ABSTRACT
Everyone knows that ‘politicization’ is bad.1 It is assumed to damage the credibility of intelligence. Some are unconcerned because they believe it seldom happens, or matters little when it does. Virtually no one, however, believes that it is a good thing. For the most part this is true-especially when we think only in terms of the popular understanding of the concept. Depending on the definition of the term, however, politicization is to some degree inevitable, and, in some forms, necessary.
