United States, Intelligence & Espionage, Engineering, International & World Politics, National & International Security, Social Policy 

This survey of more than 50 years of national security policy juxtaposes declassified US national intelligence estimates with recently released Soviet documents disclosing the views of Soviet leaders and their Communist allies on the same events. Matthias shows that US intelligence estimates were usually correct but that political and military leaders generally ignored them. The book begins with a look back at the role of US intelligence during World War II, from Pearl Harbor through the plot against Hitler and the D-Day invasion to the "unconditional surrender" of Japan, and reveals how better use of the intelligence available could have saved many lives and shortened the war. The following chapters dealing with the Cold War disclose what information and advice US intelligence analysts passed on to policymakers, and also what sometimes bitter policy debates occurred within the Communist camp, concerning Vietnam, the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban missile crisis, the turmoil in Eastern Europe, the Six-Day and Yom Kippur wars in the Middle East, and the Soviet intervention in Afganistan. In many ways, this is a story of missed opportunities the US government had to conduct a more responsible foreign policy that could have avoided large losses of life and massive expenditures on arms buildups. While not exonerating the CIA for its own mistakes, Matthias casts new light on the contributions that objective intelligence analysis did make during the Cold War and speculates on what might have happened if that analysis and advice had been heeded. - from Amzon 

CONTENTS
Introduction ................................................................................... P. 1
1. Intelligence Triumphs and Failures in World War II .......................... P. 7
2. How the Gold War Began ............................................................. P. 7
3. The Korean War: A Pivotal Event .................................................. P. 73
4. The !950s: Evolving U.s Views of the Soviet Threat ......................... P. 97
5. 1958 – 1960: A New Communist-Bloc Activism ............................... P. 139
6. !960: The Strategic Situation and its Danger .................................. P. 163
7. President Kennedy’s Crises .......................................................... P. 171
8. The Estimate that Changed the World ........................................... P. 195
9. Prophecies and Events of the 1960’s ............................................. P. 217
10. The Nixon Era and the Beginning of Détente ................................ P. 237
11. The Early 1970’s: A new World Environment ................................ P. 257
12. Renewal of the Cold War ........................................................... P. 273
13. An Assault Upon the National Intelligence Process ........................ P. 293
14. The Early 1980’s: Years of Danger ............................................. P. 337
15. The Road to Peace: 1983 – 1991 ............................................... P. 337
References ................................................................................... P. 349