Nigel West is currently the European Editor of the International Journal of Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence and teaches the history of postwar intelligence at the Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies. He is the author of many books, including the Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence (Scarecrow, 2005), Historical Dictionary of International Intelligence (Scarecrow, 2006), Historical Dictionary of Cold War Counterintelligence (Scarecrow, 2007), and Historical Dictionary of Sexspionage (Scarecrow, 2009). In October 2003 he was awarded the U.S. Association of Former Intelligence Officers' first Lifetime Literature Achievement Award.
West is a noted writer on this topic. The sturdily bound book under
review is suitable for the reference or circulating collections of
academic and large public libraries, and especially those
collections emphasizing military or intelligence history.
*American Reference Books Annual*
This volume on signals intelligence—which includes wireless
interception, electronic intelligence, cryptanalysis, and more—is
the 16th in a series titled ‘Historical Dictionaries of
Intelligence and CounterIntelligence.’ It features around 500
entries on topics ranging from the Falkland Islands to the only
British MI5 officer during WW I who spoke Japanese. West (Centre
for Counter Intelligence and Security Studies) covers the earliest
times—the Boer War—up to the latest, with an article on social
media. The dictionary also addresses some obscure aspects of the
subject, such as Sand Island, HI. Aids to the reader include a list
of abbreviations and acronyms, a chronology, several appendixes,
and an extensive bibliography. This bibliography features
English-language materials almost exclusively, even though its
scope—and the dictionary's scope in general—is international. Also
provided are links to a number of relevant websites, including some
from Russia, Scandinavia, and other parts of Europe. The volume's
index, cross-references and see also references are useful. Summing
Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-level undergraduates, secondary
school students, and general readers.
*CHOICE*
The appendices. . . are especially notable, comprising a list of
all the people (as far as known) referred to by code names in the
'Venona' transcripts of enciphered Soviet messages, which the
author declares to have been 'the greatest secret of the Cold War',
and the text of the agreement of 1946 between the United Kingdom
and the United States on signals intelligence co-operation, which
for many years was such a closely guarded secret that even its
existence was not avowed. The provision of an index is uncommon in
the Scarecrow series, and it is to be hoped that the general
editors will continue this helpful feature. ... The Dictionary
offers a window into an obscure, but highly significant, aspect of
twentieth century history and of contemporary world affairs, and
thus deserves a wide circulation both in academic and larger public
libraries.
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