Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Generalist Function In Intelligence Analysis, F. Matthew Mihelic

Faculty Publications

While there has been an increasing need to integrate and synthesize the rapidly expanding complexity within intelligence analysis, there has developed an antithetical contemporary deemphasis of generalist orientation and function that can decrease analytical effectiveness. Increases in knowledge and information have naturally led to an increased demand for specialization with consequent increased influence of specialty experts, but this has been at the expense of generalist function, which is becoming increasingly limited to progressively higher administrative levels. A generalist is more than an individual with an eclectic background, rather, successful generalists are best understood by their functional characteristics which include a …