Most Secret and Confidential, Steven Maffeo

An interesting twist on warfare in earlier centuries is that while some aspects of the combat itself might be conducted under rigid rules demanded by the limited technology available, other things common to modern warfare were much more haphazard. The use of intelligence at sea during the Napoleonic wars offers a good example, as outlined by Steven Maffeo in 2012's Most Secret and Confidential.

Maffeo, who has served in the United States Navy in different intelligence-related fields, begins by sketching the role of intelligence in military and government policy work during the late 1700s and early 1800s, the time frame of Great Britain's conflict with France. What we find is that the practice of intelligence-gathering was not well-defined and, outside of battlefield information, not particularly emphasized. Different government agencies had responsibilities connected to the gathering of information about rivals and enemies and their activities, but it was rarely coordinated unless some high-ranking government minister had that mindset. Military intelligence was often in the same situation: Commanders who appreciated its value would invest in developing information networks and sources and put what they learned to use. Others would not.

Even for commanders who realized the importance of information-gathering were hampered by 18th and early 19th-century communication technology, and Maffeo devotes a section of the book to showing how the limited communications made it hard to actually use some of the intelligence that agents had gathered. The commanders of individual ships, detached from large fleets or squadrons, were the most likely to be able to make effective use of information since they could act immediately on what they had learned. A fleet admiral might be able to do so, but often information he gathered would be outdated by the time he could bring it to the attention of government ministers.

Maffeo concentrates on the English side of the war, with some attention paid to French intelligence work, and also focuses on the ways that naval commanders handled the discipline of intelligence more than land-based forces. He includes episodes from well-known Napoleonic naval fiction such as the stories of Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturn series as examples of what his research uncovers. The book concludes with three case studies of how intelligence gathering informed (or didn't) three major battles of the era, offering examples of his earlier explanations.

Maffeo's style is clear and not overly academic. Most Secret suffers a little because Maffeo is not always clear when he's discussing a fictional character and the description of the autonomy of a ship-captain on detached duty stretches a little longer than it needs to. The book does not seem to be intended as a deep historical study of Napoleonic-era intelligence but is a well-written and well-researched aid that can bring welcome context to readers interested in learning the basics of the field in the era under consideration.