What is actionable information?

Before we come to the definition of actionable intelligence , let us define actionable information - another type of information that in a way precedes actionable intelligence .

Actionable information is information that can be acted upon, something that leads to action, something that makes things happen, starts a chain of action and reaction. Usually, actionable information is a relatively small piece or pieces of non-obvious detail/s that can form an initial basis point for hypothesis building. Actionable information is the strongest building block of decision support.

The notion of actionable information is nothing new, it has been around in crime investigation since time immemorial. If you are a fan of whodunit mysteries - both fiction and films, the idea of searching for Actionable information is a well-established notion in these genres. Sherlock Holmes and Hercule Poirot then could be considered masters in finding, analyzing and correlating actionable information.

Consider the following information points that were revealed by Gen. Sanchez at the news conference announcing Saddam Hussein's capture:

"For the last several months a combination of human intelligence tips, exceptional intelligence, analytical efforts, and detainee interrogations narrowed down the activities of Saddam Hussein. This effort led us to conduct this raid last night on this rural farmhouse where we apprehended Saddam. At about 1050 hours yesterday we received intelligence on the possible whereabouts of Saddam Hussein. Two likely locations were identified near the town of Abduar and for operational purposes these locations were identified as Wolverine I and Wolverine II" (http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2003/tr20031214-1021.html)

Consider another evidence that was reported by the Washington Times:

"The clues that led to Hussein's capture emerged three weeks ago, officials said, when intelligence analysts and Special Operations forces shifted the focus of their hunt from Hussein's innermost circle to the more distant relatives and tribal allies who they suspected had been sheltering the deposed president. U.S. officials here and in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the new strategy led to the capture in Baghdad on Friday of a relative from Hussein's Tikriti clan. Under interrogation, the man contributed a vital, though still undisclosed, clue to Hussein's whereabouts. Photographic and infrared surveillance in the 24 hours that followed narrowed the search area inside Dawr, a village near Hussein's birthplace, 10 miles southeast of Tikrit". (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A219-2003Dec14.html)

From actionable information to Actionable Intelligence

General Sanchez while answering the question whether it was a tip that led to Saddam Hussein's capture, in a way tried to distinguish between a tip and what he called actionable intelligence:

"It was intelligence, actionable intelligence that was determined based on the analyst that had been working it for some time. It was great analytical work. Yes Ma’am." (http://www.defenselink.mil /transcripts/2003/tr20031214-1021.html)

The matter of deriving actionable intelligence from actionable information is a matter of analytics, a matter of processing that information to arrive at certain decision support hypotheses that could lead to action. So in a way arriving at actionable intelligence could involve using various matrices and methodologies to process a number of such tips that the intelligence agencies might have received form a variety of sources. And remember, that one analytical dimension in this process would have been the embittered situation of the US in today's Iraq. The voices of Arab journalists who spoke at the press conferences clearly suggested that their anger is just not against Saddam Hussein but equally against the US.

Given the above analysis, let us try to define actionable intelligence as: a process of analyzing multi-dimensional facets of actionable information to arrive at an action plan.

Sounds like plain simple folk-wisdom, doesn't it? Crime investigators and military strategists would have used similar intelligence processing techniques through out the history of mankind. Why is that we are noticing the emphasis on these two terms at this day and age?

Actionable Intelligence and Technology

Answer to the above question lies in the way investigating agencies have adopted various technological means to arrive at and process from actionable information . Here technology is used in a very broad sense from photographic and infrared surveillance to information sharing and communications technologies used to distil and disseminate this intelligence in timely manner.

It is important to point out that the terminology adopted by Gen Sanchez is interesting, if we try to analyze it in terms of the criticism US and British intelligence agencies have been subjected to just after 9/11 and for the events leading up to the Iraq war. Terminology of actionability might be an attempt by intelligence agencies to correct their past mistakes.

At this juncture, let us go back to 9/11 and the report submitted by the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 (9/11 Report) . K-Praxis in an earlier article had pin-pointed the specific recommendations of the committee that related to actionable information (9/11 Report: Actionable Information Management and Textual Analytics):

"The focus of recommendations provided in report again is on utilizing existing and future technologies to leverage the information amassed from various intelligence sources and to develop and use technologies such as "data mining" and other "cutting edge analytical tools" along with better streamlined information sharing within the intelligence community and to other relevant bodies. The report also argues for adoption of a better automatic translation technology to understand and interpret foreign languages. The report also refers to geo-political issues and argues for more human insights pointing out failure of human analysts in understanding the threats of terrorism."

Thus, the terms actionable information and actionable intelligence could be differentiated from the traditional use of investigative techniques because they have been used by intelligence agencies with understanding and utilization of technology - intelligence here is aided by technology. K-Praxis has elsewhere on this site argued (Political Risk Analysis and Unstructured Information Management) that intelligent and automated information management technology can serve as a de-politicizing factor in some of the very sensitive subjects like predicting the future of a leader or predicting the future of a country in crisis. But of course, such a technology will be so neutral that politicians and the agencies will have no opportunity to hide unwanted truths.

Actionable Intelligence and Information Analytics

So it is possible to use technology aided information analysis to arrive at actionable information and in turn actionable intelligence. In a way - at least as far as terminology is concerned - the intelligence agencies are talking the right language. Information Analytics based technologies (technologies that help organizations analyze different types of information) have started showing their relevance in combining human analysis with the processing powers offered by technological means.