Developing Tomorrow's Intelligence Analyst: A New Plan for High Performance in the Intelligence Community

Computers, networks, telephones, satellites, are all tools that we use to send, store and retrieve information. We use tools to help us do our work. The real capital investment is in people. We should never forget that tools are a by-product of people. When the economy dictates more investment in tools then people&..we are all in trouble. When we allow capital investments to have a better return them people investments then we have just sold out the human race for a small profit. Thinking outside the box, gathering accurate data, looking at trends/patterns/causes, studying cause and effect, environmental conditions, philosophies, religions, wants needs and aspirations, and a strong hunch are key elements in research and analysis. The ability to get into someone's way of thinking can not be done via a computer, but a computer can help. Man kind can make a lot of material inventions and rearrange in different sequences, but human beings do not make or assemble other human beings the process of generating life belongs to our creator...the communicator in-charge.

This paper does not warrant recognition as an essay winner. The writer doesn't offer anything new or innovative. You don't want to create a centralized training center for analysts. Doing so will only deter creative and critical thinking. You don't want to place a technician with analysts...that's wasteful. What you do want to do is create rigorous training programs that equip analysts to use tools/techniques/technologies to convert raw data to information to knowledge. You need to create an environment where analysts in their respective domains can collaborate freely and dynamically with their peers in other domains so that they can form the best estimates possible based on the data available. We need analysts to work together across disciplines and dynamically with collectors to ask for information--not prescribe collection solutions--so that they can work with the best data possible, without bias to any specific collection method/technique. AFCEA Intelligence professionals should hold a higher standard. This essay presents fundamentals that have been in-play since the 1940s. We need to be better than this.

@Anonymous - I disagree with your comments and believe your response to this essay indicates a closed-mindedness for change that is problematic in the community. The bottom line is that many or our problems today exist because we function as a disjointed community - not as a seamlessly integrated enterprise that shares information, processes, and tools. This essay proposes ideas on how to adapt to our enemies and operate in a more integrated and collaborative fashion. For too long we have hidden behind the "need to facilitate critical thinking" mantra as a response to actually being held accountable. And yes, I agree with you that we need rigorous training - which is exactly what this paper is advocating for. However, if the data, tools, and processes are trained in a disparate fashion, we will continue to operate as we are trained.