Intel in US Foreign Relations

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course examines the influence of intelligence on U.S. foreign policy from 1914, when the First World War brought American entry onto the global stage, and will trace its evolution through a Second World War, a Cold War, and a War on Terror, to today. We will ask whether and how, and to what extent, intelligence impacted policy in some cases, and why, in others, it did not. In doing so, we will explore core themes of culture and emotion, the influence of sources, the efficacy of tradecraft and the phenomenon of intelligence failure, bureaucratic rivalries, and the relationship between American intelligence and the policymaker.