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NOTICE:
TIEMS Transportation Safety and Security Workshop January 28-29th 2003
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Welcome to
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Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management Crisis and Emergency Management
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| January 2003
Volume 3 - Number
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The Intelligence Cycle in Crisis and Emergency Management
By Ana Hill
INTRODUCTION In the aftermath of September 11, an incredible growth of interest has developed around strategies, methods and techniques utilized in the crisis and emergency management field. The idea is to improve the abilities and resources available to situation of crisis and emergency. Crisis and emergency management by definition is an exercise of information exchange. Information is needed for the development planning and the decision-making process of community and organizations. The Intelligence Cycle represents the traditional process of information gathering, its used is no longer exclusive of the military sector and today is has been applied to almost all activities and sectors in society. In this paper a communications cycle is presented as an alternative methodology option to an organization, community or individuals in the field of crisis and emergency management. The paper describes a Communications Cycle scheme for crisis and emergency management that suggests social and institutional interactions inside and outside the normal boundaries in an organization. The paper is divided in four parts. The first part describes the phases of the traditional Intelligence Cycle. The second part of the paper describes and proposes a new approach of a more ample cycle of communications for crisis management. The third and fourth part refer to advantages and challenges of the Communications Cycle. INTELLIGENCE CYCLE: A TRADITIONAL APPROACH The functional aspect of intelligence has been always related to the military; in most countries, historically, intelligence has played a key role in providing support shaping the policies of a nation towards other nations. The Intelligence Cycle in governmental politics would be expected to produce information, warnings, and estimations of probable developments on which a nation’s foreign policy is based. The idea of intelligence it is not a new one. Colonel Roger Hislman (1956) traced the origins and practice of intelligence in the Bible (Numbers 13), when Moses after receiving a message of God sent people to spy the land of Canaan: …Go up into the mountain: And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many. Today the use and application of the Intelligence Cycle can be seen in all sectors and organizations of society with diverse objectives and missions. The business community has embraced the Intelligence Cycle with the idea of being competitive, to be able to make informed decisions and act ahead of its competitors (Fiora, 1998). In the world of business, the Intelligence Cycle takes three elements of intelligence –published information, human information and analysis techniques, translating them into early warnings in a competitive environment. Traditionally, the Intelligence Cycle is understood as the process of developing raw information into finished intelligence for policy makers to use in the decision-making process and action (CIA, Figure No. 1). The CIA proposes phases for the constitution of the traditional Intelligence Cycle: 1. Planning and Direction. By request of policymakers, it is considered the beginning and the end or the cycle, the beginning because it involves identification of needs and specific collection requirements and the end because the final product generates new needs. 2. Collection. The gathering of open, secret and technical information. Open information can be found in magazines, newspapers, books, etc. Secret information refers to that information received from agents and defectors abroad. Technical information is obtained through electronics and satellite photography. 3. Processing. The transformation of information into usable indicators. Among the most common activities are decryption, translations, data reduction, etc. 4. Analysis and Production. It incorporates evaluated and analyzed information –final intelligence product, considering the context in which the information was obtained. Both, general and specific judgments and assessments of people and events are expected by policymakers in the form of written reports. 5. Dissemination. Intelligence products are delivered in a daily basis to the President and National Security advisers, decisions are taken based on the information and new need are generated re-activating, over and over again, the Intelligence Cycle. While one of the first principals of the Intelligence Cycle in governmental-politics it to enable public officials to create public policies, the Intelligence Cycle in crisis and emergency management main function is to generate a continuous dynamic of knowledge and actions aim to support the four phases of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery. INTELLIGENCE CYCLE IN CRISIS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT Whatever the field/sector in which of the Intelligence Cycle is used, it will always constitute the process of selection, gathering, and analysis of information needed for strategic planning (Montgomery and Weinberg, 1998) and decision-making. The idea of incorporating the Intelligence Cycle into crisis and emergency management does not vary much from this definition. The main difference is that crisis and emergency management suggests a more ample cycle of communications (Figure No. 2). The idea, to have an ongoing process able to observe and supervise the changing environment in which an organization operates, identifying issues that have an impact on its performance and making decisions concerning appropriate actions (Graber, 1992). The importance of the proposed Communications Cycle becomes more evident if we give it the prime role of identifying and solving real problems of people and communities in which many people hold pieces of the solution, but not the whole (Tsai, 1999). A Communications Cycle would not only work providing warnings of possible problems but also estimating its likelihood of occurrence and basic response capabilities of a community or organization. If communications prevail, it would also be possible to identify vulnerable areas in the cultural structure of a community or organization –leadership styles, territorial struggles, social and political interactions. DESCRIBING THE COMMUNICATIONS CYCLE In an ideal world a Communications Cycle would have a linear development, however this does not always happens, we are only humans in no control of all factors in a determine environment influenced by crisis and emergencies circumstances. Four major phases –matching the four phases of crisis and emergency management- describe the Communications Cycle: 1. Goal Setting. Like in any other decision-making model -rational choice approach, organizational intelligence, intelligence business, or intelligence cycle, the first step is to define our universe, the organization purpose and mission. Once everybody in the organization has a clear mission or organizational objective, an internal communication exercise –brainstorming- to evaluate all possible crisis an organization can face gets started. Potential crisis scenarios may vary in nature and intensity, whether resulted from natural disasters, technological problems, misconduct, or political affairs, all possibilities should be taken into account. In the Crisis and emergency management world Goal Setting would cover the Mitigation phase. 2. Connection. Besides all aspects related to the gathering of information, the second step of the Communications Cycle involves getting ready for expected threats. Also known as Preparedness, it involves contingency planning, resource management, training, etc. The connection phase considers the formation of inter-institutional network and promotion grassroots participation. It will not only improve the role and performances of every actor involve in a crisis situation but it will also stimulate the communications between the parts. The chances are that someone outside our inner circle will be aware of factors affecting the basic role of a community or organization. It is recommended the creation of real channels of communication and distribution of Participation/Communication Kits explaining its functionality and modus operandi. With the development of networks is expected to obtain, in an easier way, information about possible threats in an organization. Networks at the grassroots level are especially important and are expected to be a powerful source or energy and communication in the always-difficult road of rebuilding community life and development after a crisis has occurred, promoting group identification and group solidarity (Kaufman and Alfonso, 1997). 3. Analysis and Effects. Action time. Actions responding to imminent crisis identified in the analysis process –intended to reduce secondary damages- and actions involving the media. The media usually works as the natural intermediary between an organization and the public, informing the public about the progress of a crisis/emergency situation or in partnership in educational campaigns. Analysis and Effects would cover the Response phase in the traditional Crisis and Emergency Model. The Communications Cycle suggests the need of fortifying media relations; this would allow your organization to control and get its message across during a crisis. It is important to keep focus while communicating through the media, focusing on the message that an organization wants to deliver, focusing on actions that need to be taken, focusing and adopting a pro-active and caring attitude towards a crisis situation, focusing on who, what, where, and when you say. 4. Internal and External Communications. Considered in crisis and emergency management as the Recovery phase. It includes all post-crisis activities whether to restore and maintain a community or organization up and running or in a dissemination campaign of lessons learned. Internal communications refers to information given and actions taken by community leaders or organizations. External communications refers to the interaction between leaders of an organization and the community and networks involved. One of the characteristics that distinguish the Communications Cycle from a traditional Intelligence Cycle is that the first emphasizes, maintains, and promotes a dynamic of internal and external communications as a form of information gathering while the information gathering process described in the Intelligence Cycle dynamic works on a linear form for internal consumption. ADVANTAGES OF THE COMMUNICATIONS CYCLE The first advantage of developing a Communications Cycle is the incorporations or external audiences; the incorporation of people outside the natural structure of the organizations but still related to its objectives, giving perspective and contextualzing this one with an environment in constant change. Where to look for information that would reveal a problem is no longer a problem in a Communications Cycle. The incorporation and constant communication with groups and individuals in relation with an organization is considered the second advantage of the Communications Cycle. The third advantage of the Communications Cycle is that it is local; an analogy of Tim O’Neill’s all politics is local. Most problems and have its origin at a local or regional level. The network factor within the Communications Cycle permits an organization to identify potential failures in a timely manner at the same time that activates groups and actions in places where the crisis has taken place. Most of the time, when a crisis or emergency occurs, the mismanagement or lack of information is usually point out as the factor that originating the problem, when the real problem is the existence of an appropriate way of communicating. A constant exercise of communications, the fourth advantage of the Communications Cycle, improves the flow of crucial information promoting informed decisions and execution of opportune actions. CHALLENGES OF THE COMMUNICATIONS CYCLE The Communications Cycle in crisis and emergency management also has its own challenges. A communications exercise would not only be able to provide with early warnings, geographical and personal profiles, analysis of community and organizational needs, and assessment of capabilities in response to eventualities, it should also contemplates the dynamic of human interactions, of social and political leaderships, as well as those aspects of territorial nature. In contrast to other decision-making models -Rational Choice Approach, Organizational Intelligence, Intelligence Cycle, Intelligence Business, Strategic Intelligence System- the Communications Cycle should be also understood as a no-linear interactive process of constant exchange between networks developed in the communications exercise –social, institutional, professional, political, etc. An organization that options to work under the Communications Cycle would need to have a clear idea and necessary knowledge about its mission, ability to complete interdisciplinary approaches, willingness to listen and adaptability of the organizational structure to changing conditions. REFERENCES Central Intelligence Agency. The Intelligence Cycle. Retrieved from the World Wide Web 0n 03/27/2000. URL: http://cia.gov/cia/publications/facttell//intecycle.htm Fiora, Bill, 1998. Using business intelligence to become a better competitor. Electrical World, New York; November 1998. Volume 212 Issue 11 Page 60. Graber, Doris A. (1992). Public Sector Communications. How organizations manage information. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Press. Hilsman, Roger (1956). Strategic Intelligence and National Decisions. Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press. Kaufman, Michael and Harold Dilla Alfonso (1997). Community Power and Grassroots Democracy. The transformation of social life. New York: Zed Books. Montgomery, David B., and Charles B. Weinberg, 1998. Toward Strategic Intelligence Systems: The quality of strategic planning depends on the quality of information gathering. Marketing Management. Winter 1998. Tsai Bonnie, Organizational Intelligence. (Copies) Source: CIA |