Overview
In numerous books, manuscripts, and journal articles (including recently in these pages), IC practitioners have offered their definitions of “intelligence” and why the definition is important to practitioners. These works—including Kent (1949), Bimfort (1958), Random (1958), Lowenthal (1999), Warner (2002), and Simms (2022)—are must-reads for intelligence-studies scholars and represent a venerable who’s who in the discipline. Spanning some seven decades of scholarship, the volumes provide qualitative assessments of what intelligence is and is not. (The above, later cited works, and additional readings are listed in full bibliographic detail beginning at “References” on page 13.)
In this article, we offer an alternative, quantitative analysis of intelligence definitions and intelligence organizations worldwide to advance the debate over the correct definition of intelligence, which we hold to be:
National security intelligence is a secret state activity to understand, influence, or defend against a threat to gain an advantage.
As we will demonstrate, this definition iterates upon existing definitions and includes all of the key elements required for practitioners and scholars alike. Practitioners may use the definition to describe their work. Academics may use the definition to identify intelligence as a phenomenon, develop theories, and test causal relationships.