Intelligence Essentials for Everyone

The "importance of understanding" has become almost an obsession with significant portions of American business. There remain, however, many companies that attempt to operate as they traditionally have in the past - placing great faith in the owner's or manager's judgment as to what is required to remain competitive. In this paper, the author has articulated clearly the fundamentals of sound intelligence practice and has identified some guidelines that can lead toward creation of a solid intelligence infrastructure. These signposts apply both to government intelligence and to business. Good intelligence should always be based on validated requirements, but it may be derived from a wide variety of sources, not all of which are reliable. Understanding the needs of the consumer and the sources available enable an analyst to choose the correct methodology to arrive at useful answers. The author has laid out in clear, concise language a logical approach to creating an infrastructure for government and business. Every system will have flaws but this discussion should help the reader minimize those weaknesses. It is an important contribution to the education of government and business intelligence professionals. James A. Williams, LTG, U.S. Army (Ret.) Former Director, Defense Intelligence Agency