Get Smart: 5 Ways to Read an Intelligence Report

Retired CIA officer Ron Marks advises a new Hill aide not to be wowed by secrets

I have had to deal with intelligence reports as both a producer and as a user for nearly 40 years. There’s a lot of mystique, misunderstanding and controversy about what “intelligence” is and what it can—and cannot—do for you. So, allow me to give you five basic, hard-earned rules about dealing with reports turned out by the intelligence wings of the CI…