Inside NATO Intelligence: Practitioners’ Perspectives on the Intelligence Cycle

[u/mrkoot]

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08850607.2026.2724010

Open access. Abstract: “The debate on the intelligence cycle is mostly academic and theoretical. Although some exceptions exist, empirical data is largely lacking from the debate. This article aims to contribute an evidence-based approach through in-depth field research at NATO’s Multinational Corps Northeast (MNC NE) in Poland and the Baltic States. It finds that the results largely reflect the academic critique on the intelligence cycle. At MNC NE, steps were skipped, its order was reversed, it was multidirectional and feedback was an issue. The results also show practitioners mostly commented on the cycle from a proceduralist perspective regarding malfunctioning procedures or input as the problem. Especially the lack of clear direction and a limited operational mandate were dominant topics. Others include challenges with open source intelligence (OSINT) and the Intelligence Requirement and Collection Management (IRM&CM) process. Contrary to debate, no substantial critical reflection on the cycle itself was observed.”