ABSTRACT
Is there an American approach to the study of intelligence? The question calls to mind Russell Weigley’s The American Way of War, which suggested that Americans did in fact have a national “style” when it came to warfare. According to Weigley, Americans preferred to obliterate their opponents through attrition, not to use limited means for limited objectives.1 Although many have disputed Weigley’s characterization of the American way of warfare,2 his work renewed interest in the idea that the way officers and officials wage war is influenced by strategic culture, and this idea has been championed and contested by succeeding generations of strategic theorists. Yet, this debate about strategic military culture has not been mirrored by a similar discussion about the existence of a specific American approach to intelligence or intelligence studies.
