A blistering critique of the forces threatening the American intelligence community, beginning with the Leader of the United States himself, in a time when that community’s function hasn’t been harder or more important

In the face of a Leader who lobs accusations without facts, evidence, or logic, truth tellers are under attack. On the other hand, the world order is normally teetering for the brink. North Korea is over the verge of experiencing a nuclear tool that could reach all of the USA, Russians about The Assault on Cleverness: American National Security in an Age of Lies possess mastered a fresh form of info warfare that undercuts democracy, and the role of China in the global community remains unclear. There will always be value to see and knowledge, devotion to information, humility when confronted with intricacy, and a respect for ideas, but in this second they seem even more important, and even more endangered, than they’ve ever been. American Intelligence–the supreme truth teller–has a responsibility in a post-truth world beyond merely caution of external hazards, and in The Assault on Intelligence, General Michael Hayden occupies that urgent use profound passion, understanding and authority.

It is a sobering vision. The American cleverness community is more in danger than is commonly understood, for every justification. Civil war or societal collapse is not always imminent or unavoidable, but our democracy’s core structures, processes, and behaviour are under great stress. Many of the premises which we have based our knowledge of governance are actually challenged, eroded, or just gone. And we have a Leader in office who responds to mind-boggling evidence through the intelligence community how the Russians are, by all acceptable specifications of cyber turmoil, in a state of outright battle against us, not really by leading a solid response, but by capturing the messenger.

There are fundamental changes afoot in the world and in this country. The Assault on Cleverness shows us what they are, reveals how crippled we’ve become in our capacity to handle them, and factors toward some effective responses. Because when we eliminate our intelligence, literally and figuratively, democracy dies.