The crisis of business intelligence: On the necessity of training reform

Abstract

One can probably misjudge or misunderstand more critical history‐making international events, patterns, and trends than contemporary intelligence analysts have, but it is hard to imagine how. The crisis of intelligence, including business intelligence, is part of the larger crisis of incompetence within the social sciences generally. It is a systemic problem involving, as an internal CIA review says, an inability to think “how the other guy thought,” a chronic failure of imagination and personnel, and flaws in information gathering, training, and analysis. Senator Helms says, “Our foreign policy institutions are a complete mess,” and many congressmen, scholars, and practitioners agree.