Intelligence Analysis: How to Think in Complex Environments (Ausa Book) (Praeger Security International)

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Format: Hardcover
Pages: 460
Publisher: Praeger
Published: 22 Dec 2009
ISBN 10: 0313382654
ISBN 13: 9780313382659
Book Overview: This is a brilliant work by the most brilliant intelligence professional the US Army ever produced. Too bad his career terminated at Brigadier General. In this book he continues to contribute to the intellectual improvement of professional thought in a major way. If there has been a failing in the military art in recent years it has been the failure to draw the distinction between what is merely very complicated and that which is complex. In the former the difficulty is establishing, assembling and organizing the facts. And those facts reveal the inner logic of the situation. In the latter the difficulty is establishing what facts belong, and which don't. And how you choose determines the logic of the situation. This book is about how to choose wisely. I recommend it to all who take the profession of arms seriously. -- Huba Wass de Czege, Brigadier General, US Army, Retired, Founder and Former Director of the US Army School of Advanced Military Studies, Former Military Advisor to Secretary General of NATO, Manfred Werner, and Consultant to the US Army for Future Concepts In Intelligence Analysis -- How To Think In Complex Environments, Mike Hall, one of the very best minds in the intelligence community, lays out for those who wish to improve on the quality of their thinking both the theoretical and practical steps to become more effective. A brilliant theoretician Hall also demonstrates excellence in the practical matter of divining what the opposition might do. Intelligence Analysis -- How To Think In Complex Environments improves on Richards J. Heurer, Jr's brilliant Psychology of Intelligence Analysis by taking the discussion beyond techniques and checks on critical thinking that enable analyst to be aware at least of bias. Hall and his coauthor suggest the means to get beyond awareness to genuine apperception, which is essential to discovering objectivity and even empathy for those who are our enemies. -- Gregory Fontenot, Colonel US Army (Retired), Directory University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 'How to think in a complex environment', what a timely and necessary topic for all of us to contemplate. BG Hall chronicles how globalization and the revolutionary change in information patterns have reshaped the operational environment in which live and work. Complex situations will place a premium on the truly 'artful' leader. Mike provides in this publication a number of suggestions on how one might improve this illusive technique. Instinct, intuition and experience are paramount in pursuit of 'artful' thought and leadership, yet there are numerous ways to improve this skill set. This book delivers. Sun Tzu offers that if the sage ('artful') commander perceives himself and the enemy better than the enemy perceives the same situation, he will win in a thousand battles. Perceiving accurately is the issue and this book provides a valuable assist to the reader in this endeavor. -- Gary Luck, General, US Army (Retired), Former Commander, 2d Infantry Division, Former Commander, JSOC, Former Commander, XVIII Airborne Corps, and Former Commander, USFK and Combined Forces Command, Korea Analysis, Think and Complex are three powerful words from the title of this superb seminal work that clearly mark its unparalleled significance. General Mike Hall, is an erudite scholar and exemplary leader. Additionally, as a life-long developer of systems and processes that inspire critical thinking skills and insightful reflection, he has created another masterful pattern for successful transformation of caterpillars into butterflies. Grasping, understanding, and practicing his methods and logic will raise the analytical ability of our intelligence community to an all-time high. His skillful writing and engaging process draws us through an experience of teaching and understanding that allows and enables us to exceed even our own highest learning goals. Intelligence Analysis - How To Think In Complex Environments, is a remarkable masterwork destined as a classic in the field. ' -- Frank H. Akers, Jr. PhD, Brigadier General (RET), U.S. Army, Senior Fellow, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and President & CEO, Oak Ridge Strategy Group Mike Hall has written a brilliant book that reflects the future of intelligence and the focus of the intelligence professionals. As the battlespace evolves in future wars, the methodology of the Intelligence Community must do the same, yet few people 'Get It' the way Mike does. The 'Human Dimension' of warfighting is where the emphasis must be, beginning with prioritization of effort and Mike outlines very articulately how that is accomplished. His views on the fundamental task of analysis are spot on and exactly where we need to go in the future. I will use this book as a text in my 'Introduction To National Intelligence' classes at Hampden Sydney College. A fine piece of work. -- William G Boykin, LTG(R) US ARMY, Former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence, Wheat Chair of Leadership, Hampden Sydney College