"In this book Jeffrey Moore profiles the history and select operations of America's first effective, all-source, joint military intelligence agency. Known as JICPOA for Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific Ocean Areas, the agency's nearly two thousand specialists are credited with providing Admiral Nimitz with the intelligence he needed to win the Pacific War. Moore explains how JICPOA evolved and reveals some new facts about the war as he assesses the impact of intelligence on eight amphibious campaigns in the islands of the Central Pacific. He also offers timeless intelligence lessons along with discussions of faulty versus effective intelligence techniques and the integration of intelligence and operational plans - subjects that continue to be pertinent to today's military operations, including the war on terror." "For this unprecedented look at the little-known but groundbreaking organization, Moore draws on interviews with key personnel and internal documents. He supports his analysis of JICPOA's strengths and weaknesses and its successes and failures with more than forty maps, charts, and illustrations. With a foreword by the head of Marine Corps intelligence, the book makes an excellent addition to World War II history and professional collections. Intelligence experts and operations planners will find its lessons useful and insightful. Readers with an interest in real-life thrillers will find it a fascinating study of basic intelligence work."--Jacket.

Includes maps of: Pacific Area of Operations - U.S. Advances as of 1945; Kwajalein (Carillon) Atoll; Prebattle Map of Roi and Namur Islands; Postbattle Map of Roi and Namur Islands; Prebattle Map of Kwajalein Island; Postbattle Map of Kwajalein Island; Eniwetok or Brown Atoll; Prebattle Map of Engebi Island; Prebattle Map of Eniwetok Island; Prebattle Map of Parry Island; Prebattle Map of Saipan; Actual Japanese Defenses on Saipan; AA and Coast Defense Guns, Saipan; Central Saipan; Prebattle Map of Guam; Northern Landing Beaches, Guam; Southern Landing Beaches, Guam; Roads on Orote Peninsula, Guam; Defenses around Northern Landing Beaches, Guam; Southern Landing Beaches - Zone Buck and Orote Peninsula; Prebattle Map of Tinian, Showing Defenses; Prebattle AA and Coast Defense Guns Map, Tinian; Postbattle Map of Tinian; Prebattle Map of Peleliu (2); [Coral Outcropping and Assaulting Marine Units]; Prebattle Map, Iwo Jima; Iwo Jima - Actual Defense Sectors; Naval Gunfire Map, D-3 and D-2, Iwo Jima; Naval Gunfire Map, D-1; Okinawa; Prebattle Map of Okinawa; Japanese Defensive Dispositions, 1 April 1945; Kyushu and the Proposed Landing Plan; Airfields and Defenses, Kyushu.

Genesis -- The Marshalls -- The Marianas -- Peleliu -- Iwo Jima and Okinawa -- The home islands and the bomb -- Conclusions and lessons learned.