Critical Lens Essay

Cognitive and perceptual biases are inherent in everyone, including intelligence analysts. These biases are largely the result of training and experience. These biases form a personal lens through with intelligence analysts view information, analyze, and draw conclusions. “These [personal lenses] strongly influence what information analysts will accept – that is, data that are in accordance with analysts’ unconscious mental models are more likely to be perceived and remembered than information that is at odds with them” (Central Intelligence Agency, 2009, p. 1). The mental lenses that intelligence analysts develop are reinforced over time through experience and through training when it supports common historical analytical processes. “The key risk to mind-sets [personal lenses] are …show more content…
It also requires multiple analysts to draw a conclusion. But, a far less recognized benefit should be a shift from being ‘right’ to being ‘first’. Part of the traditional analysis processes lead to single analysts producing predictive conclusions with the only measure of performance being if they turned out to be ‘right’. That mentality is still prevalent in today’s intelligence products. The biggest downside to this is intelligence product delays or omissions while analysts wait for more clarifying information so they can be 'right'. With the implementation of critical thinking and structured analysis techniques the focus should be on getting products published so that others may apply their critical thinking and structured analytical techniques to the problem at hand. Other organizations may already have a piece to the puzzle and not even realize it until an intelligence product is published. Readjusting the analysis in light of additional information should not reflect that the original producer was ‘wrong’; but, that they were