Wippl Publishes Article on U.S. Intelligence Reform
Joseph Wippl, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published a recent review of The CIA and the Politics of U.S. Intelligence Reform (Cambridge University Press, 2019) by Brent Durbin.
Wippl’s review, entitled “Reform or Mere Change?” was published in the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence.
From the text of the article:
In concluding The CIA and the Politics of US Intelligence Reform, Professor Brent Durbin asserts: “Students and practitioners of international relations ignore intelligence at their peril. Intelligence services have played a central role in some of the most important global events of the last hundred years, yet they are largely absent from scholarly treatments of international diplomacy and conflict.” He adds that “understanding how better to use intelligence assets should be a goal of any policymaker with a role in supporting foreign policy.” As accurate as those words may be, such an approach will not occur until the government of the United States and its leaders are forced to think through problems using their intellect instead of the country’s military muscle. The United States can get away with so much more than other countries because of its wealth, geography, and people. There is truth in the comment of Germany’s former Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, that God protects fools, infants, drunkards, and the United States of America. While that will not last forever, because nothing does, it will last a long time.
Wippl is a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer. He spent a 30 year career as an operations officer in the National Clandestine Service (NCS). Wippl has served overseas as an operations officer and operations manager in Bonn, West Germany; Guatemala City; Luxembourg; Madrid, Spain; Mexico City; Vienna, Austria; and Berlin, Germany.