SCHC 433 H0A 25977

SocBehavSci, GSS

Notes:

This course is intended by me to enable students who are interested in foreign policy and national security to understand in depth the role of intelligence in the shaping of policy. From my experience with teaching a course [333] on American foreign policy, I am aware of the fact, that the students need to have a more comprehensive understanding of the various components of the process of decision-making of foreign and national security policy. Intelligence and its assessment being significant elements in this process. It is about cases of important international crises in which the question of intelligence played a major role. For example, Pearl Harbour, Hitler invasion to USSR in 1941, The Yom Kippur war of 1973,US Iraq war of 2003 and others. The study will focus on reasons leading to major intelligence mistakes which go beyond policy differences, and deal also with cultural differences and their impact on the train of thought of policy makers. The course will start however with an introduction to the subject by dwelling on the references to it by famous military historians and theoreticians, so that the course will include a theoretical element.