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
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?
Jan 20, 2021
Commentary
An Early Policy Victory for DNI Haines: Boost the Priority of Open Sources Information
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.
Mar 4, 2021

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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
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
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
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