Read the 10-page report titled Information Sharing, Dot Connecting and Intelligence Failures: Revisiting Conventional Wisdom, by Russell Travers (2009). To access the report, click on the following link, and then scroll down to the bottom of the page. At the bottom, click on the link with the same title as the report:
National Counterterrorism Center Web site
Travers argues that information sharing in general has improved significantly since the attacks of 9/11. He proceeds to deconstruct many popular arguments made by others claiming that intelligence gathering and information sharing, as practiced by entities in the United States today, are flawed. He also discusses legal, policy-based, and regulatory obstacles that impair reasonable intelligence and information collection and processing.
After reading this piece, complete the following:
- Define (that is, “operationalize”) the concepts of intelligence versus information.
- Do differences in these terms matter?
- How might either be easier—or more difficult—to share with other agencies?
- Also consider if some levels of government or sectors of society might be more or less amenable to sharing information. (For example, private sector entities that own and operate critical infrastructure upon which the nation or communities rely might hesitate to share proprietary information that makes them less competitive, economically. Is their reluctance reasonable?)
- Research, summarize, critically evaluate, and report at least 3 of the significant information-sharing problems and challenges (and key agencies) reported in the 9/11 Commission Report.
- For each of these challenges, use or dispute at least 2 of Travers’ main arguments that he makes in his paper to explain or justify these challenges.
- Make certain to connect Travers’ arguments to the report’s challenges that you select.
