Strategic management is very important to intelligence management. According to Hill and Jones (2008), strategic management refers to “the formulation and implementation of the major goals and initiatives taken by an organization’s top management on behalf of owners, based on consideration of resources and an assessment of the internal and external environments in which the organization competes,” (p. 78). This area of knowledge is very critical when it comes to intelligence management.
The definition of strategic management given above may help in explaining how and why it is important to intelligence management. Intelligence management involves the formulation and subsequent implementation of strategic goals and initiatives. The goal is to always collect intelligence and come up with counterintelligence measures that will make the country safe (Xu, 2007). The initiatives must ensure that any threat to the country is identified as early as possible and measures developed to neutralize it. It also focuses on identifying foreign forces trying to gather intelligence about government operations, especially on issues classified as confidential for the purpose of the country’s security. The success of the intelligence agencies is determined by how well they identify and neutralize threats to the country.
In the above definition, it is clear that strategic management involves top managers acting on behalf of owners to achieve strategic goals. The intelligence agencies are entrusted with the role of protecting citizens. The public has given the agencies the mandate to protect the nation. The top managers of these agencies are working on behalf of the people of this country. They must ensure that their every action is in the interest of the public. These managers are fully accountable to the public for their actions. It is also clear that strategic management takes into consideration available resources for the activities of an organization (Akhgar & Yates, 2011).
The intelligence agencies are assigned a given amount of money during every financial year for the purpose of intelligence management. The top managers must always ensure that their activities are planned as per the budget allocated. Over expenditure may paralyze intelligence management, especially if the agency cannot get additional funds in time to cover for the extra expenses that had not been previously budgeted for when it received the funds from the treasury (Akhgar & Yates, 2013). Under expenditure may be a sign that the agency is not doing enough to achieve its mandate. As such, the top leaders must ensure that the funds allocated to it are spent in a clear manner and with the primary objective of achieving the strategic objectives.
It is also indicated that strategic management involves analysis of both the internal and external environment within which the organization works. In intelligence management, such an assessment is very critical. The organizations must ensure that the internal environment, in terms of human resources, equipment, and strategies are capable of achieving the desired goals (Mitchell & Casey, 2007). In terms of the external environment, the intelligence management agency must know how to overcome challenges that it may face as it seeks to achieve its mandate. Strategic management also looks at the issue of competition within the external environment. In the field of intelligence management, competition is a very important factor that an intelligence agency must take into consideration (McDowell, 2009). In the United States, intelligence agencies have to deal with competing interests of intelligence agencies of countries such as Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea among others. Success in this setting requires staying a step ahead of the rivals.
References
Akhgar, B., & Yates, S. (2011). Intelligence management: Knowledge driven frameworks for combating terrorism and organized crime. London, UK: Springer.
Akhgar, B., & Yates, S. (2013). Strategic intelligence management: National security imperatives and information and communications technologies. Boston, MA: Elsevier.
Hill, C. W. L., & Jones, G. R. (2008). Strategic management: An integrated approach. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.
McDowell, D. (2009). Strategic intelligence: A handbook for practitioners, managers, and users. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
Mitchell, M., & Casey, J. (2007). Police leadership and management. Annandale, VA: Federation Press.
Xu, M. (2007). Managing strategic intelligence: Techniques and technologies. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.