Global Security and Intelligence Studies Volume 5, Number 1, Spring / Summer 2020 | Page 116

Global Security and Intelligence Studies across domains—cultural, social, business, politics, economics, engineering, medicine, and the IC. It has also taken us to a dangerous threshold, where fake news and the weaponization of information has a growing foothold. Critical thinking will be the foundation of a human’s ability to thrive and survive. For employers in the IC, being able to evaluate a potential employee’s cognitive ability will be acute, because the IC’s most valuable asset is still its analysts, whose skills and values, it can be argued, might be far greater than any other work of technology and relevant fields combined. The security and defense of the United States, the decisions of policymakers, and our relationship with other countries are all dependent on their assessments and evaluations. An IA’s skill base must be excellent, critical thinking must continue to be addressed, and some type of baseline testing of potential IAs may be needed. At the very least, testing opens the door for dialogue of skill base and the ways to improve and address critical thinking. Margaret S. Marangione is a senior researcher for defense contractor, Syntelligent Analytic Solutions. She started her career as an Intelligent Analyst for the CIA and worked as a Security Analyst for Grumman-Northrop. She is a former researcher for the Humanitarian Mine Action Center working directly with the State Department, Department of Defense, United Nations and the Geneva Center. She is the founding editor of the Journal of Mine Action and her intelligence–related articles have appeared in the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, the Global Intelligence Studies Journal and Signal Magazine. The funding for this article was supported by Syntelligent Analytic Solutions. The author can be reached at [email protected] References ACT. 2005. “Crises at the Core: Preparing Students for College and Work.” http:// www.csun.edu/~rinstitute/Content/policy/Crisis%20at%20the%20Core.pdf. Adler, Mortimer. 1972. How To Read A Book. Edited by Charles Van Doren. New York: Simon and Schuster. Anderson, Janna, and Leann Raine. 2017. “The Future of Truth and Misinformation Online.” Pew Research Center Information and Technology. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2017/10/19/the-future-of-truth-and-mis information-online/ 102