We've all been there: faced with a major decision, yet overwhelmed by the very data that is supposed to help us. It s an all-too-common struggle in the digital age, when Google searches produce a million results in a split second and software programs provide analysis faster than we could ever hope to read it.

Adapting the geopolitical and historical lessons gleaned from over two decades in government intelligence, Philip Mudd an ex National Security Council staff member and former senior executive at the FBI and the CIA finally gives us the definitive guidebook for how to approach...