Unlike most paperbacks, though, this one attracted the attention of intelligence officers and diplomats on three continents.
The men and the compound do seem to have on occasion drawn the attention of intelligence agencies.
Recent statements on the campaign trail, and barbed accusations by both candidates about their opponent's ability to handle classified information, have focused attention on the intelligence briefings and raised questions about how much, or how little, the spies will share with the candidates.
With concerns about newly emerging diseases such as A(H5N1), there has been increasing attention on epidemic intelligence (EI) systems that can complement indicator networks by detecting events on a global scale so that they can be acted on close to source.
Anthony Lake, President Bill Clinton's national security adviser, and at one point his choice to become intelligence chief, said in a telephone interview that he was concerned about the extent to which the attention being focused on intelligence failures on Sept. 11 and Iraq was interfering with more urgent work.
Naturally, I welcome the attention to intelligence reform.
Reports suggesting that cannabis has a deleterious effect on intelligence, attention span and memory for youngsters under 18 who use the drug follow the insights of a piece of research by King's College and Duke University using data going back to 1972.
After the war, he wrote a classic book on intelligence analysis, which attracted the attention of government officials.
However, given that intelligence itself may affect attention and behavior (Chen et al. 2007; Frazier et al. 2004), and that a negative influence of lead on intelligence has been well replicated (Needleman and Gatsonis 1990), at least part of the association between lead and attention and behavior may be mediated by its negative impact on intelligence.
While the Snowden leaks have focused attention on the close relationship with the US intelligence agencies, difficulties in the military partnership were highlighted earlier this month by former US defence secretary Robert Gates.
