“I feel like the Blues is actually some kind of documentary of the past and the present – and something to give people inspiration for the future” – Willie Dixon, I Am The Blues, 1989 I’m going to try to draw together two passions. I’ve written before about constructing an intelligence analysis report. I’ve never…
I occasionally cross post articles here from another blog on the development of improvised weapons in history. The link (click the title) should take you to a recent article where I examine the surprising source of an improvised rocket design used in 1803. Previous articles in the redirect site provide context.
There’s an interesting piece here, about how scientists with “intellectual humility” make better scientists, and I think you could replace the word “scientist” in the article with “intelligence analyst” and get an equally valid article. As the author points out , before engaging in this discussion, it is important to have a commonly accepted…
I’ve posted a couple of time before about the positive power and the dangerous power of narrative constructs in intelligence analysis. Chris Anderson, the former editor of “Wired” magazine and a keen thinker clearly has some thoughts on the matter, as has been reported here in an advertorial by a guy who also appreciates the…
A few posts back I asked for some good intelligence based one liner quotes. This is the clear winner and is worth giving it its own post: We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right…
A plot by the Continuity IRA (CIRA) to murder a British serviceman was reported foiled by Garda Síochána intelligence earlier today (18 December 2012). The serviceman, who hails from County Limerick in the Irish Republic, was to have been targeted at a function in Limerick whilst on Christmas leave. The terrorists were aware of his…
I am a little disorganised and I spend a lot of my life searching for stuff. On a conservative estimate, I spend about 10% of my waking hours actively looking for things. In the last 24 hours I’ve tried to find (with varying degrees of success): My mobile phone and keys My youngest child’s shoes.…
Back in 1947 Allen Dulles said that 80% of intelligence questions could be answered from open sources. As Dulles later became the Director of the CIA it is a given he had more than a passing knowledge of intelligence. The open sources he was talking about were primarily foreign newspaper reports and radio broadcasts. What…
At this time of year analysts are frequently asked by their managers for their analysis of the year to come. I’m talking here about the world in general not IMSL. It’s also a perfect filler for the hard pressed editor to fill some blank columns. That’s pretty rubbish, managers asking for predictions. But often analysts…
There’s some interesting commentary on Roger’s post below about intelligence specialisms. It does occasionally appear that you can put anything in front of ‘int’ and claim it as a specialism – and the obscurer it is, the more likely it is that you can be an expert in it. So naturally, I’ve taken this to…