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

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AFTERWORD<br />

Joseph Hayes 1<br />

The unexam<strong>in</strong>ed life is not worth liv<strong>in</strong>g<br />

Socrates.<br />

A very popular error: hav<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> courage of one’s convictions;<br />

ra<strong>the</strong>r, it is a matter of hav<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> courage for an attack on one’s<br />

convictions!<br />

Nietzsche<br />

Rob Johnston has written a superb book, a study of <strong>in</strong>telligence as it is actually<br />

practiced. Rob’s book is alive with specific, practical recommendations<br />

about how <strong>the</strong> practice of <strong>in</strong>telligence could be made better. The literature of<br />

<strong>in</strong>telligence is overwhelm<strong>in</strong>gly devoted ei<strong>the</strong>r to studies which, however rigorous<br />

<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir academic structure, fail to convey <strong>the</strong> humanness of <strong>the</strong> enterprise<br />

or to books and articles, too often self congratulatory or self promot<strong>in</strong>g,<br />

which are little more than assemblages of enterta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g anecdotes. Rob’s study<br />

deserves a place of honor on <strong>the</strong> very small bookshelf reserved for analytically<br />

sound, deeply <strong>in</strong>sightful works on <strong>the</strong> conduct of <strong>in</strong>telligence. Any serious<br />

discussion of reform or significant change <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> ways <strong>in</strong> which US <strong>in</strong>telligence<br />

is organized, structured, and carried out will need to take this book as a<br />

start<strong>in</strong>g po<strong>in</strong>t.<br />

Rob’s work bears witness to <strong>the</strong> imag<strong>in</strong>ation and commitment to excellence<br />

on <strong>the</strong> part of <strong>the</strong> senior <strong>in</strong>telligence officials who made it possible for a cultural<br />

anthropologist to carry out his field work <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> secret, sometimes hermetically<br />

1<br />

Joseph Hayes is a retired senior officer of <strong>the</strong> Central <strong>Intelligence</strong> Agency Directorate of Operations.<br />

He served more than 30 years <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> clandest<strong>in</strong>e service.<br />

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