Spies, Lies and the War on Terror

This book traces the transformation of intelligence from a tool for law enforcement to a means of avoiding the law--both national and international. The "War on Terror" has seen intelligence agencies emerge as major political players. "Rendition," untrammelled surveillance, torture and detention without trial are becoming normal. The new culture of victimhood in the US and among partners in the "coalition of the willing" has crushed domestic liberties and formed a global network of extra-legal license. State and corporate interests are increasingly fused in the new business of privatizing fear. The authors argue that the bureaucracy and narrow political goals surrounding intelligence actually have the potential to increase the terrorist threat.

This book traces the transformation of intelligence from a tool for law enforcement to a means of avoiding the law--both national and international. The "War on Terror" has seen intelligence agencies emerge as major political players. "Rendition," untrammelled surveillance, torture and detention without trial are becoming normal. The new culture of victimhood in the US and among partners in the "coalition of the willing" has crushed domestic liberties and formed a global network of extra-legal license. State and corporate interests are increasingly fused in the new business of privatizing fear. The authors argue that the bureaucracy and narrow political goals surrounding intelligence actually have the potential to increase the terrorist threat.

Paul Todd is a historian of the Cold War and Middle East specialist. He is the author of World Power and Global Reach: US Security Policy in Southwest Asia (Middlesex University Press 2002) and Global Intelligence (with Jonathan Bloch). Patrick Fitzgerald is a journalist and researcher who has written extensively on intelligence and national security for the New Statesman, Economist, New Scientist, Tribune and other publications. Jonathan Bloch was born in Cape Town, South Africa and studied law at the University of Cape Town and the London School of Economics. He co-authored British Intelligence and Covert Action (Brandon Books, 1994).