Introduction

Deception is a conscious and rational effort deliberately to mislead an opponent. It seeks to create in the adversary a state of mind which will be conducive to exploitation by the deceiver. As such, deception is one of the oldest and most effective weapons of warfare. As a form of 'trickery' it has acquired a pejorative connotation: just as 'Gentlemen do not open each other's mail', so decent people should not engage in what is sometimes seen as an indecent activity. But strategic deception, far from being either ungentlemanly or random, is a systematic and consistent process in which success may bring substantial benefits.