{"title":"Beyond Bias Minimization: Improving Intelligence with Optimization and Human Augmentation","authors":"David R. Mandel, Daniel Irwin","doi":"10.1080/08850607.2023.2253120","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2023.2253120","url":null,"abstract":"For the last half-century, the U.S. and Allied Intelligence Community (IC) has sought to minimize the ostensibly detrimental effects of cognitive biases on intelligence practice. The dominant approach has been to develop structured analytic techniques (SATs), teach them to analysts in brief training sessions, provide the means to use SATs on the job, and hope they work. The SAT approach, however, suffers from severe conceptual problems and a paucity of support from scientific research. For example, a highly promoted SAT—the analysis of competing hypotheses—was shown in several recent studies to either not improve judgment quality or to make it worse. This article recaps the key problems with the SAT approach and sketches some alternative interventions. At the core of these proposals is the idea that intelligence agencies should be focused broadly on improving intelligence and not narrowly on minimizing bias. While the latter contributes to achieving the former, overemphasis on bias minimization could inadvertently bias agencies toward a singular form of intervention, blinding then from potentially more effective interventions. Two lines of alternative intervention are sketched. The first line focuses on postanalytic statistical optimization methods such as recalibration and performance-weighted aggregation of analysts’ judgments. The second line focuses on a broad human augmentation program to optimize human cognition through better sleep, exercise, nutrition (including nootropic compounds), and biometric tracking. Both lines of effort would require substantial scientific investment by the IC to examine risks and efficacy.","PeriodicalId":45249,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135733964","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Shadows and Light: Asian Intelligence","authors":"Marianne Taflinger","doi":"10.1080/08850607.2023.2247831","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2023.2247831","url":null,"abstract":"Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsMarianne TaflingerMarianne Taflinger is a Research Associate at the Center for Homeland Defense and Security, Naval Postgraduate School. She earned a master’s degree in public administration from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies and has published in several journals. The author can be contacted at mtafling@nps.edu.Notes1 Stuart Hall, Cultural Studies 1983: A Theoretical History, edited by Jennifer Daryl Slack and Lawrence Grossberg (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016), p. 33, as quoted in Shaffer The Handbook of Asian Intelligence Cultures, p. xvi.2 Irena Chiru, “National Intelligence Cultures,” in The Conduct of Intelligence in Democracies: Processes, Practices, edited by Florina Christiana Matei and Carolyn Halladay (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2019), pp. 214–215.3 Shuja Nawaz, Who Controls Pakistan’s Security Forces?, Special Report 297 (Washington, DC: U.S. Institute of Peace, December 2011), p. 4.4 Bidanda M. Chengappa, “The ISI Role in Pakistan’s Politics,” Strategic Analysis, Vol. 23, No. 11 (2000).","PeriodicalId":45249,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135981164","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ukrainian Nationalist Movement and Soviet Counterinsurgency Operations","authors":"Olga Bertelsen","doi":"10.1080/08850607.2023.2248577","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2023.2248577","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45249,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence","volume":"364 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135980026","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Intelligence Oversight across the Anglosphere","authors":"James J. Wirtz","doi":"10.1080/08850607.2023.2250240","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2023.2250240","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45249,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence","volume":"51 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75609771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Revisiting the Psychology of Structured Analytical Techniques","authors":"Markus Denzler","doi":"10.1080/08850607.2023.2243803","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2023.2243803","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45249,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence","volume":"36 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72702966","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Structured Analytic Techniques: A Pragmatic Approach","authors":"Michael J. Ard","doi":"10.1080/08850607.2023.2241308","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2023.2241308","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45249,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91187626","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Forty Years of Soviet Spying in NATO: A Preliminary Study","authors":"W. T. Murphy","doi":"10.1080/08850607.2023.2246649","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2023.2246649","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45249,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-08-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85967827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Finding a “Deep State Structure” in the Intelligence Community","authors":"M. Goodman","doi":"10.1080/08850607.2023.2245708","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2023.2245708","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45249,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence","volume":"2015 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87072500","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Training Intelligence Officers to Detect Deception and Elicit Information","authors":"P. Granhag","doi":"10.1080/08850607.2023.2241307","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2023.2241307","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45249,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence","volume":"PP 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2023-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84854039","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}