Strategic intelligence: a necessary tool for decision making in the States of the XXI century

Abstract

This paper’s main objective is to analyze the importance of strategic intelligence as a tool for decision making, applied to the operation of the State. In this sense, we highlight some elements related to the conceptual understanding of strategic intelligence, the problems that arise in the process of decision making, as well as the context in which this activity is presented as necessary to reduce uncertainty in the modern state, in an environment linked to the agency-structure dichotomy. Also, the distortion of the role of state intelligence stands out, especially considering the context of Latin American countries, and the need to link this task to the modernization of the State, as an essential part in the decision making process. We conclude that despite diagnosing some of the problems of decision-making in intelligence, and product demands through state actors in that task, there are a number of problems to ponder, among which stand out as a priority the legitimization of Intelligence as an integral and necessary part of the State, and the actions to improve the development of society as a whole.