One can probably misjudge or misunderstand more critical history-making international events, patterns, and trends than contemporary intelligence analysts have, but it is hard to imagine how. The crisis of intelligence, including business intelligence, is part of the larger crisis of incompetence within the social sciences generally. It is a systemic problem involving, as an internal CIA review says, an inability to think "how the other guy thought," a chronic failure of imagination and personnel, and flaws in information gathering, training, and analysis. Senator Helms says, "Our foreign policy institutions are a complete mess,'' and many congressmen, scholars, and practitioners agree. 0 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The "Sage of Management," Peter Drucker, recently informed us that in terms of doing business in today's global economy, "Everything you learned is wrong" (Drucker, 1998). This is certainly a sobering This article is a response to a Commentary published in Volume 39, Number 4, pages 459-464, in Thunderbird International Business Review (formerly The International Executiue) by F. W. Rustrnann, Jr., titled: " h e Craft of Business Intelligence: An American View." Thunderbird International Business Review is pleased to offer the opportunity for dialog and the presentation of differing points of view in our Commentary and fiends departments. The views expressed in these articles do not represent editorial opinion.