Delusions of Intelligence

Ratcliff, a freelance scholar and consultant, offers a provocative analysis of WWII signals intelligence from a German perspective. The author focuses on Enigma, the electronic ciphering machine the Germans believed foolproof, and Ultra, the war-winning intelligence derived from the Allied operation that broke Enigma's codes. The work begins with a discussion of Enigma's technology that's particularly useful for non specialists. Ratcliff's emphasis, however, is on the cipher war's human aspects. Germany gave intelligence, particularly strategic intelligence, low priority for limited resources, leading to "compartmentalization and competition" among agencies that were increasingly unwilling to share even basic information. German intelligence security was also reactive, based on solving problems as opposed to anticipating them. Above all, German imagination failed by refusing to consider the possibility that Enigma could be solved. That led to increasingly far-fetched explanations for Allied intelligence successes—which further distracted attention from the real problem. Ratcliff contrasts German failure with the Allies' readiness to centralize signals intelligence at Bletchley Park; to ignore structural barriers in favor of results; and, not least, to do something difficult for democracies even in total war: keep the secret. The author juxtaposes that triumph with the blinkered German belief that technology assured security—a mind-set resembling that of the contemporary United States far too closely for comfort. (Aug.)