Restructuring the US intelligence community has been a "priority" since I was in first grade (born in 1986, you can do the math). Yet for all of the books, editorials, and general hand-wringing, little has actually changed.

Josh Kerbel, former intelligence analyst for the Navy and CIA and current DCI staff member, provides a convincing argument for why the USIC should not be happy with superficial restructuring and how it can do better.

Money quote:

"What's needed today is an analysis-centric, rather than collection-centric, model that would elevate the importance of unclassified information and discourage compartmentalization. It would encourage analysts to hunt and gather data, rather than living on a restricted diet of the secret -- or, for that matter, open-source -- data pellets that the current collection system feeds them. Intelligence should provide context and allow imaginative hypothesizing. Most importantly, modern intelligence would need to link analysts in partnership with policymakers, abandoning the producer-customer relationship of the past. We could then help identify opportunities, and not just threats."

-Evan

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