Deep Black (1986 book)

Deep Black: Space Espionage and National Security

Author	William E. Burrows
Country	United States
Language	American English
Subject	Espionage National Security
Genre	non-fiction
Publisher	LC Class	UG475 .B87 1986

Deep Black: Space Espionage and National Security is a 1986

Deep Black recounts the United States' clandestine intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) program from its inception at the start of the Cold War up to the mid-1980s. Burrows concentrates on aspects of the program which use technical means of collecting intelligence by employing strategic aircraft, satellites and other electronic techniques instead of more traditional espionage activities. Additionally, the work details how the program adapts from, or is directly related to seminal events of the era such as early Soviet successes in their space program, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 and the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster while framing the intragovernmental competition among organizations of the US Intelligence Community (IC) for tax dollars, equipment and influence.

Title

The title is a reference to the IC jargon term "black", indicating something which is highly classified such as a black budget which is used to finance black ops and/or black projects, all of these are discussed in the book. Thus, "Deep Black" alludes that the subject and the material inside are profoundly sensitive in nature.

Reception

Foreign Affairs described the book as thick and the information overwhelming, concluding that the piece was germane "to more analytically oriented scholars".^[1]

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