Description
Book SynopsisThe book aims to improve our understanding of what it means to create high-quality analytical products by focusing on the concept of relevance for policy-makers. Despite variations in context, strategic analysts in different sectors (in both intelligence and non-intelligence government organizations, private consultancies, think tanks, and academia) face similar problems in identifying the needs of their clients and setting up organizations with the mandates, structures, and personnel necessary to address those needs. The objective is therefore to identify these common challenges, compare solutions, and share lessons learned. To do so, broader thematic reflections on strategic analysis are combined with innovative case studies of how organizations have worked to successfully produce relevant analysis. The first section explores challenges to achieving relevance at the level of the analyst, while the remainder of the book analyses cases at the level of organizations.
Trade ReviewThis is a refreshing look at a critical issue. Instead of another book about the intelligence process, it focuses squarely on the relationship between intelligence and policy. And instead of another book on intelligence failure, the contributors explore what makes strategic analysis work. Scholars and practitioners will learn much from their answers. -- Joshua Rovner, Director, Security and Strategy Program, Southern Methodist University
This is a wonderful collection of contributions from knowledgeable and experienced professionals that advances our understandings of strategic analysis and provides best practices for improving its positive influence on international policy outcomes. Currently, more has been written about the failure of strategic analysis to influence policy outcomes, while less is known about the way in which strategic analysis can and does influence policy for the better. This book makes a significant contribution to knowledge by explaining how strategic analysis can have a positive influence on policy in a wide variety of national and organizational contexts, including but not limited to intelligence organizations. It will be of great value to all those who want to understand how strategic analysis can most effectively improve understanding and outcomes. -- Stephen Marrin, associate professor, Intelligence Analysis Program, James Madison University
Table of ContentsIntroduction (Thomas Juneau) 1. Making Strategic Analysis Matter (Jeremy Ghez and Gregory F. Treverton) 2. When the Dominant Discourse Encounters Small State Realities: Strategic Analysis in New Zealand and the Theory-Policy Gap (Robert Ayson) 3. How Intelligence Analysis Education Tries to Improve Strategic Analysis (Tim Walton) 4. Here (Very Likely) Be Dragons: The Challenges of Strategic Forecasting (Rex Brynen) 5. The US National Intelligence Council’s Global Trends: Both More and Less than Meets the Eye (Mat Burrows) 6. The Bureau of Intelligence and Research in the State Department (Tom King) 7. The Role of Strategic Analysis in Operations: A Case Study from Afghanistan (Paul Dickson) 8. How to Create an “Institutional Think Tank” Within A Ministry of Defence (and Make It Last): France’s Institut d’Etudes Stratégiques de l’Ecole Militaire (IRSEM) (Frédéric Charillon) 9. The Practice of Open Intelligence: The Experience of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (Jean-Louis Tiernan) 10. NATO Defense College: Navigating between Critical Analysis, Strategic Education and Partnerships (Trine Villumsen Berling and Brooke A. Smith-Windsor) 11. Stratfor: Merging Intelligence and Geopolitics (Kamran Bokhari) 12. Strategic Thinking or Thinking Strategically? The Ambiguous Role of American Think Tanks (Donald Abelson) 13. Balancing Responsiveness, Relevance and Expertise: Lessons from the History of Strategic Analysis in the Canadian Department of National Defence (Michael Roi and Paul Dickson) Conclusion (Thomas Juneau) About the contributors Index
