Analytic Culture in the U.S. Intelligence Community (PDF) - CIA

SURVEY METHODOLOGY
group includes all those currently working in the Intelligence Community
with more than two years of experience. The “retired” sub-group includes
those who have spent more than fifteen years in the intelligence profession
and have since gone on to either full retirement or other organizations outside
of the Intelligence Community.
Of the 345 intelligence professionals interviewed, 20 percent were novices,
65 percent were active, and 15 percent were retired. The active and retired
sub-groups include senior managers.
Interview Categories and Numbers
Category
N
Intelligence Professionals 345
Novice (60)
Active (233)
Retired (52)
Academics 73
Technology Researchers 53
Consumers 18
Total Interviewed489
In order to assure anonymity for the participants, I have created broader jobrelated
functional categories and associated the number of individuals interviewed
with the broader categories rather than linking them to specific organizations
within the Intelligence Community. This is in contrast to aggregating the
agencies according to each agency’s specific mission, process, or product.
Although not an official member of the Intelligence Community, the Drug
Enforcement Administration is included because of its intelligence function and
resources. The table on the next page shows how I aggregated the agencies into
National-Technical, Defense, and Law Enforcement-Homeland Security categories
according to the professional functions of interview participants.
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The use of two years as a divide between novice and active is derived from the total amount of
experience it is possible to gain in that time. See the discussion of expertise in Chapter Five.
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