Mark Stout, "World War I and the Foundations of American Intelligence" (UP of Kansas, 2023)

Feb 11, 2026

Mark Stout, a former U.S. national security professional and intelligence historian, discusses how World War I forged modern American intelligence institutions. He traces roots from the 1880s through Spanish‑American War and Mexico, highlights signals, aerial reconnaissance, cryptology, allied cooperation, and business roles in wartime collection. He explains why wartime practices endured into later conflicts.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

WWI As The Origin Of Modern U.S. Intelligence

World War I created the full set of modern U.S. intelligence disciplines by 1918, not just WWII-era institutions.
An American intelligence officer in 1918 could have a professional conversation with one from 1945 about tradecraft and roles.

INSIGHT

Late 19th-Century Seeds Of U.S. Intelligence

U.S. military intelligence roots trace to the 1880s with ONI (1883) and the Military Intelligence Division (1885).
Early figures like Arthur L. Wagner laid doctrinal foundations including reconnaissance, SIGINT, and open-source methods.

ANECDOTE

Failed Assassination Plot In Mexico

In Pershing's 1916 punitive expedition, Japanese agents were recruited to assassinate Pancho Villa using poisoned coffee.
The attempt failed, leaked, and Pershing denied knowledge when Washington investigated.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Ask an American intelligence officer to tell you when the country started doing modern intelligence and you will probably hear something about the Office of Strategic Services in World War II or the National Security Act of 1947 and the formation of the Central Intelligence Agency. What you almost certainly will not hear is anything about World War I.

In World War I and the Foundations of American Intelligence (UP of Kansas, 2023), Mark Stout establishes that, in fact, World War I led to the realization that intelligence was indispensable in both wartime and peacetime. After a lengthy gestation that started in the late nineteenth century, and included important episode like the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the Punitive Expedition in Mexico, modern American intelligence emerged during World War I. The War was foundational in the establishment of a self-conscious profession of intelligence. Virtually everything that followed was maturation, reorganization, reinvigoration, or reinvention.

World War I ushered in a period of rapid changes. Never again would the War Department be without an intelligence component. Never again would a senior American commander lead a force to war without intelligence personnel on their staff. Never again would the United States government be without a signals intelligence agency or aerial reconnaissance capability. Stout examines the breadth of American intelligence in the war, not just in France, not just at home, but around the world and across the army, navy, and State Department, and demonstrates how these far-flung efforts endured after the Armistice in 1918. For the first time, there came to be a group of intelligence practitioners who viewed themselves as different from other soldiers, sailors, and diplomats. Upon entering World War II, the United States had a solid foundation from which to expand to meet the needs of another global hot war and the Cold War that followed.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network