Senseless Secrets: The Failures of U.S. Military Intelligence from George Washington to the Present

By Michael Lee Lanning

From the War for Independence to the War on Terror, American military intelligence has often failed, costing needless casualties and squandering money and materiel as well as prestige - and all too often it has failed to learn from its mistakes. Senseless Secrets covers more than 200 years of intelligence breakdowns in every American war, including not only how intelligence has been wrong, but also how good intel has failed to make it to battlefield commanders, how spies and traitors have infiltrated the military intelligence community, and more.

Here are stories of Benedict Arnold's turn in the Revolution, George McClellan's reliance on the Pinkertons' inflated estimates of enemy strengths in the Civil War, Custer's flawed intelligence prior to the Little Bighorn, the controversy over Pearl Harbor, the surprise German attack that started the Battle of the Bulge, the failure to convey useful intelligence to small-unit commanders in Vietnam, overestimates of Iraqi strength during Operation Desert Storm, the bad intelligence about Saddam Hussein's supposed nuclear arsenal in 2002-03, and the chaos surrounding the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

Senseless Secrets is a military history of the United States through its intelligence operations. It should be required reading inside the U.S. military and beyond.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811771938
• ISBN13: 9780811771931
• Release Date: November 2022
• Publisher: Stackpole Books
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

intriguess in the top high brass

failures considered fatal actions of the cia through civil war and the last two world wars; very interesting book for the new generations of army officers.

Clear, concise, and powerful critique of US Intelligence.

Lanning is a hero as a soldier and a writer. His review of the entire history of US Intelligence efforts makes it clear that deceiving ourselves and sending young men into harm's way without adequate information is standard operating procedure. This is a terrific book; a smooth and satisfying read; and should be required reading for all citizens. A book with the heart and soul of an experienced soldier. One can only hope that lawmakers and professional soldiers will read this book. God help us if we continue to repeat our past