CREATING AND LEADING ANALYTIC TEAMS [1]

The analysis of intelligence information invariably involves both cognitive and social processes. At core, analysis is a cognitive activity. Although intelligence analysts often draw both on technological aids and on input from others, ultimately it is the human brain that organizes and interprets data to generate an assessment or prediction. A great deal of research has been conducted to identify both the cognitive biases that can compromise the validity of analytic conclusions and the heuristics that can help analysts do their work efficiently and well (see, for example, the well-known book by Richards Heuer [1999] on the psychology of intelligence analysis, research by Gerd Gigerenzer and his colleagues [1999] on "fast and frugal " heuristics, and the other chapters in this volume). Yet analytic work also is an inherently social process. The conduct of intelligence analysis always involves relationships with those who assign analytic tasks and receive analytic products. The threats to the validity of analytic conclusions that can develop when those relationships become politicized are well known. Less widely recognized is the fact that analytic work itself is highly social in character. The lon