SUGGESTED ESPIONAGE ESSAY TOPICS

• Discuss the origins and creation of the British intelligence system prior to WW I.

• How important were espionage and the intelligence services to the Allied victory in the WW I? (use specific examples).

• Discuss Pearl Harbor as an example of intelligence failure for both the U.S. and Japan.

• Discuss the role that intelligence played in the German attack on the USSR (Operation Barbarossa) in June 1941?

• Discuss the role that partisan or underground organizations had during WW II in ONE  of the following countries/regions: France, Norway, the USSR, Italy, Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece, Thailand, Indochina, the Netherlands.

• Discuss the importance of “Ultra” to the Allied victory in Europe during WW II.

• What role did intelligence assessments play in the American decision to drop the atomic  bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

• Discuss Soviet efforts to learn about American atomic bomb research to 1949.

• What role did Venona play in the early stages of the Cold War?

• Discuss US covert operations in ONE of the following cases: Iran 1946-53, Guatemala 1951-55, Thailand 1950-1975, Vietnam 1954-1964, Cuba 1959-1963, Congo 1960-1963, Chile 1970-1973,  Indonesia 1964-1966                   

• Discuss security threats to Canada between 1864 and 1939.

• How important was the defection of Igor Gouzenko in 1945?

• Discuss Canada’s role in American intelligence operations during the Cold War.

• Discuss the role of women in espionage during the 20^th century, using specific examples. 

• Discuss the roles that intelligence services might play in this “post Cold War” era.

• Discuss the development and importance of intelligence services in, or involving the crisis or conflict in ONE of the following countries during the Cold War OR during the 1990s & 9/11: Iran , Pakistan, Israel, Northern Ireland , East Germany , South Africa , Canada.

• Produce a biography of a notable individual in espionage:  an agent, an operative, or a director or founder of a service or agency.

• Discuss a crisis or policy decision that was sparked by or resolved through intelligence.

• Discuss the relationship between the laws of a particular country and the practice of intelligence.

• Discuss an issue in intelligence theory, policy, or methodolgy.

• Discuss the current operation of one or a group of related agencies.

• etc, etc, etc