Intelligence Cycle Management

Intelligence Cycle Management

The intelligence cycle is an investigation process used by end users (commander of a task force or supervisor of an investigation unit), which allows that user to gather specific information, understand the possibilities of that information, and the limitations of the intelligence process.

Within the context of government, military and business affairs, intelligence (the gathering and analysis of accurate, reliable information) is intended to help decision-makers at every level to make informed decisions.

The intelligence cycle is the continuous process by which:

a) intelligence priorities are set,

b) raw information is collected,

c) this information is analyzed,

d) the processed information is disseminated, and

e) the next set of priorities is determined.

Subcycles also exist: e.g., an analyst (c) may require more information (b).

The related field of counterintelligence is tasked with impeding the intelligence efforts of others.

An intelligence "consumer" might be:

1. an infantry officer who wants to know what is on the other side of the next hill, or
2. a head of government who wants to know the probability that a foreign leader will go to war over a certain point, or
3. a marketing executive who wants to know what his or her competitors are planning.

Intelligence organizations are not, nor can they be expected to be, infallible (intelligence reports are often referred to as "estimates", and often include measures of confidence and reliability), but when properly managed and tasked, can be among the most valuable tools of management and government.

In at least one documented case, intelligence services (and sensors managed by intelligence specialists) have provided information and analysis that let operational commanders determine that a nuclear attack was not in progress, thereby preventing the launch of an unnecessary "counterstrike" (reprisal) and resultant nuclear war. For another example, during the late 20th century, French aerospace and biomedical firms were able to keep up with their competitors despite spending a fraction of their competitors' research and development budgets by gaining access to recordings of conversations made in the first-class cabins of Air France flights.

There are a number of ways in which intelligence management can fail. Leaders can pervert the function of intelligence (failures in direction), such as demanding or considering only that information which supports a policy already decided, or directing intelligence organizations to violate civil liberties. Failures in collection can cause analysts to draw the wrong conclusions. Failures in dissemination, often caused by excessive concern with security, can prevent timely and accurate intelligence from reaching the operational personnel who can act on it.

The principles of intelligence have been discussed and developed from the earliest writers on warfare to the most recent on technology. Despite the most powerful computers, the human mind remains at the core of intelligence: discerning patterns and extracting meaning from a flood of correct, incorrect, and sometimes deliberately misleading information (also known as disinformation).

This is the top of a hierarchy of articles which discuss the four major parts of the intelligence cycle: tasking, collection, analysis, and dissemination. Tasking, since it is so intimately associated with the management of the cycle, is the subject of the present article.