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Analyzing Intelligence: Origins, Obstacles, and Innovations | 
 enlarge | Creators: Roger Z. George, James B. Bruce
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 50943
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 340
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.9 x 6.7 x 0.8
ISBN: 1589012011
Dewey Decimal Number: 327.1273
EAN: 9781589012011
ASIN: 1589012011
Publication Date: April 15, 2008
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Condition: Clean, unmarked pages. Good binding and cover. Softcover. Ships daily. (IR)
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A Must Read for the Curious and Practicioners Alike September 3, 2008
Writing in the introduction to their excellent new volume on intelligence analysis, editors Roger Z. George and James Bruce (who, in the interest of full disclosure, I am an associate of) point out that examples of vigorous scholarly work focusing on analysis are few and far between. "As of 2007, the body of scholarly writing on intelligence analysis remains...surprisingly thin." This dearth should come as a surprise even to those versed in analysis (it was to me), especially when one considers the important role played by faulty or strong intelligence analyses throughout recent American history along with the fairly extensive body of social science literature authored in parallel.
Analyzing Intelligence, featuring 18 chapters written by some of America's more accomplished analytical practitioners and theorists, does much to repair this deficiency. Its chapters reference analysis through several lenses, beginning with its origins, moving through its various facets and challenges, and concluding with "ways forward." The narrative pace of the book is engineered to maximize the reader's grasp of overarching and common themes, quite the achievement in such a wide-ranging and diverse work. Crisp editing and welcome section introductions help orient the reader to general themes and points of particular interest brought up by subsequent authors, lending the volume (whose cover features a far from accessible Rubik's cube) a more readable tone than one may expect.
As in any compilation, some chapters stand above others in terms of their impact and quality. This "favoritism" effect is heavily reliant on personal taste -- someone intimately familiar with the history of intelligence analysis in the American context may want to skip the first two chapters, while someone without a background in the policymakers' involvement with analysis should pay particularly close attention to John McLaughlin's definitive treatment of that dynamic featured in chapter 4. However, the following chapters, in my opinion, convey key insights that transcend personal or professional tastes and could easily be described as visionary.
Is Intelligence Analysis a Discipline? - Rebecca Fisher and Rob Johnston provide a welcome organizationally-based critique of the oft-proposed but rarely defined government campaign to "improve analysis" by comparing analysis to other regulated disciplines.
Why Bad Things Happen to Good Analysts - in a refreshingly honest chapter written by Jack Davis, we find out why good analysts -- including an extremely well-credentialed Iran analyst who spoke well of the Shah's stabilizing effect six months before his collapse -- can often make disastrous errors.
Making Analysis More Reliable: Why Epistemology Matters to Intelligence - in my favorite chapter of the book, volume editor James Bruce issues a clarion call to infuse the rigor of scientific procedure into the process of intelligence analysis.
The New Analysis - although one of the shorter chapters, author Carmen Medina uses her words well to predict the coming alterations to the US analytical community and its procedures, some of which Ms. Medina expects to be radical -- and welcome.
Computer Aided Analysis of Competing Hypotheses -- although the title may signal a dry narrative, author Richards Heuer's description of the ACH concept and the role played by commercially available software in its maturation is as accessible as it is fascinating.
Analyzing Intelligence is hopefully the first in a line of works that addresses the world of intelligence analysis in a more scientific and empirical fashion. In its role as a veritable pioneer, the book succeeds in putting forth a detailed and exhaustive treatment of intelligence analysis that is nonetheless accessible to a wide audience ranging from curious graduate students to veteran practitioners.
An impressively articulate and scholarly body of work August 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Expertly compiled and deftly co-edited by Roger Z. George (a career analyst serving in the CIA, State Department, and Defense Department) and James B. Bruce (a retired career CIA intelligence analyst who served with the National Intelligence council, in the Directorates of Intelligence and Operations, as well as other intelligence community organizations), "Analyzing Intelligence: Origins, Obstacles, And Innovations" is a compilation of informed and informative essays and articles on the subject of intelligence analysis providing academia, professionals, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject with a comprehensive overview of the issues, tools, and resources that American intelligence services and departments have with respect to obtaining and understanding the information that they collect. Beginning with a basic introduction to intelligence analysis by James B. Bruce and Roger Z. George, the knowledgeable contributors cover analytic tradition and history, the role of the analyst, the challenges endemic to intelligence analysis, common problems and concerns associated with intelligence analysis, as well as trends and changes within the field of intelligence analysis. An impressively articulate and scholarly body of work, "Analyzing Intelligence" is especially recommended for academic, governmental, and community library reference collections, and the supplemental reading lists of students, journalists, and interested general readers with an interest in the subject.
A "must have" for the intelligence analyst's bookshelf July 2, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is not an Analysis 101 book. It is a serious, insightful look at the important aspects of intelligence analysis as it is practiced and should be practiced. The contributors include the elite of the intelligence analysis business - Heuer, Kerr, Davis, Gannon, and Lowenthal, among others. They are people who speak with authority based on their expertise and experience in all aspects of intelligence. The contributors had the agenda of elucidating for readers the heart and soul of intelligence analysis, and they succeeded.
Several chapters by themselves would be worth the price of the book: John McLaughlin's chapter on dealing with the policymaker customer; Dick Kerr's chapter on the CIA analysis history; or Jack Davis' chapter on analytic pitfalls, among others.
The book reflects the political and military analytic background of the contributors. Consequently, it gives less attention to the economic and S&T/weapons systems analysis perspective - not a serious flaw, since these are rather specialized fields of analysis having a distinct customer set. The only chapter that could be substantially improved is the one of military intelligence analysis, which spends too much space lamenting the lack of respect accorded to military intelligence analysis and insufficient space in discussing what it really is all about. Overall, this book is a major contribution to the intelligence literature and should be on every analyst's bookshelf.
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