Concurrent Breakout Sessions 9 Breakout Sessions 12

Intelligence and Intelligence Professionals in an Information and Technology Era

Indisputably, our world currently lives in an information age. With the proliferation of the internet and the unparalleled advancement of information and communications technologies, various data and information are truly within the fingertips of anybody with the sufficient means and resources. Of course, this translates to positive developments for the intelligence field given that information constitutes the necessary starting point of any intelligence-related endeavor. Unfortunately, not all information, whether publicly- or privately-sourced, can be reliable and useful to the intelligence community and in some instances may even be deceptive, burdensome and misleading. Moreover, whilst the accessibility of tons of data and superior technologies nowadays has considerable benefits to intelligence professionals, it also poses some danger and negative aspects including the availability of the same information and devices to the public and other organizations (which lessens the tactical advantage of the intelligence community) and more problematically, the possibility that such information and tools can be intercepted or fall into the wrong hands which can then be utilized for unlawful purposes that in the end would only instigate catastrophic and ill results. Thus, the intelligence community, aside from exploiting the benefits of prevalent information and technological breakthroughs, should also strive to find even more advanced ways and techniques of collecting and assessing the reliability of data and their sources, intensify the security, preserve the exclusivity and enhance the manner in which information are transferred within its networks as well as continue to discover and introduce much sophisticated technologies for data gathering and collection in order to maintain the organization’s intelligence and counterintelligence edges.

Clearly, intelligence professionals need to keep up with the colossal technological developments of the modern times. They must always be at the forefront of recent innovations in the information and communications fields and using these complex technical means, amass and utilize all necessary data from all probable sources (and if possible retain control of both data and their sources) before such information can even get to the public and other interested parties. This obviously adds a lot of pressure to the intelligence community as it requires considerable time, effort and money. Moreover, it necessitates improved methods of verification, evaluation and interception of data especially those secured from the internet, different electronics and communications gadgets as well as other secondhand sources. Other than these amplified tasks, intelligence professionals even need to sustain and boost their skills in traditional forms of data collection such as physical surveillance, engagement of confidential informants and undercover operators, and investigation of public records, among others. Above all, they must always hang on to their imagination and free-thinking spirit throughout the entire information gathering process and never rely solely on technical or mechanized means since some of the best intelligence products can only be derived from sheer human intelligence. As it appears, creative thinking, personal judgments and scholarly intuitions may comprise the only remaining advantage of the intelligence community in this era when data and information are simply available to just about anyone, anytime and anywhere. Hence, one pitfall of a greatly industrialized society that the intelligence community must learn to circumvent involves the overdependence on automated systems and simulated information databases. Nevertheless, it is still imperative that intelligence professionals be knowledgeable about recent technologies to be able to maximize the advent of many superior and practical information and communication devices. This will in turn facilitate them during data gathering and accumulation which remains to be the most labor-intensive aspect and an essential, if not the most important, phase of the intelligence process.