Intelligence Collection

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The act of collecting intelligence about individuals, groups, or states of interest has come under increasing scrutiny since September 11, 2001. RAND has examined how nations successfully collect intelligence, how the U.S. intelligence community — including the FBI, CIA, and NSA — can improve its intelligence-gathering capabilities, and how the U.S. military can make better use of its limited land-, sea-, and air-based intelligence collection assets in the rapidly changing battlefields of the future.

Report

Measuring Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Effectiveness at the United States Central Command

Jan 20, 2021

U.S. Central Command Directorate of Intelligence is interested in developing a repeatable process to measure the effectiveness of its intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations and activities. What methodology can be used to accomplish this?
Commentary

An Early Policy Victory for DNI Haines: Boost the Priority of Open Sources Information

Mar 4, 2021

The quantity, quality, and accessibility of publicly available information has exploded over the past decades. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines has an opportunity to advance intelligence community mission activities on several key issues shaped by the digital information age, including the role of publicly available information.

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Multimedia

Press Briefing on U.S. Department of Defense Civilian Casualty Policies and Procedures

Researchers from the RAND Corporation brief the press on an independent RAND assessment of U.S. Department of Defense standards, processes, procedures, and policies relating to civilian casualties resulting from U.S. military operations.

Mar 8, 2022
Report

Options for Strengthening All-Source Intelligence: Substantive Change Is Within Reach

Foreign attacks against the United States occur frequently. The authors propose game-changing ideas to enable intelligence analysts to address long-standing challenges related to the use of open sources, analytic tradecraft, and politicization.

Feb 28, 2022
Report

Pentagon Processes on Civilian Casualties Inconsistent, in Need of Reform

The Department of Defense has committed to civilian-harm policies and processes, but inconsistencies remain. The Pentagon is not adequately organized or resourced to sufficiently assess, reduce, and respond to civilian-harm incidents. Reform will require institutional, not just operational, changes.

Jan 27, 2022
News Release

Pentagon Processes on Civilian Casualties Inconsistent, in Need of Reform

Lessons from U.S. military strikes that caused civilian casualties are not shared across the Department of Defense (DoD) in a way that meaningfully reduces future civilian casualties.

Jan 27, 2022
Brochure

Select RAND Research on the Information Environment: 2014-2020

This volume is an important resource for anyone who is interested in gaining an informed understanding of operations in the information environment.

Oct 7, 2021
Report

Documenting Intelligence Mission-Data Production Requirements: How the U.S. Department of Defense Can Improve Efficiency and Effectiveness by Streamlining the Production Requirement Process

The authors examine issues relating to the identification of requirements for Intelligence Mission Data and intelligence production for the Acquisition Intelligence Requirements Task Force.

Aug 3, 2021
Report

New Model Helps Predict Cyber Threats and Improve Resilience

Today's evolving cyber threats require a tailored and targeted approach to cybersecurity. Current defenses focus on managing threats after a network has been breached. RAND's Scalable Warning and Resilience Model (SWARM) can help defenders proactively protect their systems through early warning of cyber incidents before they occur.

May 11, 2021
Commentary

The Intelligence Community's Deadly Bias Toward Classified Sources

Even when relevant data is publicly available, U.S. intelligence analysts are not including it in their analytic products during their routine course of business. This willful ignorance of publicly available information is hurting U.S. national security.

Apr 12, 2021
Report

Technology Innovation and the Future of Air Force Intelligence Analysis: Technical Analysis

What are the near-term fixes to existing intelligence challenges? And where could artificial intelligence and machine learning be integrated in the future? An in-depth analysis explores technologies that could help the Air Force Distributed Common Ground System become more effective, efficient, and agile.

Jan 27, 2021
Report

Technology Innovation and the Future of Air Force Intelligence Analysis: Findings and Recommendations

Getting the right intelligence to the right people at the right time is increasingly difficult as the amount of data grows and timelines shrink. How can tools and technologies help the Air Force Distributed Common Ground System evolve to meet the challenges of synthesizing data effectively and efficiently?

Jan 27, 2021
Tool

Measuring Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Effectiveness at the United States Central Command: Data Visualization Tool Documentation

The authors used Tableau to create a visualization tool that allows U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) to display the performance and effectiveness of its support to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) roles, sub-roles, and activities.

Jan 20, 2021
Blog

America's Declining Global Influence, COVID-19 and Schools, Pardoning Snowden: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on America's declining status on the world stage, why schools need long-term plans to address COVID-19, what Shinzo Abe's resignation means for the U.S.-Japan alliance, and more.

Sep 11, 2020
Commentary

A Snowden Pardon Could Have a Snowball Effect on Protecting National Security Secrets

If President Trump were to pardon Edward Snowden, then he might encourage vigilante behavior that puts at risk the very sensitive information and operations—meaning American interests and lives—that the U.S. national security system is intended to protect.

Sep 4, 2020
Q&A

Intel, Ethics, and Emerging Tech: Q&A with Cortney Weinbaum

Cortney Weinbaum studies topics related to intelligence and cyber policy as a senior management scientist at RAND. In this interview, she discusses challenges facing the intelligence community, the risks of using AI as a solution, and ethics in scientific research.

Aug 23, 2019
Commentary

Intelligence Losses Pose Large Risks as U.S. Troops Head Home

Departing theaters such as Syria and Afghanistan carries a host of associated risks, challenges and potential benefits. Leaders would be well served to factor into the debate the importance of U.S. intelligence collection capabilities, its connection to U.S. presence overseas and its role in anticipating current and future threats.

Jan 24, 2019
Report

Improving C2 and Situational Awareness for Operations in and Through the Information Environment

Every military activity has informational aspects, but the information environment (IE) is not well integrated into military planning, doctrine, or processes. Better understanding of the IE will improve command and control and situational awareness.

Nov 1, 2018
Research Brief

Requirements for Better C2 and Situational Awareness of the Information Environment

Every military activity has informational aspects, but the information environment (IE) is not well integrated into military planning, doctrine, or processes. Better understanding of the IE will improve command and control and situational awareness.

Nov 1, 2018
Journal Article

Intelligence in a Data-Driven Age

The Intelligence Community is nearing critical decisions on artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Jul 13, 2018