Vigil Strategic Intelligence

Reading

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These books shape how we think about foreign interference, intelligence, and the infrastructure behind influence operations. They run from history and strategy to cyber operations and analytic method. We add to the list as we read.

Information and influence

• The CIA Book ClubCharlie English · 2025
• Information HuntersKathy Peiss · 2020
• Nothing Is True and Everything Is PossiblePeter Pomerantsev · 2014
• How to Win an Information WarPeter Pomerantsev · 2024
• TechnopolyNeil Postman · 1992
• Churchill and OrwellThomas E. Ricks · 2017
• Active MeasuresThomas Rid · 2020
• The Big LieJohn Baker White · 1955

Cyber

• The Hacker and the StateBen Buchanan · 2020
• Dawn of the Code WarJohn P. Carlin and Garrett M. Graff · 2018
• The Fifth DomainRichard A. Clarke and Robert K. Knake · 2019
• SandwormAndy Greenberg · 2019
• Battlefield CyberWilliam J. Holstein and Michael McLaughlin · 2023
• Code WarAllie Mellen · 2026
• Cult of the Dead CowJoseph Menn · 2019
• This Is How They Tell Me the World EndsNicole Perlroth · 2021
• The Hacker CrackdownBruce Sterling · 1992
• The Cuckoo's EggClifford Stoll · 1989

Intelligence history and tradecraft

• Fighting to LoseJohn Bryden · 2013
• Targeted: BeirutJack Carr and James M. Scott · 2024
• Gordon WelchmanJoel Greenberg · 2014
• Wise GalsNathalia Holt · 2022
• The Third Reich Is ListeningChristian Jennings · 2018
• Between Silk and CyanideLeo Marks · 1998
• A Life in CodeG. Stuart Smith · 2017
• By All Means AvailableMichael G. Vickers · 2023
• SpiesCalder Walton · 2023
• Tradecraft, Tactics, and Dirty TricksSean M. Wiswesser · 2026

Russia: statecraft and security services

• Putin's PeopleCatherine Belton · 2020
• The VoryMark Galeotti · 2018
• Putin's WarsMark Galeotti · 2022
• The Weaponisation of EverythingMark Galeotti · 2022
• Handbook of Russian Information WarfareKeir Giles · 2016
• Moscow RulesKeir Giles · 2019
• Russia's War on EverybodyKeir Giles · 2022
• Mr. PutinFiona Hill and Clifford G. Gaddy · 2015
• Death Is Our BusinessJohn Lechner · 2025
• An Impeccable SpyOwen Matthews · 2019
• The IllegalsShaun Walker · 2025

China

• Chinese Intelligence OperationsNicholas Eftimiades · 1994
• Hidden HandClive Hamilton and Mareike Ohlberg · 2020
• Claws of the PandaJonathan Manthorpe · 2019
• The PartyRichard McGregor · 2010
• In the Dragon's ShadowSebastian Strangio · 2020

Totalitarianism and Europe's twentieth century

• Red FamineAnne Applebaum · 2017
• The Origins of TotalitarianismHannah Arendt · 1951
• Between Past and FutureHannah Arendt · 1961
• The WhisperersOrlando Figes · 2007
• StasilandAnna Funder · 2003
• Stalin's WarSean McMeekin · 2021
• Burning Down the HausTim Mohr · 2017
• The Taste of AshesMarci Shore · 2013
• The Reconstruction of NationsTimothy Snyder · 2003
• BloodlandsTimothy Snyder · 2010

Strategy, war and geography

• The New Makers of Modern StrategyHal Brands (ed.) · 2023
• NapoleonMichael Broers · 2022
• GrantRon Chernow · 2017
• On WarCarl von Clausewitz · 1832
• ChokepointsEdward Fishman · 2025
• The Future of WarLawrence Freedman · 2017
• Brothers in ArmsJames Holland · 2021
• The Jungle Grows BackRobert Kagan · 2018
• The Revenge of GeographyRobert D. Kaplan · 2012
• Engineers of VictoryPaul M. Kennedy · 2012
• WarMargaret MacMillan · 2020
• War from the Ground UpEmile Simpson · 2012

Science, technology and the human

• American PrometheusKai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin · 2005
• God, Human, Animal, MachineMeghan O'Gieblyn · 2021

Analytic method

• Cases in Intelligence AnalysisSarah Miller Beebe and Randolph H. Pherson · 2011
• Structured Analytic Techniques for Intelligence AnalysisRichards J. Heuer Jr. and Randolph H. Pherson · 2010
• Critical Thinking and Intelligence AnalysisDavid T. Moore · 2007