The US "intelligence community" is the CIA, NSA, etc.[1] Intelligence analysis is the business of trying to extract useful info from of noisy and deceptive data. Here's an introduction to the field.[2] See especially section 4.
4-11. Analyst have found the following rules helpful in dealing with deception:
- Avoid over-reliance on a single source of information.
- Seek and heed the opinions of those closest to the reporting.
- Be suspicious of human sources or sub-sources who have not been met with personally or for whom it is unclear how or from whom they obtained the information.
- Be suspicious of information that appears to be too easy to collect and is too perfect of a picture.
- Always look for material evidence (documents, reports, imagery) rather than relying exclusively upon what someone says.
- Look for a pattern where a source’s information has seemed correct and accurate initially, but then proven to be false.
- Generate and evaluate a full set of hypotheses at the outset of a task.
- Know the limitations as well as the capabilities of collection assets, sources, and potential deceivers.
This kind of analysis used to be needed only by intelligence specialists. Now this should probably be taught in schools.
>> This kind of analysis used to be needed only by intelligence specialists. Now this should probably be taught in schools.
Not just schools, this should be taught to everybody.
One wonders how propaganda would react if this were to happen. Right now it is mostly non-physical information.
But when you have a critical mass of people & environment which is not conducive to standard propaganda, perhaps it will resort to creating a physical reality as a base to anchor upon. Not that this hasn't happened earlier, but it will become pervasive.
So anything anonymously sourced from US govt. Officials should be considered "too easy to collect... etc "...seemed correct and accurate initially, then proven to be false."
"Material evidence..."
Yeah if we did this the CIA would have a much harder time spreading bullshit. But yeah they'll still try with the "OMG you love Putin" To those in the media who actually exercise these recommendations. Maybe it's not even a totally baseless and disgusting slur every single time but it has happened so often now it's safe to assume anyone any good has been accused of being a Putin stooge at least once. Hilary accusing Bernie is my personal favourite. You may have others. Greenwald, Mate, Taibbi, Tulsi Gabbard, Assange, Snowden. Zero evidence for any of it, sure, but it's still possible one or more of them is. No reason at all not to treat that with total contempt given that each has presented evidence opposing in the interests of national security state propaganda and there's none at all for these Putin stooge smears.
Feel free to keep loathing Putin, I do, I just don't see him under the bed and switch my brain off the instant he's invoked. If you haven't seen that the CIA, NSA have real issues of criminality that is in need of serious reform, and many inside will eagerly break the law to avoid it consider what would get you to change your mind on that?
The corruption inside is a far, far greater threat to the USA than Putin (or Osama bin L. or Saddam or.. the next objectively evil bogeyman) could be in their wildest fantasies. Failure to reform is incredibly dangerous and weakens defenses massively.
4-11. Analyst have found the following rules helpful in dealing with deception:
- Avoid over-reliance on a single source of information.
- Seek and heed the opinions of those closest to the reporting.
- Be suspicious of human sources or sub-sources who have not been met with personally or for whom it is unclear how or from whom they obtained the information.
- Be suspicious of information that appears to be too easy to collect and is too perfect of a picture.
- Always look for material evidence (documents, reports, imagery) rather than relying exclusively upon what someone says.
- Look for a pattern where a source’s information has seemed correct and accurate initially, but then proven to be false.
- Generate and evaluate a full set of hypotheses at the outset of a task.
- Know the limitations as well as the capabilities of collection assets, sources, and potential deceivers.
This kind of analysis used to be needed only by intelligence specialists. Now this should probably be taught in schools.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Intelligence_Com...
[2] https://info.publicintelligence.net/USArmy-IntelAnalysis.pdf