Quote Originally Posted by Schmedlap View Post
For those of us not well-versed in intel stuff - what is a collection manager? If the job is what the title sounds like to me, then you might be able to answer an earlier question that I had (kind of a pet peeve of mine, when I was a consumer of intel).

A necessary evil?


A collection manager is the middle man (or woman) between whoever is creating the requirements, either users like military and civil leaders or analysts, and the folks collecting the information. Theoretically, if they're doing their job properly, they parse the incoming requirements, check to see if they've been answered already (a frequently missed step), request collection support from higher, and in coordination with the operations officer plan the use of internal collection assets. (I've hit the high points, didn't want to drag Schmedlap through the weeds.)

The problem you discuss in your other query is primarily with the analysts and the dissemination folks. The information is collected and crammed into databases. At this point, contrary to the belief of many, no analysis has been done. Either the requestor's query has been answered or they resubmit the request, or submit a new and different request. What you are asking about is where the analytical products are and who can get them to you.

Isn't there one analyst - at least at DIV level or higher - who focuses exclusively on one faction? If not, I don't understand why. If there is, then not nearly enough people know about his work because none of the MI officers whom I spoke to seemed to know.
Not necessarily. Or there may be many seperate analysts in their quiet little stovepipes not talking to each other. What is getting better is that more analysts are hanging their stuff on SIPR and looking for feedback. And a S2 should have access to this, or be fighting for that access.