Our mission is to provide comprehensive and actionable intelligence to businesses, government agencies, and private clients. With a team of experienced intelligence collectors and analysts, many with backgrounds in intelligence services, military, law enforcement, and academia, we are committed to delivering insights that drive informed decision-making.
Why Western Intelligence Keeps Getting It Wrong (And Costing You Millions)
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Dear Decision Maker, Western intelligence gets it wrong more often than it admits. Not because the analysts aren't smart. They are. But because they're looking at the world through one lens. I spent years in Western intelligence circles before building networks across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The difference in perspective is staggering. A European intelligence firm once hired us to assess political risk in a West African country. Their report predicted stability based on:
Our sources on the ground told a completely different story. The real power wasn't in the presidential palace. It was in informal networks of religious leaders and business elites who operated outside any framework Western analysts would recognise. Six months later, their "stable" investment environment collapsed. Our clients had already repositioned. This is the Western intelligence blind spot. We assume power structures everywhere look like ours. We assume motivations mirror Western logic. We assume formal institutions matter more than informal networks. Here's what gets missed: In many markets, family ties trump legal contracts. Relationships built over decades matter more than quarterly reports. Cultural context determines outcomes more than policy frameworks. Local power dynamics operate on rules Western frameworks don't capture. The best intelligence comes from people who understand how power actually works in a given context. Not how we think it should work based on Western models. I've seen billion-dollar investments fail because decision-makers relied on analysis that ignored local realities. I've also seen companies gain massive competitive advantages by understanding markets through local eyes, not Western assumptions. Diverse perspectives aren't just politically correct. They're operationally critical. Your competition in emerging markets isn't other Western firms. It's organizations that understand local contexts better than you do. When was the last time your intelligence team challenged their own cultural assumptions? The most dangerous bias in intelligence isn't political. It's cultural. Western frameworks work brilliantly for analyzing Western markets. They fail spectacularly everywhere else. If your strategic decisions rely on intelligence filtered through Western-only perspectives, you're operating with a fundamental disadvantage in global markets. True ground truth requires perspectives from the ground. Ahmed Hassan Want to Think Like an Intelligence Officer?Most people scroll. Professionals structure. |
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Our mission is to provide comprehensive and actionable intelligence to businesses, government agencies, and private clients. With a team of experienced intelligence collectors and analysts, many with backgrounds in intelligence services, military, law enforcement, and academia, we are committed to delivering insights that drive informed decision-making.
Dear Decision Maker, Intelligence networks aren't built on contracts. They're built on trust. And trust isn't something you buy. It's something you earn. I've spent almost 20 years building intelligence networks across 20+ countries. The sources who've given me the most valuable intelligence never started by asking about money. They asked: "Will you protect me?" Because trust in intelligence means something different than trust in business. It means: Your source's safety depends on your...
Dear Decision Maker, Western intelligence has a blind spot problem. And it's costing companies millions. I've spent almost 2 decades in intelligence, moving from government to private sector work. The most valuable lesson I learned? The best intelligence doesn't come from the most credentials. It comes from the most perspectives. Last year, a European energy company asked us to assess political risk for a major infrastructure project in East Africa. They'd already paid a top-tier Western...
Dear Decision Maker, Everyone’s watching the same indicators. Market reports. Quarterly earnings. Regulatory filings. Stock movements. By the time these signals appear, the opportunity is gone Real intelligence doesn’t come from what’s published. It comes from what’s changing before anyone publishes it. Three months ago, a client asked us to assess a West African market they’d been tracking for years. Every conventional indicator said “wait.” GDP growth flat. Currency unstable. Political...