Intelligence  (mis)management :  The Platitude Masters versus  intelligence analysts

The recent repetitive controversy over the FBI memos and CIA’s ‘failure’ to forward information to the FBI, the NSA’s failure to process information and the shortage of translators in the FBI, CIA and NSA has raised concerns about that most childish activity - 'connecting the dots'.

The controversy misses a core truth: that intelligence organisations are political organisations in which directors and senior management call, or don't call, the shots. The management solution is - the mandatory meeting and the silent war against serious thinking on serious topics. 9-11 should (probably will not) - result in mass sackings of FBI and CIA senior staff - the platitude masters.

The directors and senior management of intelligence organisations prior to 9-11 were  concerned with administration, meetings,  personal advancement and survival (a purely analytical distinction) and serving government (i.e. pleasing  and recruiting the politicians of the day). Many gifted analysts were frequently sidelined or punished or resigned - too many took early retirement to revisit the delights of individual freedom and thinking.

Quality intelligence assessments depend on the quality of language and meaning. The platitude masters ensured that the dots were NOT connected.

Gustave Flaubert wrote a  Dictionary of Platitudes  to endure drowsy summer afternoons. TS Eliot  and James Joyce, shared a fascination with platitudes and clichés. Ulysses, Joyce’s masterpiece, devotes an entire chapter to platitudinous ramblings.

The ’linguistic turn’ associated with Wittgenstein,  the Viennese satirist Karl Kraus and the Oxford linguistic philosophers, Austin and Strawson analysed the relation(s) between language truth and meaning. The French psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan wrote of identification of the 'self' through the other’s discourse;  the relationship between ‘language  and knowing’.

Or not knowing.

The management ethos of damage control and crisis containment  prevailed before 9-11. The management motto:  'Make it anodyne!' - ensured  that assessments were not timely and often of poor quality. Above all, one of the vital functions of intelligence -early warning of threats and crises - collapsed.

Below is a list of platitudes most used by the platitude masters particularly in relation to threats and early warning:  The highlighted and  bracketed text are regrettably complementary. To deter the next terrorist attack, elected representatives should ensure that the platitude masters are identified and publicly punished by dismissal and withdrawal of privileges. This is no time for 'forgiveness'. As President Bush told the US congress:  We are at war.

1. You are  overreacting.  [You are crying wolf again! .Take it easy, it's not the end of the world!]

2. You are being paranoid; assessing  threats from your point of view.  [You see threats everywhere. Learn to relax!]

3. You are over identifying with your area . [You are too close to your subject. You need a break, take some leave or have a holiday!]

4. You are contrary to policy. [You may be right, probably are, but your assessment is contrary to policy and anyway management won't like it.]  

5. You are on your own on  this one. [I wash my hands of it and if you are correct, I will claim credit!]

6. You take this job too seriously. [You should engage in the kind of ritual adaptation as I do; this is a job and nothing else.]

7. Take the document test. [See this document? If you write the truth, or what you think the truth is, you will not be rewarded - on the contrary! So, don’t ask what you can do for this document - ask what this document can do for you!]   

8. You can't expect me to take that seriously! [This is too hard, come back later.]

9. I think you should see the staff counsellor! Get some help. [I will note your attitude on your personnel file.]

10. Think of the effect this will have on the government if you put this forward : what are you trying to do ? [I have to bear the responsibility for this and I won't even get credit for it!]

11. Are you having problems at home? [Don’t bother me with it. I have enough on my plate [already]. Take it to somebody else who is  senior to me.]

12. A lot of people are worried about you. [You’re causing trouble with all those questions.]

13. Are you looking for a change of career ? [ Adapt - or get out! You know nobody will believe you.]

14. Are you trying to wreck the organisation?  [This is too hot for me to handle.]

15. I’m responsible for security in this organisation - not you. [Don’t bother me with security concerns.]

16. We need to have a meeting on this one. [I refuse to take responsibility.]

17. Have you run it past ‘X’? [Ensure X takes the heat - not me.]

18. I don’t need to read books to know what’s going on. [I am an ignorant drekschwein and proud of it!]