This volume examines the history of an organization formally named the International Documentation and Information Centre, headquartered in The Hague from 1962 to 1986. Initiated by West German and Dutch intelligence agencies, Interdoc's network spanned Western Europe and beyond. The organization coordinated diverse “psychological warfare” activities, from conferences to covert action. Participants included intelligence officers, academics, journalists, businessmen, and philanthropists. In this book, Giles Scott-Smith aims “to put together the Interdoc story, the people and ideas that drove it, and its place within Cold War history “(p. 1).
The result is a detailed case study firmly grounded in multi-archival research, participant interviews, and a thorough command of the relevant literature, particularly on Cold War “psychological warfare.” Scott-Smith generally succeeds in conveying an interesting story, portraying its main characters and sketching their animating ideas. He succeeds more modestly in situating Interdoc within Cold War history. Scott-Smith's narrative often becomes hard to...