Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence: A Concise History

The first book about Iran’s shadowy Ministry of Intelligence

Steven R. Ward provides an accessible overview of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) and its focus on tracking and countering domestic dissent and perceived foreign-inspired sedition. The ministry’s checkered record of effective intelligence operations includes a history of assassinations and human rights abuses. Developing a clearer picture of the MOIS is important for understanding how the Islamic Republic of Iran operates, seeks security, and competes with its adversaries.

Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence updates and improves on the paucity of available information about Iranian intelligence activities. The chapters in the book cover the MOIS’s origins, leaders, structure and organizational culture, operations and tradecraft, foreign partners, cultural representations, and future outlook. The book also provides a significant examination of this contemporary intelligence agency that does not follow the model of Western organizations.

Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence will be of interest to scholars, students, and general readers of intelligence and Iran’s history and politics. It will also be an important resource for national security and foreign policy practitioners.

Steven R. Ward worked as an intelligence officer for nearly thirty years with the Central Intelligence Agency, covering Middle Eastern, South Asian, and related national security issues. He served as a deputy national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia on the National Intelligence Council (2005-6) and as a director of intelligence programs for the National Security Council (1998-99). He is a retired US Army Reserve lieutenant colonel and 1980 graduate of the US Military Academy. He also is the author of Immortal: A Military History of Iran and Its Armed Forces (Georgetown University Press, 2009 and 2014).