ABSTRACT
The intelligence organization or community forms a subsystem, set out the wider environment in which this takes place. The inter-action between the organization and its environments may be interpreted in terms of input and output. Input may be divided into support and demand. The output of an intelligence organization comprises finished intelligence, but may also includes covert actions or active measures. The more ominous threats become the greater the need for pre-emptive intelligence to support pre-emptive action against possible risks and threats. Still, intelligence and security agencies have a more than average need to try to predict future probabilities. Many intelligence professionals already have to cope with the so-called CNN effect of traditional journalism or the speediness of new journalism via social media, and the literature on the significance of this is extensive. The so-called contingency approach in organization studies states that once an environment is known, it is clear what structure an agency needs.
