Transformation of the United States Intelligence Analysis in the Era of Intelligence—The Driving Factors

In any era, the evolution of security threats, changes in the business environment, and the application of new technologies are the core elements driving intelligence transformation. At present, intelligent technology groups such as intelligent perception, intelligent decision-making, and intelligent action continue to have an impact on the security situation, business environment, and technology application faced by US intelligence agencies, driving their analysis and transformation.

1. Uncertainties of security threats continue to intensify

The U.S. intelligence agency believes that the U.S. is facing the most complex security environment since its founding.

On the one hand, traditional threats represented by Russia, North Korea, and Iran still pose major challenges to the United States, and in the era of intelligence, these traditional threats continue to present new characteristics. For example, over the past decade or so, the United States and Russia have continued to use artificial intelligence technology to compete in various security fields such as public opinion interference.

On the other hand, non-traditional security threats are constantly emerging, and threats such as terrorism, the new crown pneumonia epidemic, and climate issues have erupted one after another. The unknowns of security threats in the age of intelligence are constantly increasing, and intelligence agencies often lack precedents for responding.

2. Big data challenges in the business environment are becoming increasingly severe

Big data is the core feature of the intelligence analysis business environment in the era of intelligence. Compared with the Cold War period, data acquisition is no longer the difficulty of analysis work, the key is how to effectively combine and utilize the acquired data to ensure the maximization of the benefits of analysis product production, use, and management. The U.S. intelligence agency believes that with the continuous improvement of intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance methods, the traditional analysis business model has exposed huge limitations in the face of big data.

On the one hand, the amount of data collected and stored by intelligence agencies is growing exponentially. On the other hand, the growth of intelligence processing and analysis capabilities is far behind the growth rate of data, and the overall benefit of intelligence work is therefore affected.

3. Analysis technology update lags behind the development of the times

Since the establishment of the post-war modern intelligence system, the competitive advantage of the United States in intelligence work mainly comes from its powerful intelligence technology. particularly prominent. At present, much of the work of intelligence analysis in the United States is still done manually. Compared with the level of intelligence in other fields of intelligence, especially in the field of collection, the degree of intelligence and update speed of analysis technology lag behind the development of the times.

4. It is increasingly difficult to provide users with satisfactory services

In the era of intelligence, US intelligence analysis faces three major problems in terms of user services:

First, the number of users has grown rapidly. Users of analysis services include not only traditional national and military intelligence users such as the president and cabinet members, but also new users who have emerged due to changes in the security situation. The number of these new users continues to grow with the changes in the security situation in the intelligent age .

Second, user needs are increasingly diverse. With the continuous increase in the number of users, the differences in content and types of user needs are also very obvious.

Third, users have higher and higher requirements for analysis work. At present, users can easily obtain interesting information through social media, and this change puts forward higher requirements for analysis services. For example, users no longer require intelligence agencies to simply observe and confirm the facts, but to accurately predict the opponent's intentions and behaviors with faster, more comprehensive, and more in-depth analysis.