Quote Originally Posted by Ken White View Post
The Canadians know that and are smart enough to have someone else also take a look and pull best ideas from both. We, on the other hand...
We have some absolutely top-notch analysts—and, obviously, some less so. HOWEVER, one disadvantage of having a very small community is... that we have a very small community. Consequently, there is less opportunity for exchanging ideas/debating/challenging assumptions/etc. Virtually all of the folks that work on the Middle East, for example, could comfortably fit into the Sparks Street Tim Hortons for a double-double.

There are ways of offsetting that, of course--for example, by bringing folks into discussions who aren't in the IC, but rather in the aid, diplomatic, or even (heaven forbid) the academic and NGO communities. Some agencies and managers do it. Some don't. It is obviously harder in MI (especially on the deployed, pointy end) than it is in political assessment however, and the folks in the LE and security intelligence communities aren't always used to working that way either.

There's also interchange with allied communities, and especially the US, not just at the level of data but also in terms of conferences/meetings/discussions/etc.

From what I can see, the US has got much better at this post-9/11 than before.

On the original public tender that milnews posted, you'll find some of the very interesting work that the lead researcher (Dr. David Mandel's) is doing on these and other issues listed here.