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2018-01-01

Implementing Strategy: Strategic Intelligence – Tool and Quality

By: Dr. John R.Ballard

Former Dean of the National Defense College

Implementing strategies to solve international problems requires special skills. In particular, today’s complex environment requires leaders who can master and employ tools and qualities that reduce risk and enhance opportunities to benefit their nations. One of these key components of the international power toolbox is Strategic Intelligence – a tool that involves researching trends, analyzing their potential impact, and reporting the possibilities to decision-makers that, with practice, can develop into a quality enabling strategic leadership.

The primary difference between tactical and strategic tools and qualities is time. Strategic Intelligence deals primarily with planning for the future direction and growth of the nation, in accordance with its stated mission and goals. Strategic Intelligence permits decision makers to visualize the future direction of the enterprise; it also helps identify emerging trends and patterns and subsequently predict potential problems that may affect the future operating environment.

Thus, Strategic Intelligence is future-oriented, allowing a nation or company to make educated decisions regarding future conditions in its particular zone of interest. Foreseeing end results of planned projects and their potential impact on strategic plans is an important aspect of Strategic Intelligence for all strategic leaders.

As a tool, Strategic Intelligence includes the collection, processing, analysis, and dissemination of information required to form effective policy and strategic plans at the national and international levels. Strategic Intelligence normally includes information from a variety of sources, including open source, HUMINT, SIGINT and space-based information.

Open-source Intelligence (OSINT) is data collected from overt, publicly available sources (as opposed to covert or clandestine sources) that is to be used in an intelligence context. HUMINT, or Human Intelligence, is information that comes from spies on the ground in other countries.

SIGINT (Signals Intelligence) comes from the interception of communications between people (Communications Intelligence - COMINT) or from other electronic activity, such as weapons systems or radar emissions (Electronic Intelligence - ELINT). Space based information comes primarily from satellite cameras. All of these different sources need to be corroborated, scrutinized and then fused into a single complete “picture” for Strategic Intelligence to be of maximum value.

Strategic Intelligence, as a human quality, includes special abilities that characterize many of the most successful leaders in business and government.

Strategic Intelligence combines: foresight - the ability to analyze trends and identify threats and opportunities for an organization or country; visioning - the ability to conceptualize an ideal future based on foresight and create a process for others to see and implement it; systems-thinking - the ability to synthesize and integrate elements that need to function together to achieve a common purpose; and inspiring - the ability to motivate people to join together to implement a vision. Strategic Intelligence as a human quality makes senior leaders effective visionaries for their nations/enterprises.

What the Strategic Intelligence tool and quality have in common are that both help in the development of strategic focus and both assist with sorting through complex issues. Mastering the tool and the quality of strategic intelligence is important for leaders in government and in industry – thus, both are needed to maintain the current prosperous path of the UAE.

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