INTELLIGENCE EDUCATION
a la
DISSERTATION DISCUSSION
COL (Ret) Bill Spracher
Doctoral Candidate, Higher Education Administration Program
George Washington University
Coordinating Editor
Center for Strategic Intelligence Research
National Defense Intelligence College
9th Annual International Colloquium on Intelligence
Notre Dame College
10 July 2007
Dissertation Vitals
Title:
Intelligence Studies in U.S. Civilian Colleges and Universities:
Developing for a Dangerous World
Principal Research Question:
Can formally designated intelligence studies in the nation’s colleges and
universities contribute definitively to the development of professionals in
the Intelligence Community who are well chosen and intellectually
prepared to function on the job in fully competent fashion?
Methodology:
Written survey to educators (≈125), shorter questionnaire to junior
analysts (≈25), selected interviews with pioneers in the field (≈5)
What Am I Doing Here???
Method to my Madness:
-- Career Army MI officer (30 yrs, last 15 essentially as a LATAM FAO)
-- Several education-related assignments
-- Taught intel subjects at USMA, NDU, and JMIC
-- Interested in intel from an international perspective (experience with
USARSA, UNPKO, IADC, Defense Attaché System, CHDS)
-- Attendee at 1999 JMIC annual conference on teaching intelligence
-- Regular participant in Colloquium and IAFIE activities since 2004
-- Contractor independence
What the Future Holds:
-- Retirement (again)
-- Travel
-- Teaching
-- Research
What this Dissertation Is Not
------
Not about training
Not about international educational programs
Not about governmental programs
Not about tactical- or operational-level intelligence support
Not a treatise on critical thinking per se
What it does try to do:
-- Examine intelligence studies programs in a broad range of civilian
institutions across the U.S.
-- Determine if they are producing critical thinkers for the profession who
are prepared intellectually to support policy-/decision-makers
-- Explore how outcomes are being assessed/expectations realized
Topics of Personal Interest
-- Outcomes assessment, performance evaluation, & core competencies
-- Open source intel research
-- Lessons learned/best practices
-- Fusion of the INTs and blurring of boundaries between intel & ops;
strategic & tactical; foreign & domestic; national security, law enforcement,
& competitive/business intel
-- Emphasis on cultural intel and foreign language capability
-- Control, oversight, and accountability
-- Ethics
-- Intelligence-industrial complex
-- Information sharing via professional journals, conferences/symposia/colloquia,
& the Internet/Intelink
-- Opportunities through internships, research fellowships, international exchanges,
& consortia
-- NIU/CAE/public-private collaboration
Bright Lights from the Past
(Chap 2 All-Stars)
-- Sherman Kent vs. Willmoore Kendall
-- Ray Cline
-- Roger Hilsman
-- Robin Winks
-- Walter Pforzheimer
-- Vernon Walters
-- Robert Gates
-- Irving Janis
-- Graham Allison
-- Sam Wilson
Food for Thought
(from presentation at 2006 Colloquium on
“Intelligence as an Academic Discipline”)
“In the continuing search for better understanding of the dynamics of national
security policy, the contribution strategic intelligence makes to policy has recently
been attracting academic attention … My premise is that disciplined inquiry
[emphasis added] into the intelligence process serves the interests of higher
education, scholarship, and an informed public opinion.” (Ray S. Cline, former
CIA official and noted author, “Foreword” to Teaching Intelligence in the Mid1990s: A Survey of College and University Courses on the Subject of
Intelligence, by Judith M. Fontaine, 1992)
“To some extent, the teaching of intelligence has been hobbled by the fact that it
is a relatively new academic endeavor … We are concerned with an academic
subject that is barely 25 years old.” (Dr. Mark M. Lowenthal, Executive Director,
IAFIE, “Teaching Intelligence: The Intellectual Challenges,” JMIC Occasional
Paper No. 5, A Flourishing Craft: Teaching Intelligence Studies, June 1999)
What Can You Do to Help?
-- Provide advice and suggestions
-- Participate in survey pre-test now
-- Promptly return official survey if you receive one;
ensure survey gets into the right hands
-- Spread the gospel about intel studies
-- Remain engaged with each other, with IAFIE, and
with other professional intel organizations
-- Keep teaching and learning – it’s a lifelong
enterprise!
A Final Thought
“Greater collaboration is vital because no single agency has
the capacity to survey all the available information. . .
Intelligence can only help inform and shape decisions if it is
processed through the mind of an analyst who resolves any
conflicts and ambiguities. . . The intelligence community can
still learn a lot from commercial best practices and best-inclass analytic technologies to help its analysts sift through
data and more rapidly identify key insights. . . Old cultures
and practices need to be changed. ”
-- VADM (Ret) Mike McConnell, Director of National
Intelligence, from “Overhauling Intelligence,”
Foreign Affairs, July/August 2007)