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The U.S. government INFOSEC Manual sums up the relationship between offense and
defense in a comprehensive intelligence strategy in this way:
In today’s information age environment, control of information and information
technology is vital. As the nation daily becomes more dependent on
networked information systems to conduct essential business, including military
operations, government functions, and national and international economic
enterprises, information infrastructures are assuming increased
strategic importance. This has, in turn, given rise to the concept of information
warfare (INFOWAR) — a new form of warfare directed toward attacking
(offensive) or defending (defensive) such infrastructures. 22
Giving citizens the tools they need to survive INFOWAR is one of the IC’s explicit
missions. This intelligence primer can assist that mission by offering a conceptual and
practical “common operating environment” for business and government alike. 23
Assessing and Exchanging Best Practices
In documenting the essentials of intelligence, this primer is an example of benchmarking,
a widely used process for achieving quality in organizations, the use of which is a criterion
for the business world’s Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. 24 Benchmarking
normally assesses best professional practices, developed and refined through experience,
for carrying out an organization’s core tasks. 25 An additional aim of benchmarking is to
establish reciprocal relationships among best-in-class parties for the exchange of mutually
beneficial information. 26 Because the IC is the de facto functional leader in the intelligence
profession, and is publicly funded, it is obligated to lead both the government and private
sector toward a greater understanding of the intelligence discipline.
In the mid-1990s, as national intelligence agencies began to participate in international
benchmarking forums, individuals from the private sector began to request practical information
on the intelligence process from IC representatives. The requestors were often
participants in the growing BI movement and apparently sought to adapt IC methods to
their own purposes. Their circumspect counterparts in the government were not prepared
to respond to these requests, preferring instead to limit benchmarking relationships to
common business topics, such as resource management. 27 Concurrently, the annual SCIP
22 National Security Agency, 1995 INFOSEC Manual (Ft. Meade, MD: NSA, 1995), para. C.1.
23 Readers in doubt of the need for INFOSEC in the private sector may wish to study the real-world examples
of INFOWAR battles and their implications for economic and personal security that author Winn
Schwartau reveals in Information Warfare: Chaos on the Electronic Superhighway (New York: Thunder’s
Mouth Press, 1994).
24 A useful reference to benchmarking within the U.S. government is Jerry Frankenfield and Melissie Rumizen,
A Guide to Benchmarking (Fort Meade, MD: National Security Agency (NSA), 12 July 1995). An overview
of benchmarking in the private sector can be found in Dean Elmuti, Hanus Kathawaia, and Scott J. Lloyed, “The
Benchmarking Process: Assessing Its Value and Limitations,” Industrial Management 39, No. 4 (July/August
1997): 12-19.
25 Elmuti, Kathawaia and Lloyed, 12.
26 Elmuti, Kathawaia and Lloyed, 13.
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