The Value of Intelligence in FinCrime Programs

Originally published on LinkedIn April 14, 2016

There is a reason why the United States Government (USG) has an Intelligence Community (IC) comprised of 16 members, an enormous budget, and federated/integration leadership in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). That reason is simple — intelligence is important! At the heart of critical decision-making processes is information. The best type of information is sourced, validated, analyzed, exploited, and synthesized into consumable intelligence. At the national level, intelligence helps shape policies and actions across economic, foreign relations, defense, security, and criminal justice issues.

How in the world does the aforementioned have anything to do with a Financial Crimes Program in the private sector?

The answer is simple — intelligence is important! Not only is it important, but it also has great application to the strategic management of a Financial Crimes Program. Let’s first look at the value proposition end to end:

• Strategic Intelligence — a Program’s ability to understand the global risk environment lends foresight into national security and law enforcement priorities that ultimately shape rules and regulations that impact industry. Staying ahead of the impact vs. responding to the impact is something that industry has continued to struggle with. A strategic intelligence capability gives a Program a key advantage in developing or shifting policies and risk tolerances.
• Operational Intelligence — a Program’s ability to understand the internal operating environment in conjunction with it’s strategic external insights lends powerful optics on the practical risks it faces vs. the theoretical. These optics afford a Program the ability to become more precise, efficient, and ultimately effective. An operational intelligence capability gives a Program a key advantage in developing targeted monitoring strategies and deploying resources strategically.
• Tactical Intelligence — a Program’s ability to create situational and/or operational awareness is a force multiplier to any training efforts that are already in place. The frequency and value of circulating intelligence amongst operational staff resonates in both analytical and decision-making processes. A tactical intelligence capability gives a Program a key advantage in developing workforce training curriculum that makes a difference in the day-to-day tasks (practical use).

How do you create these capabilities within a Financial Crimes Program?

The art and science behind developing, deploying, and maintaining robust human (HUMINT) and open source (OSINT) programs is not as difficult as it may sound. However, with every strategic approach comes a strategic investment. For over a decade, I have recruited and hired on talented intelligence professionals from CIA, FBI, Homeland, Defense, and Treasury to maintain robust intelligence capabilities within the Financial Crimes Program I have led in national and regional financial institutions. The scale of the intelligence programs is often contingent upon the scale of the overall Financial Crimes Program; however, each had the same fundamental framework:

• Collection Plan — the sourcing and collection of information is built on the defined priority requirements (ranging from monitoring global developments to regulatory developments to bad guy tactics, techniques, and procedures).
• Analysis and Exploitation Workflow — finding a low-cost repository solution that allows you to track, analyze, and exploit is key in managing massive data collection.
• Production — the bread and butter of intelligence work is synthesized products that can be consumed by decision makers and operators. Developing a product line that hits strategic, operational, and tactical intelligence requirements is sufficient (producing to produce is overkill).
• Briefings — presentations to executive management in a serious intelligence briefing cadence can speak volumes to the expertise and authority on matters you might have as a Program and program leader.

Having led multiple large scale financial crimes and intelligence operations and programs, time management and precise decision making was the center of my universe. I valued each intelligence capability (and more specifically the intelligence professionals that did the work) that I had the luxury of along the way and relied heavily upon it (them) as a decision maker.

Intelligence is important, intelligence is key, and intelligence is the decisive edge!