Tim Walton

IAFIE Intelligence Education Interview Series - Dr. Tim Walton

Interviewer: Andrea Bardazzi

Table of Contents:

Question 1). Professor Walton, let’s start from the basics. How would you like to present yourself to the International Association for Intelligence Education (IAFIE)?
Question 2). You have had a long and successful career in the Navy and the Central Intelligence Agency. What were the most significant experiences in your professional and personal history?
Question 3). As both an academic and practitioner with experience in terrorism, the Cold War, armed conflicts, and recent conflicts, how do you view the current historical landscape, and what are your projections for the next twenty years?
Question 4). How important is an in-depth knowledge of history for intelligence professionals, and what has this discipline meant to you?
Question 5). What are your main educational strategies as a professor in the Intelligence Analysis Program, given your personal experience and academic background?
Question 6). How do you see the future of intelligence and analysis, and how should educators orient themselves?
Question 7). What is the work you believe is most representative of your professional life, and what can future analysts, researchers, and intelligence practitioners learn from it?
Question 8). What suggestions would you give to the new analysts and the younger generation?
Question 9).  How can our readers follow you?
Question 10). Five keywords that represent you?
 

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Interview Introduction: Dr. Tim Walton is a prominent figure in the field of intelligence and education whose exemplary career reflects the goals of the International Association for Intelligence Education (IAFIE). With a strong academic background and extensive professional experience, Walton has made significant contributions to the development of quality intelligence education programs. After six years in the Navy, Walton earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of Virginia. He later joined the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as an intelligence officer, drawing on his military experience, knowledge of several languages, and extensive background in historical studies. During his 24 years with the CIA, Walton worked on counterterrorism and the pursuit of war criminals, among other things. After a successful career, Walton brought his expertise to academia, teaching in the Intelligence Analysis (IA) Program at James Madison University (JMU). Under his leadership, the program has grown significantly, preparing students to solve complex problems and think critically, in line with IAFIE's goal of promoting professional standards and ensuring quality in intelligence education. His research centers on the history of intelligence, and how to improve the intelligence analysis process through lessons learned from past intelligence operations, with a holistic and interdisciplinary view of intelligence, which is a necessary step in both the growth of academic studies and the practice of intelligence analysis in an increasingly interconnected but no less heterogeneous world. Walton continues to contribute to the field of intelligence through his research and teaching, inspiring a new generation of analysts. His exemplary career and commitment to intelligence education make Tim Walton an outstanding figure and role model for all those who aspire to make a difference in the field, perfectly aligned with IAFIE's mission to build resources and share knowledge in intelligence studies. On behalf of our IAFIE team: Thank you, Prof Walton!
 
Question 1). Professor Walton, let’s start from the basics. How would you like to present yourself to the International Association for Intelligence Education (IAFIE)?

I am a Senior Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) Analyst with a large consulting firm primarily performing adversarial hunt and maritime work for U.S. government clients. I am an author, a licensed Private Investigator in my state, and co-owner of Kase Scenarios, an immersive OSINT training company. Additionally, I do OSINT volunteer work on cold cases, missing persons, and child exploitation cases. I have a B.S. in Security and Risk Analysis from Penn State, CISSP, and am pursuing a master's degree in Intelligence Analysis at Johns Hopkins.
 

Question 2). You have had a long and successful career in the Navy and the Central Intelligence Agency. What were the most significant experiences in your professional and personal history?

The most significant experiences were lengthy periods living in foreign countries. In the Navy: ashore in Iceland for a year, following Soviet submarines—and later for more than two years on the Sixth Fleet flagship in the Mediterranean, which was homeported in Gaeta, Italy, but cruised all over the Mediterranean. Among many other learning experiences during this time, I was a communicator (handling the messages to and from the flagship) with a top secret clearance during the Yom Kippur War in 1973—and thus an extremely well-informed witness to one of the most famous intelligence failures in history. In graduate school, I had a Fulbright grant for a year to do research in Paris, which was in the archives of the Foreign Ministry. Both of these taught me the value of experiencing different cultures. While with the CIA, I supported senior leaders in the US government, and this gave me an appreciation for how busy they are, as well as how impactful their decisions can be.
 

The most striking thing to me currently is the change of priorities over the last six years or so from terrorism to rivalries among hostile powers (such as the US, China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea). This, of course, puts us back into the more-or-less normal international environment that we have known for the last five centuries. A major characteristic of those centuries was conflicts between the major powers. Then there was a period (brief in historical terms) when, for 75 years or so following the end of World War II in 1945, there were no large-scale conflicts directly between great powers. I worry that we may now be going back to the longer trend of lengthy and damaging wars among the major nations (with all of the implications coming from the more destructive technologies that have developed). 
  

Question 4). How important is an in-depth knowledge of history for intelligence professionals, and what has this discipline meant to you?

I am biased, of course, because my PhD is in history (modern European history from the University of Virginia). There is great value in historians’ sense of factors such as (1) how different situations are in time and space, but also that there are often some common elements, and (2) a respect for the facts. That said, I do not think there is a single academic discipline that is the best preparation for work intelligence. One of the things I was most struck by at the CIA was how varied people’s backgrounds were.
 

Question 5). What are your main educational strategies as a professor in the Intelligence Analysis Program, given your personal experience and academic background?

I have found that an extremely useful pedagogical tool is telling stories about my personal experiences. Such eyewitness accounts are concrete and specific, and help to illustrate more general points. I also prefer to use hands-on learning, such as projects (rather than giving tests). A final thing is using a systematic approach (with the scientific method as a model) in dealing with problems.
 

Question 6). How do you see the future of intelligence and analysis, and how should educators orient themselves?

One of the main factors shaping the future of intelligence analysis will be the interaction between technological developments (artificial intelligence, quantum computing, small satellites, etc.) and the capabilities and limitations of human analysts.
  

Question 7). What is the work you believe is most representative of your professional life, and what can future analysts, researchers, and intelligence practitioners learn from it?

It is very gratifying to see that my Challenges in Intelligence Analysis (published by Cambridge University Press back in 2010) is still selling. As referenced above, it is an account of continuities and discontinuities over time, with an emphasis on concrete examples.
 

Question 8). What suggestions would you give to the new analysts and the younger generation?

Keep an open mind, be curious, be flexible, travel, take the initiative, be resourceful, be persistent—and read, read, read.
 

Question 9). How can our readers follow you?

I am now semi-retired, and not publishing books or articles, but going to conferences. etc., so I do not have much to out there to “follow.” I still teach a course now and then, and prefer to concentrate on making my students successful, rather than promoting myself. But I am on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-walton-738a3ba/
 

Question 10). Five keywords that represent you?

Intelligence, analysis, international, multi-dimensional, historian