Secrecy News: Social Intelligence; Eisenhower's Letters of Intelligence
Secrecy News: Social Intelligence;
Eisenhower's Letters of Authority
About
Secrecy News
SECRECY NEWS is an email publication of
the Federation of American Scientists (FAS)
Project on Government Secrecy. It provides
informal coverage of new developments in secrecy,
security and intelligence policies, as well
as links to new acquisitions on the Federation
of American Scientists web site. It
is published 2 to 3 times a week, or as events
warrant. Secrecy
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An Air Force study of the Iranian government that was co-sponsored
by the National Security Agency shows how U.S. intelligence
agencies are making use of "social network analysis," a social
science research tool, to inform their products.
In social network analysis the patterns of social interaction are
subjected to rigorous examination and modeling, beginning with
questions such as: Who knows whom? Which individuals and groups
interact with one another and on what terms?
Social network analysis provides a useful way of structuring
knowledge and framing further research. Ideally, it can also
enhance an analyst's predictive capacity.
"Correctly interpreting a social network assists in predicting
behavior and decision-making within the social network," wrote
Capt. Robert S. Renfro, II and Richard F. Deckro of the Air Force
Institute of Technology.
"The ability to understand and predict behavior of members in a
social network allows the analyst to evaluate specific courses of
action that will influence the members of a social network in a
desirable manner."
In an illustrative example, the Air Force authors applied this
method in order "to understand the relative influence of
individuals in the Iranian government."
Of course, like other analytical techniques, social network
analysis produces results that are no better than the data upon
which it rests. It cannot compensate for intelligence that is
fabricated, skewed or simply erroneous.
See "A
Social Network Analysis of the Iranian Government" by Renfro and
Deckro, based on research co-sponsored by the National Security Agency
and the National Air Intelligence Center, November 2001, (1 MB PDF
file).
EISENHOWER: THIS LETTER WILL CONSTITUTE YOUR AUTHORITY
President Eisenhower, Secrecy News noted last year (12/17/03), once
sent "classified letters... to ten private citizens throughout the
country giving them authority over various parts of the economy
and total society in the event of the declaration of a national
emergency."
Now the Conelrad Atomic Secrets web sites has tracked down those
extraordinary letters from President Eisenhower and published most
of them on its web site (one remains classified and unavailable).
