Transforming the Intelligence Community: Improving the Collection and Management of Information

Abstract

www.businessofgovernment.org 5 t ransfor MI ng t H e Inte LLI gen C e Co MMU n I ty e x e C U t I v e s U M M a r y In the years since the end of the Cold w ar, the intelligence community (IC) has engaged in much soul searching but with little action. t hat is begin - ning to change in the wake of intelligence failures surrounding s eptember 11, 2001, and in Iraq. But the solutions enacted so far, especially the creation of the o ffice of the d irector of n ational Intelligence, do not get to some of the real problems in the com - munity. t he community was built to follow the s oviet monolith, and it needs fundamental reforms in the ways ordinary intelligence officers work to meet the new threats of the 21st century. t he field of knowledge management is a convenient starting point for attempting to understand what has to happen for the IC to become capable of dealing with 21st century threats. Knowledge management suggests that the IC of the future should seek to combine the tacit knowledge of the organization with its explicit knowledge. It should allow freer access to information and create ways of learn - ing from both internal and external networks. r edundancy should be regarded as an important aspect of organizational design along with the strategic rotation of employees and matrix manage - ment. f inally, the IC should create mechanisms to learn from its mistakes and mechanisms that allow it to operate in real time in order to become capable of continuous innovation and adaptation. t he report concludes with eight recommendations aimed at building a different, more comprehensive intelligence community capable of providing its customers with knowledge about the threats that this country and the world will face in the years ahead.