Table of Contents
True-life stories
- “Fightback” – manage a technology failure – a case studyA technology failure. This is a case study of a quality assurance manager facing his worst nightmare, and how he reacted. It’s an example of intelligence-based project management.
- “Today will be different” – an example of too many unknownsToo many unknowns in your project? Here’s an example of how to stop them swamping a project. It illustrates the importance of timing big decisions.
- Rehan Haque and Metatalent.ai – what makes an entrepreneur?This is an account of the creation of Metatalent.ai and the emergence of its founder, Rehan Haque as an entrepreneur. It’s a true story, written by an insider.
Short fiction stories
Flash fiction (2-7 pages) about modern espionage, ethics and the challenges facing young professionals.
- Sweet and Sour Chaos – escape from an intelligence agency to industrySweet and Sour Chaos is a story of an intelligence analyst trying to find a “purpose” after escaping from an intelligence agency. Konstantina must save her colleagues from a disaster.
- Drumhead Trial – an example, and 6 ways to fight it“Drumhead Trial” is a short story of an intelligence researcher who gets blamed for someone else’s choices. Included are 6 tactics for fighting back.
- An agency man – a story of an ex intelligence officer in industryEx intelligence officers face many challenges adjusting to civilian life. This is a 4 page story to illustrate the transition, and the challenge of hiding their background.
- Spy catcher rivals – a story of artificial intelligenceSpy catchers. An intelligence analyst competes against a researcher armed with artificial intelligence. Who will catch the spy first?
- Donat’s story – soft skills vs hard skills, choose well!Donat dreams of joining a top intelligence agency but he is just an academic researcher.
- Too many presidents – how to protect data privacy rightsA young business analyst must confront her feared boss. The 3-page story covers data privacy rights in a large company, and snooping by intelligence agencies. The story also illustrates how to manage unknown-unknowns.
- The secret devil’s advocate – a story of managing the unknownThe Secret Devil’s Advocate is a fictional account of managing “unknown unknowns”. The 7-page story illustrates standard methods, listed here.
- “The 4 Seasons” story – elevator pitch exampleRadha reread her resignation letter. It was a huge step. The Agency had been her home, and her dream.
- The Three Newbies – a story about find your best career pathSaleem wrinkled his nose. “They laughed when we all talked about career goals for intelligence professionals. What’s wrong with a career path?”
- The Poltergeist – an intrusive surveillance examplePoltergeist! The words throbbed in Sabra’s mind as she inspected what had moved. …
- Rage – an intimidation case“Intimidation case.” Hans listened to the man in the red shirt. The man in the red shirt inspected Hans’s mobile then powered it off. “Secrecy first,” he said.
- Person Lurking – story of AI in intelligence analysisPerson lurking by Zone Sierra. Nervous movement, potential improvised explosive device. The automated intelligence analysis flashed on Tessa’s screen.
- Judicial oversight – a 2-page story of illegal interceptsThey arrived without warning in José’s office. A high court judge, a policewoman from Operational Security, and a clear implication of illegal intercepts.
- Wuhan and biological weapons capability – a storyThe professor stared at the words Top Secret on the analysis report. She lifted it and read the title: Wuhan Biological Weapons and Covid-19. She shrugged.
- The assassination – a 2-page story of an ethical dilemma‘Is he actually proposing a kill order? That we should become involved in an assassination?’ The intelligence researcher’s eyes widened.
- Paranoia – a 2-page story of work overload and OSINTThe paranoia was returning. Isabelle’s head throbbed with pain and her eyes were loosing their focus. She had too many types of intelligence feed to research.
- Forced confession – a 2-page story of an analyst’s dilemaThe forced confession was in stilted Arabic with words that the suspect never used, and the recording from the interview had been replaced by a transcript.
- Suicide risk – 2-page story of a failed intelligence officerDeath or the classroom. Mohammed planned to sit at the back of the room and contemplate the appropriate method of suicide for a failed intelligence officer.
- Presumed guilty – a story of intrusive surveillance‘She’s a journalist, that makes her guilty,’ the intelligence officer declared. ‘Get me evidence for intrusive surveillance and we’ll find her dirty secrets.’
- The price of secrecy-first – a 2½-page storyMikael’s secrecy-first speech was cut short by the minister. ‘Tell me more about this cyber-attack. Are they really intending to cripple our railway network?’
- A delicate liaison – a 2-page story of fear and bullying“Francesca will be in danger,” Graziano warned. It wasn’t the role of an intelligence liaison operative to state the obvious but he feared for her.
- A special kind of odd – a 2-page story of intelligence researchJon screamed silently at the quantity of raw intelligence. There were thousands of suspicious persons, highlighted because the AI computers had seen patterns that matched people on the terrorist watch list.
- The intelligence collectors’ AI Awayday – a 2-page storyThe AI Awayday for the intelligence collectors had been in the calendar for weeks, and the mystery had added to the excitement about Artificial Intelligence.
(The artwork used in the flash fiction is from Adobe stock.)
Novels
One completed (see below) and two more in draft form. And before that, others that didn’t work out.
- Hidden Beyond Detection – a spy thrillerHidden Beyond Detection is a spy thriller set in 2014. It follows Akila Sinclair, a young intelligence analyst who must become what she hates most in order to prove herself.