Thinking and Writing: Cognitive Science and Intelligence Analysis

Thinking and Writing: Cognitive Science and Intelligence Analysis

"When this monograph was first published a quartercentury ago, it sank virtually without a trace. It is clear now that the paper lacked what today would be called "curb appeal"; moreover, cognitive science was a new and unproven discipline. Then, few inside or outside the intelligence world were aware of it, and even fewer had thought about its relevance to intelligence analysis. (Richards Heuer, author of the CSI-produced Psychology of Intelligence Analysis, was one of those few.)"<br /><br />"The field has opened up to a stunning degree since then. Not only have we seen a flood of studies documenting the myriad cognitive activities our brains engage in, but electronic imaging allows us to observe what happens in the brain as it goes about its business. Authors like Malcolm Gladwell have mined the literature to show the insights these processes can produce, as well as the times they leave us stuck in unproductive ways of thinking."<br /><br />This reprint takes these perspectives into the realm of intelligence analysis. (It has been slightly updated since its initial print run.) The author, Bob Sinclair, evaluates the implications of growing knowledge in the cognitive sciences for the way the intelligence business is conducted - in how we perform analysis, how we present our findings, and even its meaning for our hiring and training practices.