Intelligence and Policymaking: The Opportunity for a More Collaborative Approach
By: Gary Gomez | September 18, 2023
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This report explores the implications of a more collaborative and connected approach to intelligence analysis and policy formulation. I consider a model in which analysts and policymakers are co-located within policy offices at all levels of policymaking. The goal of this approach is to enable a better fusion of experience and knowledge to support holistic and relevant intelligence analysis and informed evidence-based foreign policy.
The current intelligence producer-consumer model imposes a firewall between the two worlds to ensure the objectivity and apolitical character of intelligence analysis. Yet decades of critical reviews of this model recommend a more synergistic and collaborative approach. A break with the ‘standard model’ will enable an evolutionary path towards more permanent associations between policy officials and intelligence analysts. This standard model, as outlined by Sherman Kent, need not be considered wrong to adjust and evolve into a new model. Indeed, such an evolution would not be possible without the intensely objective analytic ethic developed over decades by the intelligence community.
To evaluate the efficacy of this updated evolutionary model, this report references decades of intelligence studies literature about some of the most fundamental and critical issues of the intelligence producer-consumer relationship. As with any fundamental changes to long-established processes and institutions, practitioner discomfort can occur. This report will explore the opportunities and risks associated with these changes.
