Cultural Intelligence & Intelligence and Culture (catch all)

[Red Rat]

Well that's a major step backwards since 1991, when I was getting trade qualified in this area. There was a huge amount of emphasis on "So what" and "What does that mean?"

The 'so what' and 'What does that mean' I am reliably informed still happens; and certainly the Intelligence Community often appears very wise after the fact

But my perspective working at unit and bde level was that we saw very little of this output and what I wanted most (an analysis on assessed intention and likely courses of action) was lacking. The intelligence briefing was a bit like the weather report on the BBC, mostly 'this morning we had sunny weather in London'; Doh! I lived through that part - what's going to happen tomorrow?

[William F. Owen]

But my perspective working at unit and bde level was that we saw very little of this output and what I wanted most (an analysis on assessed intention and likely courses of action) was lacking. The intelligence briefing was a bit like the weather report on the BBC, mostly 'this morning we had sunny weather in London'; Doh! I lived through that part - what's going to happen tomorrow?

It's all about people!

[Infanteer]

But my perspective working at unit and bde level was that we saw very little of this output and what I wanted most (an analysis on assessed intention and likely courses of action) was lacking. The intelligence briefing was a bit like the weather report on the BBC, mostly 'this morning we had sunny weather in London'; Doh! I lived through that part - what's going to happen tomorrow?

Too true. In Afghanistan, I worked with a really good guy (ex Inf NCO) who worked the analysis really well and new the ins-and-outs of the district (and would fight to get on patrols with us) but I'm getting the impression he's in the minority and many in the "Int" trade are glorified slide readers.

[Red Rat]

I once put in a Request For Information (RFI) in Basra, 2 weeks later it popped back out of the system and came to me.........to answer!