Moral Courage and Truth-telling in the Profession of Intelligence
Dr. Barry Zulauf
Defense Intelligence Officer for Counternarcotics, Transnational Organized Crime, Threat Finance @DrZulauf
Watching this clip of Jordan Peterson got me thinking:
I have long been concerned about the role of courage in our profession.?What sets us apart from mere mortals? What we do is not easy. We are at our best when we exercise our expertise through acts of courage.?Rollo May The courage to Create (1975) does not see the presence of challenges and constraints as something bad, but rather as essential to the creative process in work like ours. The title of the first essay is a nod to Paul Tillich’s?The courage to be. May stresses that courage is dialectical. It does not denote the absence of?fear, but action in the face of fear. “We express our being by creating. Creativity is a necessary sequel of being” (p. 8).?Facing situations which require us to act in the face of opposition, and in fear of the results, is central to our work, but how do we know when to show courage – and how?
Peterson holds out an answer -- through the bold expression of truth. In this video he references Rule number 7:??Do what is meaningful, not what is expedient.?What this means is that, if the world is constituted on the basis of truth, then faith is the willingness to say what is true in the face of consequences.?Say what is true, then things will happen.?Those things may, or may not be good for you in the short run.
?Ordinary people, mere mortals, know this.?That is why most people are so willing – it seems even more so these days – to lie, or at least not tell all the truth.?Even little children know that, if you tell the truth, you will get in trouble, so don’t tell the truth – until you get caught and then the consequences can be worse.?
?Ordinary people learn the last part as we get a little older.?How to be expedient with the truth.?Not a good long-term strategy.?Have faith that what happens will be for the best in the long run.?This means not just?courage, but?courage?fortified by faith.?
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?There can be consequences – good and bad:
?Career consequences, or – as Jordan tells of some of his experiences on campuses – zombies come pounding on the doors and windows to get at you.?The alternative is worse, you would be giving in to some workplace bully, or some false prophet of ideology, or some political demons. Sometimes you have to go through a little slice of hell, but you will be showing your true self as an intelligence professional.?
Intelligence professionals most often must summon moral courage in the context of our mission to tell decision makers what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. Or, put another way, delivering objective assessments about the world to some of the most important people in it -- who can often be furious with us when we tell them what they don't want to hear.?I was never a PDB briefer, so hat’s off to them.
This is not just an impersonal exchange of papers, some academic exercise. ?It can be interpersonal combat. Analysts can be at the pointy end of the analytic spear, telling officials face-to-face that their beloved policy is not achieving their goals no matter how much they want it to be so. We can get a lot of negative energy from our customers. We can even get criticized publicly for our analysis, at times harshly and unfairly. We don't get to shrink from that kind of confrontation, though. This is the life we have chosen – in the words of the great philosopher Hyman Roth.
On what can we base our moral courage?
When we face criticism, or the boss, or Jordan Peterson’s Zombies – our lodestar, the source of our analytic?courage,?is our analytic integrity expressed through bulletproof tradecraft. It is always vital, but never more so than in times of controversy.?
Let our analytic tradecraft be our guide. Our analysis must reflect our best information and strongest tradecraft, not personal opinions. When the facts change, we have to be able to change our assessments, not hold onto our opinions in the face of changing reality.?Ordinary mortals do that when it is expedient to do so. Intelligence professionals cannot afford to do that.
Member Board of Directors National Veterans Art Museum
2 年Barry, I’d throw in integrity also.
Founder, Academy of Competitive Intelligence
2 年Peterson himself lives by his words. And the "progressive" inquisition (the "zombies") keeps trying to cancel him, take his license away, demolish his reputation and livelihood. But his conviction that he tells the truth (the truth he believes in) sustains his fight against the mob. I am not sure this is fully applicable to intelligence in business (aka competitive intelligence). First, there is no clear cut "truth." Facts alone mean very little (unless we are talking about very short-term tactical facts of little consequence). Second, you should care a lot about convincing others, or you are fighting windmills and have no impact. If an intel professional has no impact on management, has he or she done their job?
Retired Pharma SME
2 年Doing the right thing when no one is watching should not be hard. Morals and ethics are skills taught by those around you. All great warriors had parents that steered them in one way or the other.
Intelligence Staff Coordinator @ Drug Enforcement Administration | Strategic Intelligence
2 年Dr Zulauf, “Sir”, Yes this is tough. We train and demand this “truth telling” from our subordinate Intelligence professionals. Few individuals can graduate from our Academies, Programs or places like Quantico without this tested characteristic. To maintain an Intelligence culture that rewards and retains this “truth telling “ trait throughout entire careers is what separates world class intelligence organizations, from what goes on in a good deal of the world. This is no matter of their their financial budgets or apparent technological capabilities.
Strategic Intelligence and Research Expert
2 年Dr. Barry ZulaufAs a student of national intelligence cultures, I think your article truly and authentically reflects the American idea of intelligence. However, my study has taught me, and I've experienced this personally in my 26 years of service in the Israeli Defense Intelligence, that the Israeli idea of intelligence professionalism is different. Israeli intelligence practitioners, and I've interviewed more than 30 of them, place high emphasis on moral courage. This is one of the major lessons from the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Yet in Israel this is not underpinned by analytical tradecraft or objectivity, and Israelis writ large are averse towards 'objectivity' SATs. They prefer relevance and neutrality. The Israeli idea of intelligence professionalism relies on a moral obligation to the Israeli people and families, not to a specific decision-maker. On an individual sense of responsibility, with skepticism towards groupthink. And on an enabling environment created by decision-makers themselves. I will be more than happy to participate in any comparative research and discussions. #intelligenceanalysis #intelligencecommunity #intelligence #culturematters #culture #criticalthinking #israel #research