Organisational culture and intelligence analysis: A perspective from senior managers in the Defence Intelligence Assessments Staff

Abstract

We highlight some key elements of the organisational culture of structures engaged in all-source intelligence analysis and draw on a preliminary survey of a small cadre of senior managers in the Defence Intelligence Assessments Staff (DIAS). This suggests that DIAS has a strong identity and value system, and that it is introspective and somewhat averse to change. Our provisional findings based on a limited sample of senior managers suggest that physical and demographic isolation, and the recent history of the organisation, may be significant in shaping DIAS’s culture, but that intrinsic factors such as the nature of the job and the personalities attracted to it also play a part. It is not possible to state with certainty what the impact of culture change (and what it would take to achieve) would be on analytical capability, but the continued impetus towards a more customer-facing culture appears to carry both costs and benefits in terms of the kinds of tasks at which the organisation is likely to excel.