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7/31/2019 BCISS July 2012 Conference on Intelligence
Analysis
1/3
Understanding and Improving Intelligence Analysis:
Learning from other Disciplines12-13 July, 2012
London, England
RAF Club
The purpose of this conference is to engage in a
cross-disciplinary discussion about the value of
learning from other fields to improve both the understanding and
the practice of intelligence analysis.
It will also create the network and infrastructure for an
international research collaboration for thestudy of intelligence
analysis.
Intelligence, like journalism, involves the acquisition,
evaluation, and dissemination of information.
In 1949, Sherman Kent, described as the father of US
intelligence analysis, said: Intelligenceorganizations must also
have many of the qualities of those of our greatest metropolitan
newspapers.
They watch, report, summarize, and analyze. They have their
foreign correspondents and homestaff. They have their
responsibilities for completeness and accuracywith commensurately
greater
penalties for omission and error. . . They even have the problem
of editorial control. Intelligenceorganizations (should) put more
study upon newspaper organization and borrow those phases of it
which they require.
But the similarities between intelligence analysis and
journalism are not unique. Professionals in other
fieldsincluding medicine, the social and behavioural sciences,
history and historiography,anthropology and other disciplines
engaged in ethnographic research, econometric forecasting, and
legal reasoningalso face many similar challenges to those that
exist in intelligence analysis,including:
Difficulties acquiring information from a wide variety of
sources Vetting and evaluating the information that is acquired
Deriving understanding and meaning from that information Impact of
deadlines, editing, and other production processes on accuracy of
analysis and assessment Problems in dissemination and distribution
to consumers or customers Managing relationship between producer
and consumer (role, responsibility, independence &
objectivity) Developing professional infrastructure (recruit,
select, train, & develop personnel; code of ethics) Overcoming
impact of changing technology and alternative information
distribution systemsHow do practitioners in various
non-intelligence fields overcome these kinds of challenges? How
are
their challenges similar to or different from those that exist
in the intelligence arena? What can be
learned from the comparison?
This event has been funded through a grant from the Brunel
University Research and Innovation
Fund. They are organized and hosted by Brunel Universitys Centre
for Intelligence and SecurityStudies in collaboration with
University ofMississippis Center for Intelligence and Security
Studies.
Conference Contact:Dr. Stephen Marrin
Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies
Department of Politics and History
Brunel University
Uxbridge (West London), England
[email protected] or [email protected]
Phone: +44 (0) 1895 267 864
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7/31/2019 BCISS July 2012 Conference on Intelligence
Analysis
2/3
Understanding and Improving Intelligence Analysis:
Learning from other Disciplines12-13 July, 2012
London, England
RAF Club
Understanding and Improving Intelligence Analysis: Learning from
other Disciplines
Day 1: Thursday 12 July
8:00 Registration and Coffee9:00 Welcome Part 1:
Stephen Marrin (Brunel University): Learning from Other
Disciplines, including Medicine and
Journalism
9:30 Comparisons to Other Fields Part 1
Analysis as a Type of Information Processing
10:30 Break
11:00 Comparisons to Other Fields Part 2
Publishing
Is Not Believing: Insights for
Intelligence Analysis from Professional Magicians.
12:00 Lunch
1:30 Intelligence Analysis and Social Science(Coventry
University): Bayesian analysis in intelligence and social sciences:
a
tool for all trades?
Inquiry Under Uncertainty, or On Some Affinities Between
Obtaining Intelligence and
Intelligence Reasoning from Evidence
2:30 Break3:00 Intelligence Analysis and History
d the British Columbia Institute of
Technology Crime and Intelligence Analysis Program) Seekers
after Truth: Cross-Disciplinary
Insights for the Intelligence Profession from the Biblical and
Theological Studies Discipline
anch, UK Ministry of Defence): The Unreliable Memoirs of
an Applied Historian and Operational Analyst and
4:00 Break
4:15 Intelligence Analysis and Perception(Federal
Executive Institute): Neuroscience in Intelligence Analysis:
Understanding How the Brain Works
and Its Impact on Analytic Decision Making
Multi-Level Cognitive Biases in the Chain of Intelligence
FlowFrom Source to Consumers
the Science into the Art of Intelligence Analysis)
5:30 Day One Adjourns
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7/31/2019 BCISS July 2012 Conference on Intelligence
Analysis
3/3
Understanding and Improving Intelligence Analysis:
Learning from other Disciplines12-13 July, 2012
London, England
RAF Club
Day 2: Friday 13 July
8:00 Registration and Coffee
9:00 Welcome Part 29:15 Evaluating Intelligence
of Intelligence: Lessons from Inside and Outside the
Intelligence Community
10:15 Evaluating IntelligenceStephen Marrin (Brunel University):
Evaluating the Quality of Intelligence Analysis: By What
(Mis) Measure?
(McGill University): Measuring Intelligence Success:
Conceptual and Methodological Challenges of Intelligence
Measurement
10:45 Break
11:00 Intelligence Analysis and the Dismal Science
ernment Statistics
ligence Analysis and Economics
12:00 Lunch
1:30 Improving Communication
Positioned FDNY Watchline at the Forefront of Fire Service
Analytical Intelligence
What Doesnt and How to Fix Itlitical Marketing Intelligence
2:30 Break
3:00Applying Knowledge from Other Fields to Increase
Understanding
Patterns of Civil Unrest: An Interdisciplinary Efforturrent
Intelligence Reporting and the H5N1 Bird Flu
Virus: Insights from the Field of Science and Technology
Studies
4:00 Break
4:15 Practitioner views, summary, and next steps
5:30pm Conference Adjourns
