Psychology of Intelligence Analysis

(Hat tip: Boing Boing)

The CIA has post­ed the full text of one of its guide­books, “Psy­chol­o­gy of Intel­li­gence Analy­sis”, pub­lished in 1999 by the CIA’s Cen­ter for the Study of Intelligence.

Haven’t had time to play with it yet, but these quotes sound fascinating:

- “Of the diverse prob­lems that impede accu­rate intel­li­gence analy­sis, those inher­ent in human men­tal process­es are sure­ly among the most impor­tant and most dif­fi­cult to deal with. Intel­li­gence analy­sis is fun­da­men­tal­ly a men­tal process, but under­stand­ing this process is hin­dered by the lack of con­scious aware­ness of the work­ings of our own minds…”
— “Think­ing ana­lyt­i­cal­ly is a skill like car­pen­try or dri­ving a car. It can be taught, it can be learned, and it can improve with prac­tice. But like many oth­er skills, such as rid­ing a bike, it is not learned by sit­ting in a class­room and being told how to do it. Ana­lysts learn by doing. Most peo­ple achieve at least a min­i­mal­ly accept­able lev­el of ana­lyt­i­cal per­for­mance with lit­tle con­scious effort beyond com­plet­ing their edu­ca­tion. With much effort and hard work, how­ev­er, ana­lysts can achieve a lev­el of excel­lence beyond what comes naturally…”

Link (via Boing Boing and Fur­ther: Strange Attrac­tor & Beyond)