Sub Rosa: Memoirs Of An Australian Intelligence Analyst - R.H. Mattams

For thirty years, R.H. Mathams was an Australian intelligence analyst. This is his story: a highly personal account of the evolution and role of national intelligence in Australia. In it he presents an insider's story of how the Australian intelligence system operates; sheds light on the growth of Australia's national intelligence organisations from their beginnings during World War Il until the end of the 1970's; describes, with examples drawn from his own experience, how intelligence analysts practise their craft; and reveals how and why Australian intelligence organisations share information with overseas counterparts.

Sub Rosa is unique. It is the first Australian book on strategic and national intelligence written by a senior professional. It presents material drawn from the author's experience in Australia and overseas and from his association with professional colleagues in the US, UK and Canada. As an advocate for the profession he served for three decades, the author of Sub Rosa offers a window into the world inhabited by members of Australia's intelligence organisations.

In 1979, R.H. Mathams retired from the post of Director, Scientific and Technical Intelligence, Joint Intelligence Organisation, a position he had held for almost ten years. He had spent most of the previous 15 years in the Joint Intelligence Bureau, as Head, Scientific Intelligence Group.