2006/12/01 by Arthur S. Hulnick · 1 voice · 9 citations
Social Sciences · #Intelligence, Security, War Strategy
paper · doi:10.1080/02684520601046291
openalex publication_date 2006/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
In the modern era, almost all intelligence professionals will study the Intelligence Cycle as a kind of gospel of how intelligence functions. Yet it is not a particularly good model, since the cyclical pattern does not describe what really happens. Policy officials rarely give collection guidance. Collection and analysis, which are supposed to work in tandem, in fact work more properly in parallel. Finally, the idea that decision makers wait for the delivery of intelligence before making policy decisions is equally incorrect. In the modern era, policy officials seem to want intelligence to support policy rather than to inform it. The Intelligence Cycle also fails to consider either counter-intelligence or covert action. Taken as a whole, the cycle concept is a flawed model, but nevertheless continues to be taught in the US and around the world.