JIM ANDERSON
presents
"The Impact of Technology on Civil War Intelligence: From Aerial Reconnaissance to Cryptology"
At the outset of the American Civil War, neither side had any organized intelligence structure. The two warring governments quickly recognized the importance of creating effective intelligence capabilities. The efforts – both successful and unsuccessful – of the Confederacy’s “Secret Service Bureau” and the Union’s “Bureau of Military Information” included age-old intelligence tradecraft techniques, such as disguise, deception and covert surveillance.
The two sides also experimented with technologies, including telegraphy, cryptology and aerial reconnaissance. We will examine the various technical means used to gather and exploit both tactical and strategic information to influence events on the battlefield and in Washington and Richmond.
Jim Anderson holds history degrees from Rhodes College (BA) and the University of Memphis (MA). He also has done post-graduate work at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Virginia.
After college, Jim served for 3 years in the Air Force as Chief of Air Intelligence Operations for a squadron of F-111D fighter-bombers. Upon leaving the service, he was “recruited” by the CIA, where he spent the next 27 years. His career included a variety of operational and management positions; and six overseas duty tours in the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia.
Jim's interest in the Civil War grew out of his experiences growing up on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line, and it was enhanced by his discovery that some of his ancestors wore “blue” and others wore the “gray.”
After retiring from the CIA Senior Intelligence Service in 2005, Jim started his own leadership training business. He has conducted over 200 seminars for corporate and government management teams, which featured day-long tours of Civil War battlefields as part of the curriculum.
In retirement, Jim teaches classes and leads tours focusing on the Civil War and the American Frontier at the George Mason University Osher Life-Long Learning Institute (GW/OLLI). He also leads church group tours to Israel and Palestine, and he volunteers with local youth and non-profit organizations.
Jim is a member and past Board Chairman of the Friends of Ball’s Bluff Battlefield, and he belongs to the Loudoun Country Civil War Roundtable and the Virginia Piedmont Heritage Area Association.
