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What I Have Learned From the Intelligence Community, by Trying to Emulate Them

1) You can have your opinions, but allow them to form based upon available evidence. Leave your party affiliation at the door. You will never understand the complete picture if you're shilling for a political party.

Ideological bias blinds.

2) If it's trending in social media, it isn't what you think it is, and it generally isn't good.

3) Collect information and observe. Do not rush to judgement. Analyze every situation completely before commenting. NEVER accept the social media narrative, otherwise you'll eventually wind up backpedaling.

4) Intelligence agencies are what they are. They collect intelligence and act on that intelligence.

When I see the all too familiar disparaging narrative concerning the CIA, I know there's a high probability I'm staring at propaganda.

The CIA and the NSA are

our enemies' favorite boogeymen.

5) You cannot know all there is to know about a thing. There will always be missing intelligence. And this is why analysis is so critical. Most analysis I see is projection...merely a reflection of the analyst's own biases.

Media analysis is the worst kind of analysis.

6) The world needs counterintelligence.

BAD.

Our government needs it. Our corporations need it.

We cannot really understand an environment without it.

7) The only way to counter an enemy is to understand that enemy.

You cannot understand your enemy unless you empathize with her/him.

For example:

Democrats don't understand Republicans AT ALL.

Republicans don't understand Democrats AT ALL.

Neither are Hitler.

8) The goal of information warfare is to control people's reactions to the information. Disinformation is a means to that end.

The worst kind of Disinformation, in my opinion, is partial truths shared by sources no one trusts.

9) U.S. intelligence agencies do not conduct assassinations. And if they ever tried to, our enemies would destroy them with bad P.R.

Period.

End of story.