Mar. 2007), finds this to be "a valuable reference work, especially for students, analysts and readers unfamiliar with the role intelligence services played in Russian history." Nevertheless, the "book omits too many important cases and intelligence organizations, especially those occurring after the Russsian Revolution."
Turner, Michael A. Historical Dictionary of United States Intelligence. Historical Dictionaries of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, No. 2. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2005.
From advertisement: "This compendium of over 500 entries on the most important and relevant personalities, programs, activities, and agencies of U.S. intelligence ... covers the myriad pieces of legislation that have governed the activities of U.S. intelligence, from the National Security Act of 1947 ... to the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.... Each entry is cross-referenced for easy navigation and provides a definition as well as a brief but complete historical evaluation of the subject."
Peake, Studies 50.2 (2006) and Intelligencer 15.2 (Fall/Winter 2006-2007), finds that this work "has just too many errors.... The author and the publisher have left the fact-checking to the reader." For Hay, DIJ 15.1 (2006), the author "covers a range of topics," including "some important non-U.S. intelligence terms." Nevertheless "both a strength and a weakness of this dictionary" is that "it is centered on the CIA," and thereby "omits some significant intelligence terms unique to other agencies.... Perhaps the most impressive and useful section ... is the extensive bibliography."
West, Nigel [Rupert Allason]. Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2005.
From publisher: This Dictionary has "more than 1,800 entries, covering a vast and varied cast of characters.... Covered also are the agencies; leading individuals and prominent personalities; operations, including double agent and deception campaigns; and events, using the most up-to-date declassified material."
Peake, Studies 50.1 (Mar. 2006), notes that while this work focuses "on the British intelligence services, there is much of interest to Americans, since many operations and cases overlap.... Remarkably free from errors overall, the Historical Dictionary has a fine bibliography and begins with a witty essay about the eccentricities of British intelligence." To Skarpac, DIJ 15.1 (2006), the author provides "a complete overview detailing the history and operations of British intelligence from Abbassia to Zululand.... This book is an exemplary reference for anyone interested in intelligence."
West, Nigel [Rupert Allason]. Historical Dictionary of Cold War Counterintelligence. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2007.
Aftergood, Secrecy News (from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy), 16 Feb. 2007, finds "many intriguing nuggets" in this work of "brief, capsule summaries of key topics, terms and events in the turbulent history of cold war counterintelligence." However, entries "are not sourced or annotated."
For Peake, Studies 51.2 (2007), this work "has an impressive selection of cases, some little known, and a valuable bibliographic essay covering the evolution of books during the Cold War." Nonetheless, the volume has a number of factual errors; "the editorial practice of leaving the fact-checking and source determination to the reader diminishes the[] utility" of this work.
Maret, DIJ 16.2 (2007), says that this work provides "an international perspective to CI, with brief but detailed entries." However, the reviewer wonders "whether the dictionary format is the ideal arrangement for presentling highly complex historical and biographical material."
West, Nigel [Rupert Allason]. Historical Dictionary of International Intelligence. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2006.
Peake, Studies 51.2 (2007), identifies a number of factual errors in this work. For instance, it "states Philip Agee won a court challenge to recover his US passport; he did not. Nor did James Angleton identify Canadian counterintelligence officer James Bennett as a KGB mole; the Canadians did that on their own. And the comment that the GRU (Soviet Military Intelligence) was originally designated the Third Department is inaccurate; it was the Fourth Department."
West, Nigel [Rupert Allason]. Historical Dictionary of World War II Intelligence. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2008.
Peake, Studies 52.2 (Jun. 2008) and Intelligencer 16.1 (Spring 2008), says that the author "continues his precedent of providing a fine bibliographic essay, an index he creates himself, and an absence of source notes." This is a "useful but not comprehensive treatment [that] leaves many topics for future volumes."
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