Rethinking Intelligence: Richards J. Heuer, Jr.’s Life of Public Service
By: Richards J. Heuer, Jr.
"When I leave this world, I want to leave it a better place as a result of my efforts. This will allow me to die a happy man with no regrets whenever that time comes.”
--Richards J. Heuer, Jr.
Heuer’s career as a civil servant stands out because his contributions to the profession spanned many disciplines reflecting his work as a case officer, counterintelligence expert, analytic methodologist, and security specialist. Filled with unexpected and memorable anecdotes, this fascinating read begins with Heuer’s recruitment to work at the Central Intelligence Agency and traces his career to the present day. Interspersed throughout the memoir are a dozen telling narratives taken from his childhood, his student days at Williams College, and his service in the Army in Korea. Readers of this memoir will learn:
- The stories behind ground-breaking contributions Heuer made to the field of intelligence
- The creative process that went into creating two Intelligence Community “bibles” also sold here: Psychology of Intelligence Analysis and Structured Analytic Techniques for Intelligence Analysis
- How Heuer was compelled by the vagaries of the infamous Nosenko case to develop the Analysis of Competing Hypotheses method
- How the work of an Israeli colleague spurred him to explore the implications of cognitive bias for intelligence analysis
- How structured analytic techniques emerged as a new domain in intelligence analysis
