Intelligence for Security

Kent C. Myers
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Kent C. Myers: U.S. government

Chapter 4 in Reflexive Practice, 2010, pp 67-88 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract A National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel in 2009 took on the question of how to change the thinking of U.S. intelligence community (IC) analysts who had, in the opinion of many, been performing poorly in the turbulent terrorism environment. Brent Scowcroft began the panel session by asking what had changed for IC practitioners.1 Porter Goss, George Tenet, and many IC directors before them described their work as “stealing secrets.” Scowcroft remarked that, while stealing secrets is indeed a unique responsibility, it has been oversold and leads to the denigration of openly available information. Scowcroft asserted that the purpose of intelligence is to reduce the uncertainty of the policy maker. Open source information is not only necessary for this purpose but is often superior to stolen secrets. This sounded a theme often repeated by critics of the IC, that more and more effort is spent on traditional collection activities, while less and less of that effort actually helps decision makers make sense in today’s unpredictable and ambiguous situations. While it was not clear to Scowcroft what would work, he was sure that intelligence practices that ignore or misconstrue the ambiguities of decision will not work.

Keywords: Decision Maker; National Security; Intelligence Commu; National Security Agency; Governance Function (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-11262-9_4

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DOI: 10.1057/9780230112629_4

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