Intelligence analysis in a changing world, an introduction

ABSTRACT

In this introductory article, the topic of intelligence analysis is explored. Starting from an interview with a former intelligence analyst in the Netherlands, it will be observed how the trade of intelligence analysis has changed over the years. From a practically non-existent professional environment the trade has grown to become far more important, in terms of the position and training of intelligence analysts. From there, questions are posed about the development of intelligence analysis worldwide in the past, present, and future. In the final part of this article, an overview of the contributions in this special issue is presented.

KEYWORDS:

• Intelligence analysis
• history
• Netherlands Intelligence Studies Association (NISA)
• changing environment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ Interview C.W. Hijzen with Paul Abels, 3 April 2019.

² D. Engelen, Per Undas Adversas Een Institutioneel Onderzoek Naar Het Handelen Van De Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst En Zijn Voorgangers, 1945–2002, report no. 122 (Den Haag: PIVOT, 2002), 85.

³ Constant Hijzen, Vijandbeelden: De Veiligheidsdiensten En De Democratie, 1912–1992 (Amsterdam: Boom, 2016).

⁴ See note 1 above.

⁵ Richards J. Heuer, Psychology of Intelligence Analysis (Washington, DC: Center for the Study of Intelligence, CIA, 1999), 51–55. 30.

⁶ Gregory F. Treverton, Intelligence for an Age of Terror (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011).

⁷ Robert M. Clark, Intelligence Analysis: A Target-centric Approach, 5th ed. (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2016), 27.

⁸ Clark, Intelligence Analysis, 19.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

C. W. Hijzen

C. W. Hijzen is Assistant Professor of Intelligence Studies and head of the Research Group Intelligence & Security at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, Leiden University.