U.S. Air Force
New York Times: C.I.A. Officers and F.B.I. Agents, Meet Your New Partner: The Analyst
Call it the revenge of the nerds, Washington-style. The gun-toting F.B.I. agent and the swashbuckling C.I.A. undercover officer are being increasingly called upon to share their clout, their budgets and even their Hollywood glamour with the humble, deskbound intelligence analyst.
As the two agencies confront an evolving terrorist threat, cyberattacks and other challenges, both are reorganizing in ways intended to empower analysts. That involves the delicate job of meshing the very different cultures of the streetwise agent and the brainy analyst, who reads secret dispatches, pores over intercepted communications, absorbs news media accounts and digests it all.
WNU Editor: This is the information age .... and those who can analyze and interpret this information into usable results .... they are probably the most coveted of all employees within the intelligence community.
3 comments:
The analyst lives in a world dictated by the quality of material they're provided with and the political political world view of their customers. How "brainy" they are often never comes into play. The reorg that the Administration is conducting in the intel community is roughly analogous to the deemphasizing of humint to the benefit elint as the focus of agencies activity. The farther from the "ground" things are removed, the easier it is for imaginary views or constucts to prevail. To put it in simpler terms this is the age old struggle in government between "what is" and "what is wanted". It is therefore not peculiar to this Administration, they're just taking it to the "what is wanted" extreme. The results are somewhat obvious.
Why do I keep thinking "Stanfield Turner?"
You're peeking over my shoulder Phil! Yeah, good old Stansfield, admitted and apologized after the fact that his "Halloween Massacre" was a big mistake, but still touts himself as an expert.
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