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Intelligence refers to the process of collecting and analyzing policy-relevant, often difficult to obtain, information. Accurate intelligence is crucial for policy-makers and practitioners to formulate and implement strategies with regard to the core issues of national security, including counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, foreign policy and defense policy.
In recent years, the "tacticization" of intelligence requirements, the explosion of open source material and access to it, polarization of opinion and of sources of information, and the disparagement of expertise, have all called into question the importance of knowledge to policymaking in general - and of strategic intelligence in particular. The issue of the relationship between intelligence and policy-making has also become a key issue in many democratic states.
This course introduces participants to the craft of collecting, processing, analyzing and presenting intelligence. It discusses intelligence’s role in policy-making and examines key issues and challenges facing intelligence communities, including the proliferation and "democratization" of information; intelligence failures; pathologies affecting intelligence assessment, and ways to ameliorate them; politicization; challenges to forecasting; and the tension between the quest for relevance and professional standards.
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Dr. Joshua Krasna is a senior researcher, writer and university lecturer. He retired in 2017 after 30 years of government service in Israel, including as a strategic planner, senior Middle East and strategic analyst, manager of government analytical teams, and diplomat. He was assigned as counselor at the Israeli embassy in Ottawa, followed by being appointed an instructor and team leader at the Israel National Defence College. Dr. Krasna is now a Fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the New York University Center for Global Affairs.