Mar 27Intelligence Isn’t Just for Commanders, AnymoreIntelligence is for commanders, or at least so I’ve been told. Regardless of the term you prefer — commander, principal, or policymaker — the idea expressed by the phrase, that intelligence exists to help some “decision-maker” make better decisions, is conventional wisdom in the intelligence community. …Intelligence10 min read
Aug 23, 2021Mission Accomplished?It’s no exaggeration to say that America’s involvement in Afghanistan was the work of a lifetime. For many of those my age and younger who work in national security, it’s been literally our entire careers. To see that work crumble to dust and turn to ash so quickly is bitter…Afghanistan5 min read
Jun 30, 2021The National Security State is Missing the Revolution in WorkWharton organizational psychologist Adam Grant caused a stir when giving testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, he said the “Department of Defense’s culture is a threat to national security.” Grant went on to describe that culture as one simultaneously overconfident and risk-averse, whose entrenched habits, values, and practices stifle…National Security9 min read
May 20, 2021The Future of Intelligence is Wide OpenU.S. Spy Agencies Must Adapt to an Open-Source World — For nearly three-quarters of a century, the United States intelligence community has supplied American military and political leaders with information and analysis intended to help them make better decisions about critical national security concerns. During the Cold War — when the United States and the Soviet Union went to extraordinary…Intelligence9 min read
Apr 30, 2021How to Think Like an Intelligence AnalystFive Traits to Cultivate — People ask me, every now and again, to give them a list of the top methods “good” intelligence analysts should use, or what subjects are most important for an aspirant analyst to study. The truth, however, is that there are no perfect methods to use or universal subjects. Intelligence analysis…Intelligence6 min read
Apr 29, 2021The Future of Work is Leaving National Security BehindAgencies Must Adapt, or Risk Losing the Future It’s often said that government work isn’t glamorous. But pre-pandemic government work in the national security realm was at least one step beyond. Back in the before times, tens of thousands of national security employees — both civil servants and their much…Future Of Work9 min read
Apr 13, 2021America’s Competition with China is Not a New Cold WarAmerican Strategy Needs to be Thawed Out — I hear a lot of people these days declaring 21st-century competition with China a new “Cold War.” …China9 min read
Mar 31, 2021Don’t Fear the FutureAmericans Must Learn Again to Make the Future, Not Fear It — For some, the future is terra incognita, foreign land that we cannot know until we arrive there — or rather, until it arrives here. But that’s not quite right, is it? …Futurism6 min read
Published in The Startup·Feb 19, 2021The U.S. Intelligence Community Needs a New Business ModelGrowing Competition and an Abundance of Information Negates the IC’s Founding Value Proposition — The U.S Intelligence Community needs a new business model, one that’s better suited for an era inundated with useful information and characterized by the demand for radical transparency. The next generation of national security leaders will, quite simply, expect more — more personalization, more collaboration, and more convenience.Intelligence Community8 min read
Published in Predict·Dec 17, 2020What’s Driving the Future?How to Think About the Future, Part III — “The future is already here — it’s just not evenly distributed. ― William Gibson In the introduction to this series, I described how the future is created by a continuous interplay between forces of continuity and forces of change. ‘Forces’ may sound mysterious, but that’s really just a word I…Analysis5 min read