Have Western intelligence experts fundamentally failed to understand the dynamics, leaders and culture of the Middle East? Using the most recently declassified documents, interviews and Arabic sources, the book examines seminal case studies to explore how the intelligence agencies in the world have been so notoriously caught off-guard.

The untold story of Western intelligence in the Middle East This book addresses a critical question embedded within a heated debate about the 'failure' of American intelligence in a post 9/11 age: have Western experts failed in some fundamental way to understand the dynamics, leaders and culture of the Middle East? Using the most recently declassified documents, interviews and Arabic sources, the book examines seminal case studies culminating in Sadat's dramatic assassination and explores whether, how and why the most knowledgeable and powerful intelligence agencies in the world have been so notoriously caught off guard in this region. Dina Rezk is a lecturer in Middle Eastern History at the University of Reading. She was previously a Teaching Fellow in Intelligence and Security at the University of Warwick and completed her doctorate at the University of Cambridge.