THE ROLE OF GEOGRAPHY IN INTELLIGENCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T01497R000100080014-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 12, 2003
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: October 5, 1973
• Content Type: MF

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MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director for Intelligence
SUBJECT The Role of Geography in Intelligence
As a geographic intelligence officer emeritus and one
who is nearing the time for retirement from active service
with this Agency, I would like to share with you some of my
personal thoughts concerning the role of geography in
intelligence.
The Directorate of Intelligence has always had a
"geographic intelligence" function and it has always had an
organizational component bearing some form of the word
"geography" in its title and charged with responsibility
for carrying out that function. Yet there has never been
a commonly agreed understanding--even among the responsible
managers and geographic intelligence officers themselves--
as to just what that function properly is. There has instead
been much concern about what geographers should be doing,
what they should not be doing, and how they could achieve
greater recognition and acceptance for themselves and their
field of endeavor.
If there has been this lack of common understanding
within the "geographic intelligence" component, it is not
surprising that the matter has been even less understood
by other components of the Directorate and the Agency at
large. Most seem to have the idea that the function--
and the organization--has "something to do with maps".
They are quite likely to identify geographers as "car-
tographers", or to refer to both the organization and
the function, vaguely, as "Geographics" cr "Cartographics".
All of this has compounded the professional inferiority
complex and the imagined or real lack of identity that
have bothered so many of my geographic research colleagues
for so many years, and have contributed to the persistence
of a wasteful and, in my view, immature preoccupation with
achieving greater "recognition".
A few of us were able to avoid this malaise, although
in so doing we incurred the criticism of some of our
colleagues and managers for not being sufficiently aggressive
in "selling" geography and gaining recognition for our
organization. We were convinced that what we were doing
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was useful, that our products (if not our people and our
organization) were recognized, and that we were providing
a kind of support--to the formulation and execution of foreign
policy, to intelligence reporting and estimates, and to the
planning and conduct of operations--that was a unique contri-
bution not obtainable elsewhere in CIA. We did not aspire to
be in the limelight, but were professionally motivated by the
conviction that our contribution as trained geographers was
necessary and valuable. I still believe that to be true.
Definitions
Just what is geography and what is its contribution to
intelligence? In addressing an individual of your background
and experience, I do not want to appear condescending, but
because I have observed a lack of common understanding among
Agency officials as to the actual meaning of the words, I
feel that both terms require definition--albeit my own--for
purposes of an essay such as this.
As I view it, the field of intelligence comprises the
collection, systematic organization, evaluation and analysis,
focused presentation, and dissemination of information
concerning both basic and dynamic aspects of the physical
environment, social characteristics, economy, politics,
military capabilities, and scientific/technological development
of foreign areas. In the federal government, broadly speaking,
intelligence supports the formulation and execution of foreign
policy.
I conceive of ..eography as the systematic study of earth
space, involving both the analysis and synthesis of information
concerning physical features and cultural activities as they
occur--and as they interact--in an areal setting. Thus,
geography does not involve a separate and distinct body of
facts; instead, its subject matter draws from geology,
geomorphology, meteorology, botany, ecology, agriculture,
anthropology, sociology, transportation, industry, political
science, military science, etc., etc., almost ad infinitum.
And geography itself is a point of view, a metHod of inquiry
into those fields.
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Geography and Intelligence
It follows that geography der se is not a distinct topical
subdivision of intelligence but is more in the nature of an
intelligence process that can contribute essentially to the
coordinated u e3 rstnding of many discrete topical fields that
are'recognized subdivisions of intelligence. Thus one encounters
transportation geography, military geography, agricultural
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geography, political geography, etc.--and the ultimate contri-
bution of the geographer: area synthesis.
In the spectrum of substantive topics dealt with by CIA,
there are only a very few topics for which geographers clearly
have the primary, if not exclusive, concern. These include
the elements of the physical environment, political and
territorial boundaries, mapping and survey activities, and
place names. Largely through default by other offices,
geographers have also become the resident "experts" in CIA
on cultural anthropology, particularly for primitive societies
and underdeveloped areas. But the preponderant bulk of the
topics dealt with by geographers are also being dealt with by
other intelligence officers--economists, military/strategic
analysts, political scientists, etc. Though the geographer's
approach to the topics--his method of inquiry--is distinctly
different, the possibilities of overlap or duplication of
effort are obvious, and point to a need for close coordination
between the geographer area specialists and their area counter-
parts in other topical fields.
The Geographic Intelligence Officer: A Profile of Professional
Competence - _ ~- -- - --~"~
To assist in clarifying the role of geography in intelli-
gence, it is useful to consider the people ~ who practice
geography as geographic intelligence officers. What competence
should a geographic intelligence officer/area specialist be
expected to have? What can he be expected not to be able to
deal with? The following is an effort to profile a typical
competent geographic intelligence area specialist in terms of
"know-how":
Substantive competence. He should possess:
An understanding of the basic character and processes of
the earth's physical environment, both in general and,
especially, as they occur in his specific assigned area
of responsibility.
Knowledge of the composition, characteristics, distribution
patterns, and "way of life" of the population of his
assigned area.
Knowledge of the existence, magnitude, and distribution
patterns of the natural resources present in his assigned
area.
Knowledge of the processes involved and the locational
patterns that have been developed in the economic
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exploitation of the natural resource base in his assigned
area.
Knowledge of the system of territorial-administrative
subdivision used in governing the assigned area.
Knowledge of the major aspects of the international
relations of nations in his assigned area, especially
those that involve territorial and locational matters.
Knowledge of strategic/military environmental factors
relating to his assigned area.
Understanding of interrelations among any or all of the
foregoing.
(In sum, he can be described with some validity as "an
area specialist and topical generalist.")
Competence in Skills and Use of Analytic Tools: He
should have:
Ability to present analyzed information effectively in
written, oral, and/or graphic form.
Ability to interpret maps and charts.
Moderate ability to interpret aerial photography.
Foreign language ability is helpful but not always essential.
Competence in use of statistics could prove helpful for
some areas, but is not essential.
Likely areas of non-competence. He is not likely to be
knowledgeable concerning:
Details of scientific and technical developments in
chemistry, physics, electronics, aeronautics, nuclear
energy, engineering, and related fields.
Economic theory and details of international monetary
developments and foreign trade.
Details of politics and political figures.
Details of military hardware and order of battle.
Detailed characteristics of equipment used in transport,
telecommunications, and industrial processes.
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Functional Applications of Geography in Intelligence
It is appropriate next to mention some of the major
functional applications of geography in intelligence. Very
broadly speaking, I see these as involving collection guidance,
the data bank, intelligence production, and coordination.
The collection guidance function. Through continuous
systematic geographic study o his assigned area, the geographic
intelligence officer is inevitably developing and maintaining
his own personal "Atlas of Ignorance" concerning that area.
Thus he is able to identify information gaps that form a basis
for collection requirements. Because of his distinctive multi-
faceted approach to study of the area, he can be useful in
reviewing and coordinating the requirements submitted by various
topical specialists as well as in submitting his own unique
requirements. His understanding of foreign environments also
enables him to provide advice and guidance concerning environ-
mental considerations that may affect the planning and execution
of specific intelligence collection operations.
The data bank function. His broad, multi-topical approach
to consideration of foreign areas requires the geographic
intelligence officer to develop and systematically organize for
his own use a reservoir of diverse areally-focused information
to permit efficient retrievability for application to problems
as they arise. The experience thus gained in dealing with his
own working reference files enables him to contribute to both
areal and topical aspects of organizing larger and more complex
data banks in centralized reference facilities. (It is a
truism that the area knowledge stored in, and recallable from,
the minds of the collective geographic intelligence area
specialists also forms a vital part of "the data bank".)
The intelligence production function. This involves the
preparation an presentation of tailor-made problem-oriented
area analyses designed to answer specific requests from policy
formulators, intelligence collectors, intelligence producers
and estimators, and/or operations officers. It also includes
the self-initiated preparation and presentation of areally
focused in ormation analyzed and interpreted to provide the
recipients with an enhanced understanding of the area treated
and, thus, of current or future problems that may occur there.
The variety of requests received and problems addressed is
exceedingly broad; the one thing that all geographic intelligence
products have in common, however, whether they be interpretive
analyses or merely descriptive accounts, is a concern with
spatial/locational relationships on some portion of the earth's
surface.
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The coordination function. Geography's systematic
approach to area analysis through consideration of the full
range of physical and cultural features makes geographic
intelligence officers well-suited to coordinating roles and
to participation on interdisciplinary teams and task forces
that deal with foreign area problems. Geographic area
specialists can also perform a highly useful service by
reviewing intelligence issuances and operational and logistical
plans to insure that they are "geographically sound", i.e., that
they have properly taken into consideration the physical and
cultural environment of the area concerned.
Relation to Policy
If intelligence is considered as policy support, it is
clear that geographic intelligence usually tends to support
other intelligence rather than to be directly on the "cutting
edge of the intelligence/policy relationship. Occasionally,
as for example in the case of a political geographic contri-
bution on territorial seas and boundary problems, the
relationship to policy formulation can be quite close. But
most often, geographic intelligence tends to be closer to
the "cutting edge" of the intelligence/policy execution
(i.e., operations) relationship than of the intelligence/
policy formulation relationship.
The fact that geography's contribution to policy
formulation is seldom direct, however, does not mean that it is
unimportant. A fundamental fact must be recognized: as a
consequence of longstanding deficiencies in our educational
system, Americans in general are woefully lacking in basic
"geographic" knowledge of foreign areas. Regrettably, this
deficiency often extends to individuals in important policy-
forming and decision-making positions in our government.
This poses a troublesome and sometimes controversial question
for analysts and managers of geographic intelligence production:
When will a self-initiated project make a useful contribution
or when will it be "too thin" (to quote a reason often used by
managers in rejecting self-initiated projects)? Intelligence
officers must guard against a tendency--nurtured by their own
personal knowledge of the area in question and their desire to
avoid "insulting the intelligence" of their customer--to assume
that the high-level reader surely must already know "all that
basic elementary stuff". More often than not, I believe, he
doesn't! And he is probably even less likely to comprehend
the way in which disparate basic characteristics of an area
interact. Yet those characteristics and their interaction
often importantly influence various possible policy decisions
or contemplated courses of action. It is here that geography
can make a unique and essential contribution to intelligence--
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through interpreting various integrated combinations of
physical and cultural factors present in an area, in order
to permit an enhanced understanding of the intrinsic
character of the area as it would relate to a specific
intelligence, policy, or operations problem.
Organizational Placement of the Function
Next, I would like to volunteer a few thoughts on
organizational placement of the geographic intelligence
function. When the Directorate's first-order organizational
subdivision for intelligence production is a functional one,
as it now is, it is probably most efficient tkeep the
geographic intelligence function in a single component. As
intelligence officers, geographers usually function better
as area specialists than as topical specialists; within their
own functional geographic research component they can operate
in just that way--as area specialists. This functional
organization of the Directorate, however, requires a larger
number of geographic, intelligence officer slots than would a
regional organization. Furthermore, it is more likely to
involve geographers in work that duplicates or overlaps that
of other functional units, to make the need for coordination
more critical, and to stimulate parochial concern for
"re-cognition" of the geographers' own organizational unit.
If the first-order breakdown of the Directorate for
intelligence production were changed to a regional one,
of course, the separate geographic research component could
logically be disbanded--thus eliminating the focus of
parochial concerns over its "recognition"--and the geographic
intelligence area specialists could be distributed throughout
the regional components, where they would perform as members
of the regionally focused multidisciplinary research teams.
The need for coordination between major components would be
less, and fewer geographers would be required to provide
necessary levels of "geographic" input into the Directorate's
intelligence production.
A Note on Organizational Nomenclature
As long as the functional organization is in effect,
however, and since the term "geography" is so poorly under-
stood, I suggest that the term "area analysis" might be
more meaningfully used to describe the intelligence
STAT activitiesl _J The term
"geographic intelligence", on flie otner liana., could still be
used to refer to the broader organization--essentially the
pre-1965 Geographic Research Area of ORR. Thus, an "Office
of Geographic Intelligence" (OBGI minus NIS) could include the
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The foregoing discussion has ranged widely, as indeed
the field of geography does. If the views expressed have
been of any value to you in gaining additional perspectives
on geography and its relation to intelligence, I am content.
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MEMORANDUM FOR: DDI
Ed: I am attaching some unsolicited
thoughts for your "rainy day" reading.
The views expressed are entirely my own
uncoordinated and, I'm sure, unshared
by some practitioners of the "art."
. . for whatever they're worth.
STAT
5 October 1973
(DATE)
FORM NO. REPLACES FORM 10-101
1 AUG 5d Ipl WHICH MAY BE USED.
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11 September 1973
DDI-
MEMORANDUM FOR: Associate Deputy Director for Intelligence
SUBJECT Newly Completed History in the DDI Historical
Series
1. I am forwarding herewith for your information one
copy (Copy 2 of 4) of a newly completed history, Procurement
of Maps for the Intelligence Community, 1946-1971,1
I The
history has been approve by John Kerry King, Director for
Basic and Geographic Intelligence.
2. This history traces the development of the three
main procurement programs that have been used by the Map
Library to fulfill its responsibilities for maintaining in
CIA a specialized reference collection of maps of foreign
areas and for coordinating the interagency map procurement
requirements of US Government mapping and intelligence agencies.
3. If you will return this copy to me when you have
finished with it, I will arrange for it to be placed in the
official Headquarters repository of completed histories
being maintained by the CIA Historical Staff.
Chairman' DDI FIistorical oard
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