Strategic Intelligence for the Future 1

9 From Military Intelligence to Competitive Intelligence

There is often confusion when we talk of competitive intelligence by the simple use of the word “intelligence” and its similarity to military intelligence. This sometimes leads to misinterpretations. In this chapter, therefore, we have dealt with the common points that link these two disciplines.

9.1. From the military to the economy

9.1.1. Military warfare

Since prehistoric times, humanity has always fought to capture the human or material goods they desired. One never goes to war simply for war, but rather wants to own what the other possesses, or to prevent them from obtaining it, or even to impose a vision and way of living that do not belong to the other. The use of force having been, until the middle of the last century, the most effective action to obtain what we wanted, it is not surprising that today the military wars in parts of Africa, in Syria or against terrorism, is obvious to everyone.

The last 50 years have shown that the major military powers no longer necessarily win against weaker countries, despite the dissymmetry of their balance of power, because of the pressure of public opinion. Everyone remembers the problems encountered by the French or American leaders in getting their populations to accept the war in Indochina, or more recently, the war in Iraq. The media weapon, operational guerrilla warfare, the disenchantment of populations with the duration of the conflict and sensitization to the human ...