Competitive Intelligence National Security Counterintelligence

Since publishing my book on intelligence and counterintelligence, many British, American and Canadian students have been asking questions similar to Linda’s (see below). In order to assist them, I am posting the reply. Alain Paul Martin
Author of Harnessing the Power of Intelligence, Counterintelligence & Surprise Events

Dear Mr. Martin,
Being a history student and having touched briefly on the use of intelligence in the Cold War, the recent coverage in the news about the value and interpretation of intelligence found in Iraq has been so interesting and I hanker after a good book to read about this specifically. But one at a time!

I know you write on areas that stretch far wider than just business intelligence specifically however if you do have a few minutes I wonder if you might be so kind as to write what sort of work experience one would be expected to have to enter this field and how I might go about gaining this.

Thank you

Linda

Hello Linda:
Thank you for your note.
Intelligence is useful for endless goals. It is information collected, analyzed, and processed for policy makers, law enforcement, health, defense, or business decisions (competitive intelligence).

With respect to your career aspirations, you are already on the right track by choosing history in your undergraduate program. Graduate studies offer a variety of options. Your vested interests and abilities, at graduation time, will be among the critical success factors. You can assess your interests and goals by learning more about intelligence and its professions, the sooner the better.

Intelligence is a risk-mined field where, sadly, Caveat Emptor (let the Consumer Beware) is as required as in buying a second-hand car! That is why, more than anything else, the ability to validate data and claims, regardless of their sources, including the so-called authoritative sources, is perhaps the best asset of anyone working in the profession. To give an idea, please take a look at the article titled Russian Sigint in which Dave Emery systematically diagnoses published content in The New American web page.

In government and the military, there are several tracks ranging from the age-old human intelligence (HUMINT) to signal intelligence (SIGINT) dealing with the encryption and decoding of digital messages, Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT) and Communications Intelligence (COMINT). Within each track, you can work upstream (data collection) or downstream (analysis, interpretation, risk assessment and mitigation). As an example, languages are important in HUMINT especially upstream. History, political science, social psychology and fuzzy-set mathematics are critical downstream. Languages, cryptology, IT and local telecom infrastructure are also important in SIGINT. No one can possess all these skills. That is why, analysts work in teams with complementary competencies and field experience. The U.S. Air War College portal titled Gateway to Intelligence is an excellent reference for anyone interested to learn about intelligence.

In the business world, competitive intelligence is gradually becoming a science with its own professional societies. The Society for Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) is a leading force. A practical book on the topic is Strategic and Competitive Analysis: Methods and Techniques for Analyzing Business Competition by Craig S. Fleisher and Babette Bensoussan.

For more information, visit www.executive.org/news and www.executive.org/bibliography.

Regards,

Alain Paul Martin
Author of Harnessing the Power of Intelligence, Counterintelligence & Surprise Events

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