Intelligence CaseEssay Preview: Intelligence CaseReport this essayIf you had that one piece of the puzzle that would have prevented the bombings of the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon on September 11 2001 would you know it? If you saw someone do something weird or suspicious before the attack on September 11 2001, would you have called the police? If someone had walked into a United States Embassy in a foreign country and said that they know someone was going to use a plane to destroy New York in two days, could this have stopped the attack? Intelligence Analysis puts the raw sources of information together, make predictions based on the data, and finally publish the results.
The Intelligence Cycle is an [effective], but outdated model. Essentially, it attempts to visualise intelligence as a process, and not merely a product. As such, by attempting a simple outline of a complex procedure, the cycle will be prone to misrepresenting dynamic changes; operational realities and either over, or under value particular parts of the process. However, its core strengths lie in its simplicity: shifting through the alphabet soup that is the Intelligence Community and making sense of the entire process is daunting: the Intelligence Cycle attempts to define its movement. This offers people within and outwith the Intelligence Community the ability to understand the essential tenets, or goals, within intelligence; that it is essentially a service . Further, simplicity allows change to better suit the environment.
Throughout my research, it became apparent that the acceptance for an accurate definition of Intelligence is still an issue to date. One reason could be because experts tend to view intelligence through their own specialty, and would be fair to say that this could possibly be because officers within the intelligence community do not have strong bridges connecting them to each other or to policy makers, which would therefore enhance communication and sharing practices of raw findings and improve the processes of collection and analysis of information that it is to be turned into intelligence and disseminated back to the policy makers.
Open sources have provided a useful stream of information for all source collection and analysis within the intelligence community. The use of open source information by the intelligence community is not a new phenomenon. During the technological boom of the 21st century open source has expanded well beyond its original capabilities. There is an important difference however between mere information and intelligence. Open source information is defined as “any and all information that can be derived from overt collection” (Lowenthal 2006, p. 273) comparatively open source intelligence (OSINT) is the transformation of legally available information using analytical exploitation (Gibson 2004).
The Intelligence Community’s Role in Intelligence Research The intelligence community is a body of highly-trained, highly motivated, highly efficient and technologically advanced individuals who perform many aspects of intelligence work, including the collection, dissemination, and collection of information and techniques. As part of their work, various national interagency teams support research, evaluation, evaluation, and interpretation of intelligence data and intelligence reports and documents. Intelligence leaders also collaborate in analyzing intelligence-gathering systems and intelligence-related efforts to best understand the nature of intelligence collection.
Agencies in Intelligence: Interferences and Coordination Since mid-19th century intelligence agencies, such as the CIA, the CIA, the National Security Agency and the Department of Defense, have shared information, discussed and carried out intelligence activities and operations. Today, these agencies are engaged in a variety of interagency activities of their own on a variety of technical and intellectual levels. The most important interagency relationships are defined in my research on the United States intelligence community in its work on espionage and counterintelligence. Interaction between intelligence-gathering and intelligence-sharing organizations, agencies and the federal government may include: Interagency coordination within government on the intelligence community; Intelligence and intelligence-sharing of information (IAD); sharing of intelligence and intelligence-reporting, and the sharing of intelligence reporting and intelligence sharing data for national security data and intelligence-sharing or collaboration with or cooperation with partners; coordination of intelligence efforts within the intelligence community between the intelligence agencies and intelligence sharing organizations in national security matters; interagency work on intelligence and intelligence sharing capabilities to identify and monitor threats and enhance protection by intelligence gathering (Hoffmann 2009); and the collaboration of national security agencies and the intelligence community in the development of intelligence and counterintelligence and related activities (Struggin 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2011). The intelligence community’s role in intelligence gathering is critical. The United States Intelligence Community contributes a wide range of intelligence-gathering data to intelligence-sharing organizations, national security agencies and others, including the Intelligence Community Analytical Group, the intelligence intelligence community’s Joint Analysis Team and the Intelligence Community Management Assoc. It is the intelligence community in all its departments that are involved in both the collection & analysis of intelligence reports and the making of final judgments about intelligence activities and trends. It is the Joint Analysis Team and the Intelligence Community Management Assoc that are the main sources and providers of intelligence information for intelligence activities. In addition, the intelligence community plays an integral role in coordinating intelligence-sharing activities to enhance deterrence. These intelligence agencies are integrated into the Intelligence Community and the intelligence community working for the national security, planning, and intelligence-sharing activities of intelligence agencies and the intelligence community. Each of these agencies, the intelligence community and the intelligence sharing organizations engage in a range of intelligence-gathering operations within the United States Intelligence Community.