Autorentext

Steven R. Ward worked as an intelligence officer for nearly thirty years with the Central Intelligence Agency, covering Middle Eastern, South Asian, and related national security issues. He served as a deputy national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia on the National Intelligence Council (2005-6) and as a director of intelligence programs for the National Security Council (1998-99). He is a retired US Army Reserve lieutenant colonel and 1980 graduate of the US Military Academy. He also is the author of Immortal: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces (Georgetown University Press, 2009 and 2014).

Klappentext

"Steven R. Ward has written an introduction to Iran's shadowy Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS). MOIS is Iran's primary intelligence agency and focuses on tracking and countering domestic dissent and foreign-inspired sedition. Its organizational ethos emphasizes combating foreign influence and covert action to protect national identity and solidarity, adding the cultural realm to its intelligence mission. The ministry's checkered record of effective intelligence operations includes a history of assassinations and human rights abuses. Iran established the MOIS under the executive branch for accountability to the law and subordination to its system of elected and unelected rulers. MOIS missions overlap with other parts of Iran's expansive security apparatus, especially the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which often overshadows the Ministry of Intelligence. Nonetheless, the ministry maintains a leading role in coordinating the multiple security organizations' activities and helps balance the system by serving as a check on IRGC power. This accessible book is intended for students of intelligence studies, national security practitioners, and general readers"--