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The effective analyst
Part 4: Attributes
Associate Investigator, Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security, Australia
In this last article in a series of four, Janet takes us through the findings of research by her and Mark
Kebbell on what makes intelligence analysts effective.
Janet Evans
n this the final ar-
ticle in the series, I
will consider the fi-
nal theme that
emerged from con-
sidering what makes
an effective analyst -
Attributes
of the analyst. Secondly,
and perhaps more importantly, I am
going to reflect on the most ethical
way forward for us as a community
of practitioners now knowing the
findings offered by this study.
In the previous issues I described
how 246 constructs were used by the
subject matter experts to describe the
theme of
analytical products
and 107
constructs to describe the theme re-
lating to the analysts
attitude.
In con-
trast only 21 constructs were used to
describe the
attributes
of the analyst
by subject matter experts. The theme
of
attributes
incorporated inherent
characteristics and qualities as well
as physical characteristics like age or
gender.
From this study it is asserted that the
attributes of the analysts contribute
less than other themes to indicate an
analyst as more or less effective.
From an ethical or equity perspective
this is heartening as there is no indi-
cation that men or women, older or
younger analysts make better ana-
lysts. The
attribute
factors that held
some interest for the subject matter
I
experts were being confident, being
calm and patient, and being likable.
The results of this research serve as
the first empirically-based set of
characteristics required to effectively
perform the role of analyst.
The importance of the analytical
product in understanding and deter-
mining an analysts’ effectiveness has
been clearly demonstrated. For an
analyst to be viewed as effective
they need to have skills in develop-
ing a product as well as disseminat-
ing their results. The most critically
important variable in disseminating
the product was the ability to com-
municate with the recipient of the
product both in general terms and
through briefings and a written
product.
This requires us to reconsider our
approach to recruitment and devel-
opment. It is our moral responsibili-
ty to select analysts who can
perform in these domains and, if we
already employ analysts, ensuring
they are servicing the goals of law
enforcement as effectively as they
can by having received the ‘right’
training. It is no longer enough to
train analysts on software or to give
them another tool. This study shows
that effective analysts derive mean-
ing and develop inferences that re-
quire enhanced thinking skills.
Analysts need to develop them-
selves into advanced problem-solv-
ers. In this study computer and
technical skills were barely men-
tioned and the importance of think-
ing skills and life experience were
highly sought after in determining
effectiveness.
Although data collection and colla-
tion are described as part of the in-
telligence cycle they were not
considered to be an indicator of ana-
lyst effectiveness It is now our ethi-
cal responsibility to decide if this is
because they in fact are not part of
an analyst’s role and if so why are so
many of our analysts consumed
with this task? Is it because this is
what they have become comfortable
doing? As managers can we pave a
new path towards where analysts
predominantly think (rather than
collect), derive meaning and create
and deliver products?
This study has raised a number of
questions that require further inves-
tigation, including how we best test
for effective communication skills
and how do you measure an ana-
lyst’s attitude to the position. These
questions and others have at their
heart an ethical responsibility to
make choices not just at a point in
time, for the sake of your career, to
ease the pain of recruitment or to si-
lence an analyst who just wants an-
other mapping course, but for a
profession in it’s development years
and in many cases for the safety of
our communities or countries. •
October 2012 • Foreknowledge
17

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