Intelligence Analysis and Assessment

These essays cover: assessment systems now in place in Britain, the USA, Germany and Australia; the bureaucratic dynamics of analysis and assessment; the changing ground in intelligence; and the impact of new technologies and modes of communication on intelligence gathering and analysis.

Of the many functions carried out by intelligence agencies, analysis and assessment has received comparatively little scholarly attention. In October 1994 the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies (CASIS) and the Intelligence Section of the International Studies Association (ISA) attended to this deficit by holding a special international conference on the subject in Ottawa. This volume is the product of that conference. The essays may be divided into four self-contained sets. The first examines critically the assessment systems now in place in Britain, the USA, Germany and Australia. The second looks at the bureaucratic dynamics of analysis and assessment. The changing ground that intelligence is currently experiencing is the focus of the third section. Finally, the volume considers the impact of new technologies and modes of communication on intelligence gathering and analysis.