Nichtstaatliche Geheimdiensttätigkeiten im Krieg:: Allan Pinkertons Agentur im Amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg

Abstract

Alan Pinkerton: Business and Intelligence in the American Civil War

Based on the example of private detective Alan Pinkerton (1819–1884) the author analyses the mixture of activities of state and private intelligence services during the American Civil War. While this task was a traditional duty of the state in Europe, the United States had developed during the continental expansion a specific anti-etatistic tradition on the frontier. Against this background it is not surprising that Pinkerton succeeded to sell his services to an administration that had so far not been dealing with issues of intelligence on contract basis. Nagler furthermore shows how conflicts of interest as well as of loyalty caused Pinkerton to revoke his services, a fact which in turn led to an institutionalisation of the intelligence services in the United States.