General Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr, US Cavalry, Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star with oak leaf cluster and the Purple Heart, served as President Ronald Reagan’s  Secretary of State and Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford’s Chief of Staff. Reportedly, he disdained CIA briefs for being of less value than The New York Times. The chief merit of these intelligence briefs, he is said to have believed, was that they emanated from secret sources.

It is thus intelligent to excuse intelligence personnel  from being intelligent— Azam Gill.

Taking the Strategic Intelligence Model to Moscow

“There are causes for conflict other than ideology. The United States has an interest in preventing the emergence of a new European hegemon. The Russians must maintain the buffers that sapped the strength of Napoleon and Hitler. Neither interest is frivolous, and it is difficult to imagine how both can be satisfied.

Strategic forecasting is that class of intelligence that is most alien to intelligence services: events that cannot be understood through sources … a form of intelligence best practiced outside of government and state intelligence services.

Excessive sophistication and excessive love of the secret will hide the strategic processes underway.”— George Friedman

Read the full Stratfor article by George Friedman: “<a href=”http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/taking-strategic-intelligence-model-moscow”>Taking the Strategic Intelligence Model to Moscow</a> is republished with permission of Stratfor.”