Intelligence history has long found itself on the margins of traditional historical scholarship, dismissed as associated with dated military history or not particularly serious due to its links to the shadowy world of spies. The last decade has proven such misconceptions unwarranted, with many historians of intelligence arguing that their work offers a “missing dimension” to histories of national and global events. In this panel, four scholars take this progress a step further, demonstrating the many ways that intelligence history contributes to ongoing debates in various fields, as well as suggesting ways for historians of intelligence to incorporate new methodologies to better understand the individuals and agencies working behind the scenes. In “The mischiefs of foreign intrigue,” Jeff Rogg highlights the ways that intelligence history informs our understanding of politics, discussing how secrecy and back-room dealings served to fuel suspicion and rancor in the early American republic. Next, Deborah Bauer’s “Laws of Emotion” turns to late nineteenth-century France, drawing from new methods in the history of emotions to argue for an updated view of the creation of laws against spying and their use within French society, demonstrating the overlap between public and private spheres and the influence of feeling in shaping the outcome of legal cases. Susan Perlman’s paper, “How Intelligence Becomes Policy,” uses intelligence history to present an updated vision of foreign policy, in this case arguing that intelligence gathered by American agents through a transnational web of sources provided a view of France in the early Cold War that shaped the way diplomats and policymakers approached the Franco-American relationship in the years and decades after World War II. Finally, Hugh Wilford’s “Covert Empire” suggests a new interpretation of the formative era of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) by drawing attention to imperial influences on early intelligence practitioners. By considering the colonial and post-colonial worlds in which these agents operated, Wilford sheds new light on the goals and practices that had substantial influence on American policy in the second half of the twentieth century, and arguably carry on through the present day. Together, these four papers in conversation serve to broaden the scope of intelligence history by incorporating political, cultural, emotional, imperial, and diplomatic history, viewed through a transnational lens. In so doing, they encourage historians of all genres to appreciate the contributions of intelligence to the historical record and argue for historians of intelligence to embrace a variety of disciplinary trends to come out of the shadows.