Intelligence Analysis; Policy & Practice
Week 1 Class Notes
What is Intelligence?
Good question! What is this secretive part of national and homeland
security? How does it integrate into decision and policy-making
procedures and what value does it add to our defense, homeland
security and foreign policy efforts?
First of all, the gathering, analysis and use of intelligence information
have been around since man took his first steps. It is a natural step in
decision-making.
To the uninformed, intelligence is information, but to us security
professionals, we know better.
First of all, intelligence for the most part is classified or secretive. This
causes much friction and controversy, as the intelligence process tends
not to be a transparent government process to the American public.
Consider the ongoing controversy regarding the National Security
Agency’s alleged spying on Americans—this issue and other directly
related ones from our history will be examined later in this course.
There is good reason for the secrecy part of intelligence—much
intelligence would lose its value if all knew it.
Second of all and most important, intelligence is information that
meets the needs of decision-makers and has been collected, analyzed
and produced to meet those needs. For more information on
intelligence, review the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s
(ODNI) Consumers Guide to National Intelligence.
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Intelligence is much more than information. It is knowledge that has
been created by humans for use by humans. It is information with
meaning to support operations, policymaking, planning, etc.
I think it is good to remember Mark Lowenthal’s saying, “All
intelligence is information; not all information is intelligence.” See
Figure 1.1 below for a graphic representation of how information is
transformed into intelligence.
Figure 1.1: Collection to Intelligence Flow.
Why Should I Care?
One personal goal I have for each of you in this class is to become a
much more informed taxpayer regarding the role of intelligence at all
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levels of our government. So, as taxpayers, do you know how much
this secret part of the federal government costs each year? An
estimated $75 billion dollars! For more historical information on the
federal government’s intelligence budget, check out the Federation of
American Scientists (FAS) website. Later in the class, we learn about
the budgeting process within the context of intelligence oversight.
As a professional, you want good intelligence as it can enable you to
do more with less. Intelligence is a force multiplier as well as a means
of conducting less risky operations. This is true for business ventures
too. Fabled Chinese general and philosopher, Sun Tzu was a believer
in intelligence:
“It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you
will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know
your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose
one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be
imperiled in every single battle.”
Sun Tzu
Models of Intelligence
I choose to use the Lowenthal book, Intelligence; From Secrets to
Policy, for this class for a number of reasons, but one of the primary
ones is his use of three models to think about intelligence.
Intelligence as process: Intelligence can be thought of as the
means by which certain types of information are required and
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requested, collected, analyzed and disseminated. We learn much
about the intelligence process aka the intelligence cycle
throughout the class.
Intelligence as a product: Intelligence can be thought of as the
product of the processes. This is the actual intelligence
information provided to its consumers (reports, assessments,
targeting data, etc.).
Intelligence as organization: Intelligence can be thought of as
the units that carry out its various functions (CIA, DIA, FBI’s
National Security Div, Treasury Dept’s OFAC, IBM’s competitor
research, etc.).
Using these three models, anytime someone starts talking about
intelligence with you, ensure you place the conversation within one of
these models.
Lowenthal’s models are based upon the thinking of Sherman Kent, the
grandfather of intelligence analysis in the US. Kent joined the CIA in
the early 1950s after serving in the OSS and teaching at Yale
University.
Kent is also known for better defining the role of the intelligence
analyst/officer. His belief that “intelligence analysis is a service arm to
policymakers and that it should not be a formulator of objectives, a
drafter of policy, or a maker of plans” is a good rule of thumb on how
intelligence professionals engage with their customers. The intelligence
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community’s engagement with its customers will be further developed
in Week 5.
Summary
There is not standard or legislated definition of intelligence in the
government at any level (much like the definition of terrorism) so I
have adopted Lowenthal’s, which he calls a “working concept.”
“Intelligence is the process by which specific types of information
important to national security are requested, collected, analyzed,
and provided to policy makers; the products of that process; the
safeguarding of these processes and this information by
counterintelligence activities; and the carrying out of operations
as requested by lawful authorities.”
