Intelligence in the Early Republic: An Interview with Ken Daigler

The history of American intelligence in the Revolution and Civil War has been extensively covered by both professional and amateur historians. But what about the time in between the wars? SPY historian Vince Houghton sat down with retired career CIA operations officer and historian Ken Daigler to discuss American espionage during the earliest period of United States history. Who were the first foreign agents sent to collect HUMINT? Can we look at the Lewis and Clark expedition as an intelligence operation? How well did American intelligence function during the War of 1812? The Mexican-American War? Daigler, author of Spies, Patriots, and Traitors: American Intelligence in the Revolutionary War and two seminal articles on early American intelligence for the CIA’s Studies in Intelligence, provides the answers.

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