This Technical Report describes a Concept Map (CMap) Knowledge Model (KM) of intelligence analysis developed at DRDC Toronto. The CMap KM consists of a number of interlinked CMaps and over 100 additional resources (such as text documents, images, Internet links, etc.), organized into an interactive hyperlinked system, which serves as a resource depository and provides an easy access to relevant material. The CMap KM captures the research team’s conceptual understanding of various issues relevant to intelligence analysis and brings together a number of pertinent topics. The authors’ aspiration for this CMap KM is that it might serve as a springboard for further development of concepts essential to intelligence analysis and as a foundation for an intelligence analysis education program.
The evolution of the international security environment requires that intelligence services be tailored in a way so they respond coherently, efficiently and in time to threats. The changes must not only focus on how intelligence structures act, but also on how intelligence analysts operate. Mind maps are the proper tools designed to shed light on complicated issues and to find creative solutions to extremely complex problems.
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the benefits of developing heuristic thinking in the information analysis process and to explain why intelligence analysts should use more frequently this technique.
Although heuristic schemes may initially seem to be a method of little relevance in the field of intelligence, this article aims to prove the exact opposite.
Keywords: mind maps; intelligence analysis; intelligence; information; crisis; analysis.