The Intelligence Community has the opportunity to meet growing demands for socio-cultural analysis (SCA), but requires a paradigm describing how to resource this capability and explaining its value to foreign and military policy. This article asserts that today’s threat environment, in which subnational actors and complex social trends persistently undermine the state system, requires addressing budding conflicts before they turn violent. Doing so will allow the U.S. to better respond with a wider range of policy options at lower cost. The Conflict Continuum is offered to conceptualize the value of conducting SCA before crises are manifest. Additionally, the Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Intelligence framework is suggested to integrate whole-of-nation resources for understanding threats to populations, their states, and national interests. "RSI is a concept or paradigm co-developed by USSOCOM’s Matthew Puls and US Army TRADOC G2’s Dr. Kira Hutchinson for incorporating existing socio-cultural analysis resources into the intelligence process." |