Fifty Years of Studies in Intelligence

Publisher Marketing: A half-century has passed since Sherman Kent lamented the lack of an "intelligence literature" and decided to do something about it a bold step, even for as nimble a bureaucracy as the CIA was alleged to be. Today, looking back upon the more than 1,200 article-length contributions that com-prise five decades of Studies in Intelligence, we see that Kent indeed established something enduring. Somewhere along the way, Studies went from being Kent's revolutionary idea to becoming an institution. And yet, Studies continues to be revolutionary in its insistence on remaining an unofficial publication for the best thinking on intelligence from the entire profession thinking that is often provocative, always cogent, and inevitably adds to the corpus of intelligence literature. This reflection on the past 50 years of Studies in Intelligence is based on my experience as a long-time reader, a sometime contributor, and a current member of its editorial board. In addition, I spent much of the summer of 2005 going through all the issues of Studies since it appeared in 1955" a fascinating journey in itself. In keeping with a tradition unbroken since the first issue, the thoughts expressed here are my own, reflect no official views what-soever, and are intended as much to provoke discussion as to Contributor Bio:  Central Intelligence Agency "Excellent for answering quick reference questions on the nations of the world." American Reference Books Annual