Intelligence Pitfalls and Intelligence Reforms

Intelligence services are very important to any security body, mainly, because they are used to provide important information on the relevant security matters. Security for all is a basic service that is mandatory to the citizens who have a right to demand it from the government. Holding all factors constant, intelligence services have been facing a serious hitch which leads to mismanaging security concerns as well as subjecting citizens or particular persons to a reasonable risk. A poor communication between the stakeholders, an untimely and inaccurate information collection have ultimetly  guided to theintelligence pitfalls (Dorril, 2000). Due to the above mantined areas of the nation’s mismanagement of this crucial security service, the various reforms have been put forward to streamline the service delivery process as well as to increase its efficiency (Dorril, 2000).

Poor communication or communication barrier between the stakeholders has turned to be one of the major pitfalls in the intelligence service. Communication barrier leads to the misunderstanding between the two sides of communication, hence, making the body ineffective. In most cases, when a communication barrier is witnessed, another process of interpretation of the raw information is needed. This degrades the relevance of this information because intelligence service information is vital and an immediate action is compulsory. If the communication between the two sides is not effective, then the action to be taken will not be timely as it is usually required. This development subjects the citizens to a possible risk and a hitch in this service as well as to the implementation process.

Untimely information collection by the service is another pitfall. This body is expected to be aware of all the happenings within the duty area. Failure to sense the insecurity subjects, before they happen, has created by other stakeholders a room for criticism. Police mostly rely on the intelligence service information to make sure that law and order are maintained within and outside of the country (McNaughton, 2006). If the intelligence service fails to collect information on time, then a police and the other security organs will not be able to act effectively. It is the duty of the intelligence to inform and to provide data which acts as a raw material to a stable and secure nation. If one is to go by the history, most of the dangerous insecurity missions that have happened in this world were effective, mainly, because the intelligence service was not aware of the matter on time. On the other hand, some of the insecurity missions have failed as a result of timely awareness of the intelligence; hence, preparing for the possible challenge or diverting the risk.

Inaccuracy of data collection has also been cited as a major letdown by the service. Accurateinformation leads to the accurate solution. If the information collected was not accurate, then the possible threats might change its cause and therefore subjecting the targeted citizens at risk. It is important to reduce the risk by acquiring the right information so that the risk management will be possible (The 9/11, 2004). In order to avoid all these challenges, the intelligence service has adopted technology as the best way to get accurate information on time and to improve in communication. These reforms have also called for more training and exposure of the agents to help them to accommodate changes as well as to be flexible to meet the current demand. In the United States, homeland security service is just an example of a reform proposal in intelligence service where all the security units are expected to be integrated in order to improve efficiency. Holding the fact that there are possible insecurity elements facing the U.S. citizens, the homeland security stands as a security data source from the ground; hence, creating room for a proper preparation and mitigation process in this subject (Lustbader, 2011). As far as a security is of great concern, the intelligence service agents should be highly intellectual people.Moreover, the government institution should help to upgrade and recruit the new able officers. This will help to reduce inaccuracy as well as to improve the service efficiency. Technology should be used in all service endeavors as the way of taking care of technological climes that create the enormous insecurity risk in the world (Lustbader, 2011).