Strategic intelligence: A handbook for practitioners, managers and users

While this may well be the first major reference book about strategic intelligence and its application in a nonmilitary context, of course it is not a book about an entirely new concept. After all, intelligence and analysis have existed in various forms for many years. Depending upon one’s view of history and assuming a certain generosity in ignoring some of the semantics now investing this genre, intelligence practice can be tracked back to biblical times in the Christian world as well as to the ancient writings of Eastern and Oriental military philosophers such as Sun Tzu. There is a growing body of literature on intelligence practice in the world of enforcement. In this work, the term enforcement is taken to include policing, compliance, and regulation. The bulk of this intelligence literature has been generated over the last decade and is a significant manifestation of how the field is increasingly being accepted as a legitimate part of enforcement community responsibilities worldwide. While not all of the topic literature is innovative or instructive, the vast amount of informative material on applications and experiences serves to assist the development of the profession. As yet, though, intelligence still lacks some of the essential components that ought to accompany its claims to be a “profession.”