What Intelligence Needs

I came across the following quote in today's HBL and was so impressed by it that I wanted to pass it along. It's from a January 4 NY Post article by George Friedman and was sent in by a writer describing his experience in the intelligence community and his recognition that "intelligence failures" are a result of a culture that discourages people from raising their heads above the crowd:

"Porter Goss, the new head of the CIA, is cleaning house. He needs to remember one thing to be successful: The analyst has one primary virtue: courage. He is not afraid to stand alone, he does not need to be well liked, and he does not need the good fellowship of others. He needs to be right.... The Directorate of Intelligence can only fix itself if it prevents displays of courage from becoming acts of suicide. An institution that encourages brilliance, iconoclasm and courageous insights can save American lives."

Courage is a primary requirement of intelligence. Intelligence as such, not just the "military information" variety.