What Do Decisionmakers Want From Intelligence? (Global Intelligence Forum)

globalintelligenceforum.com

One of the most important questions any intelligence professional can ask is "What do the decisionmakers I support want from me?"  Historically, it is also one of the most difficult questions to answer.

That is the reason why the faculty at Mercyhurst nominated Intelligence and the Decisionmaker as the theme for this year's Global Intelligence Forum in Dungarvan, Ireland (July 11-13, 2011).

Looking at the line-up of speakers -- GEN Mike Hayden, Charlie Allen, Hayden Peake from the US, Kathleen O'Toole from Ireland, Anthony Campbell from Canada, Niki Ekman from Sweden, Cees Wiebes from the Netherlands, etc. etc. -- and it easy to see why I think we are going to make some progress on this question.

Two other things make this conference one of a kind.  The first is the attendees.  This conference draws people from all three major sub-disciplines of intelligence:  National security, law enforcement and business.  Not only does it draw people from all areas of intelligence, it also draws people from all over the world.  

So you are going to see guys like Tom Carr, the executive director of the Washington Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program rubbing shoulders with Liam Fahey, founder and executive director of the Intelligence Leadership Forum, the organization for senior corporate intelligence professionals.  

There is simply no other conference that brings together this kind of mix of professionals for this kind of conference.  Everyone I spoke with last year took as much away from the interaction between the participants as they did from the speakers.

Which is a nice segue to the second big advantage:  Dungarvan.  What a beautiful place!  Located on the southern Irish coast in the midst of one of the prettiest parts of Ireland, Dungarvan is a perfect place for mixing, making new personal and professional relationships and carving out some time to think about some of the important questions facing the profession.  Extraordinary hospitality, simple pleasures and (my personal favorite) an outstanding local beer make this event both physically relaxing and intellectually energizing. 

We had to turn away people last year so this year we found a larger space and have expanded to 200 (and only 200) attendees.  

Registration and more info about the conference is available online here.  We are also offering two, one day workshops to round out the week. More information on the workshops here.

Questions regarding sponsorship opportunities for your company or organization should be directed to Bob Heibel, Executive Director of the Mercyhurst College Institute For Intelligence Studies at rheibel at mercyhurst dot edu.

DCIA Hayden's Comments On The National Threat Assessment (US Fed News via OSINFO)

Following the DNI's presentation of the latest Threat Assessment (see here for the full text, here for my summarized version), DCIA Mike Hayden made some prepared follow-on remarks that talk about what the CIA is doing and how they are doing it. Of most interest to intel studies students is probably this passage:

• "We're able to hire from among the best and brightest - our Recruitment Center received 125,000 resumes in Fiscal Year 2007, and we hired a near-record number of new officers, more than a quarter of whom belonged to racial or ethnic minorities. While many of these new officers are recent college graduates, many others have years of experience in the private sector, the military, or other government agencies. Almost 40 percent have advanced degrees."

• "We're a young work force - half of our officers have entered on duty since 9/11, and many are under 30. Training, developing, and retaining these new officers is a top priority, particularly because 20 percent of our work force will become eligible to retire during the next five years. We're intensifying our leadership training and have revamped our Strategic Language Plan to address our needs in Arabic and other mission-critical languages."