The Analytic Need

The 21st Century has posed great challenges for the US Intelligence Community (IC). The Global War on Terror (GWOT), nuclear proliferation and the explosion of information from globalization have impacted greatly on the IC. The increased demands for intelligence support have taxed the IC's ability to recruit and train new analysts who are vital to supporting our policy makers and the military. With the retirement of a significant number of analysts in the near future and the lengthy processing time for obtaining security clearances, the IC is having difficulty meeting the growing demand for new analysts to support US policy makers and military forces. The National Security Agency projects about 30 percent of its employees as retirement eligible within the next four years.

The 9/11 Attacks upon the US homeland and the Iraq pre-war analytic intelligence failure demonstrated the Intelligence Community must transform its approach to intelligence analysis. The challenges posed by the Global War on Terrorism, nuclear proliferation, natural catastrophes, competition for economic resources and regional and ethnic strife, require a multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary analytic approach.

CINTT believes the answer to better intelligence analysis is the application and blending of the arts and science disciplines.