Military Intelligence Blunders

A frightening study of intelligence failings - 'blunders' - in warfare from the Second World War to the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and their impact on events. Here is the insider's view from a former professional intelligence officer.

'A cracking good read... I will recommend this book to anyone' - Professor Richard Holmes, CBE

'The Falklands, Yom Kippur, Tet and Pearl Harbor? Avoidable intelligence blunders or much worse? Altogether a compelling read from someone who knows the business' - Nigel West

This book is a professional military-intelligence officer's - and controversial insider's - view of some of the greatest intelligence blunders of recent history. It includes the serious developments in government misuse of intelligence in the US-led coalition's 2003 war with Iraq, as well as failures of intelligence in Ukraine following Russia's invasion in February 2022. Colonel John Hughes-Wilson analyses not just the events that conspire to cause disaster, but why crucial intelligence is so often ignored, misunderstood or spun by politicians and seasoned generals alike.

This book analyses: how Hitler's intelligence staff misled him in a bid to outfox their Nazi Party rivals; the bureaucratic bungling behind Pearl Harbor; how in-fighting within American intelligence ensured they were taken off guard by the Viet Cong's 1968 Tet Offensive; how overconfidence, political interference and deception facilitated Egypt and Syria's 1973 surprise attack on Israel; why a handful of marines and a London taxicab were all Britain had to defend the Falklands; the mistaken intelligence that allowed Saddam Hussein to remain in power until the second Iraq War of 2003; the truth behind the US failure to run a terrorist warning system before the 9/11 WTC bombing; and how governments are increasingly pressurising intelligence agencies to 'spin' a party-political line.

About the Author

During his twenty-five years in the Intelligence Corps and as a Special Forces operations officer, Colonel John Hughes Wilson saw active service in the Falkland Islands, Cyprus, Arabia, and Northern Ireland, as well as in the dangerous jungles of Whitehall and NATO. One of Britain's leading military historians, he is the author, among other books, of JFK: An American Coup d'Etat (John Blake, 2013) and the Imperial War Museum's A History of the First World War in 100 Objects (2014); his much reprinted book Intelligence Blunders was found at Osama Bin Laden's bedside and has become a CIA textbook. He has also been a frequent broadcaster for BBC television and radio.