Quiet Wars documents how and why the U.S. Navy developed its human intelligence (HUMINT) capability between 1931 and 1964, by examining the evolution of HUMINT through the lens of crises in East Asia. From the emergence of radio technology and its use in intelligence collection during World War I, navies began focusing much of their intelligence collection efforts in the communications domain. Nevertheless, the reality of naval intelligence requirements could not ignore HUMINT (then, and into the early Cold War, generally referred to as espionage) because when technological means failed, naval officers still needed to obtain critical information. This book assesses the HUMINT in crises and determines the Navy and Marine Corps’ role in each. It traces naval HUMINT over a rapidly changing period in the Asia Pacific, the institutional and operational milestones during each unique period, and the overall impact intelligence had on the Fleet’s role in each crisis documented. Those include: the Navy and Marine Corps’ presence in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1931-1941); the Chinese Civil War and Communist Revolution (1945-1949); the Taiwan Crises 1954-55 and 1958; and Kennedy–Johnson containment policy in Indochina (1961–1965). Ultimately, the research reveals that, at times, the use of HUMINT greatly influenced the ability to enable decisions in crises, but this fact was ultimately marginalized due to institutionalized biases that undermine the importance of intelligence on purpose. While this makes sense broadly, intelligence collection and analysis are not often associated with the lynchpin of naval battles but rather as part of the conditions prior to battle, or in political attempts to avoid conflicts.
Quiet Wars explores how the U.S. Navy developed its human intelligence (HUMINT) capability between 1931 and 1965 by examining the evolution of HUMINT through the lens of crises with China.
The gathering of human intelligence (HUMINT) by the U.S. Navy has a rich history in conflicts with China and a profound relevance today. Between 1931 and 1965, naval services collected, analyzed, and applied intelligence in crises in the Asian Pacific as global politics changed rapidly and the United States sought to keep pace. The U.S. Navy, which had been one of the sole collectors of foreign intelligence prior to World War II, underwent a series of institutional transformations as the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and, later, the CIA were established. Quiet Wars is the first book to document how and why the Navy developed its HUMINT capabilities during this key period of transition and turmoil.
This book presents four case studies of naval HUMINT during crises with China. Part I examines intelligence gathering by the Navy and Marine Corps in China beginning with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. The role of naval HUMINT in China changed after December 7, 1941, and again with the resumption of the Chinese Civil War; this is the focus of Part II. Part III is a study of the Taiwan crises in the 1950s, and Part IV explores intelligence activities against North Vietnam and China in the 1960s. Each period offers a unique and contrasting vision of the roles and possibilities for naval HUMINT, from strategic observation and damage control to active and clandestine containment.
Author Brian J. Ellison traces institutional changes for naval intelligence, their effects on how HUMINT was collected, organized, and prioritized, and how they resulted in America’s intelligence apparatus as it exists today. He reveals the ways that naval HUMINT was sometimes essential to strategic decisions, though often hampered by institutional short-sightedness and marginalized by institutional biases. In doing so, Ellison illuminates a crucial, hidden piece of intelligence history and provides an informative lens for understanding the development, use, misuse, and value of intelligence to U.S. foreign policy decision making. Naval historians and enthusiasts, scholars of intelligence studies and U.S.-China relations, and intelligence practitioners will find Quiet Wars to be exciting, essential reading.
