In From Mandate to Blueprint, Thomas Fingar offers a guide for new federal government appointees faced with the complex task of rebuilding institutions and transitioning to a new administration. Synthesizing his own experience implementing the most comprehensive reforms to the national security establishment since 1947, Fingar provides crucial guidance to newly appointed officials.
When Fingar was appointed the first Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis in 2005, he discovered the challenges of establishing a new federal agency and implementing sweeping reforms of intelligence procedure and performance. The mandate required prompt action but provided no guidance on how to achieve required and desirable changes. Fingar describes how he defined and prioritized the tasks involved in building and staffing a new organization, integrating and improving the work of sixteen agencies, and contending with pressure from powerful players.
For appointees without the luxury of taking command of fully staffed and well-functioning federal agencies, From Mandate to Blueprint is an informed and practical guide for the challenges ahead.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Introduction: From Mandate to Blueprint
Intelligence Reform: Unique Opportunity or Fool’s Errand?
Sliding Toward an Offer I Couldn’t Refuse
Blank White Board and Ticking Clock
Building a Team and Building Support
Translating Ideas into Actions
Organizing Themes and Goals
Think Big, Start Small, Fail Cheap, Fix Fast
Taking Stock
Training and Tradecraft
Transforming the PDB into a Community Product
Management of the Analysis Mission
Transforming Analysis
Roads Not Taken
Reflections and Lessons
Lessons for New Appointees
Über den Autor
Thomas Fingar is a Shorenstein APARC Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. His books include
Fateful Decisions: Choices That Will Shape China’s Future (with Jean Oi, Stanford, 2020) and
Reducing Uncertainty: Intelligence Analysis and National Security (Stanford, 2011).