Conflicting categorization schemes block information integration between agencies

Evidence

Uncommon Categorization and Information Partitioning If the common knowledge effect constitutes one general cognitive barrier to optimal information sharing, “uncommon categorization” represents another. The effective sharing and integration of information among agencies is facilitated when that information is coded or categorized in similar terms, obviating the need for translation or recategorization. In contrast, information sharing or exchange can be impeded by differences in how such information is initially categorized or coded by different groups. As the 9/11 Report noted, this problem of distinctive or uncommon categorization was prevalent across the various intelligence agencies. Each agency retained its own distinctive way of “parsing” the world, employing its own categorical distinctions and using its own vocabulary. For example, the 9/11 Report noted that the CIA tended to play a “zone defense” in dividing up the threat world. As a result, it tended to concentrate on where, and not who (p. 268). Its emphasis was thus on tracking and assessing regional flashpoints and security threats. In contrast, the FBI tended to adopt a “man-to-man” approach in its day-to-day intelligence operations. This approach led agents to focus on tracking specific individuals who were thought to pose terrorist threats. … One unforeseen consequence of such differences, the 9/11 Report concluded, was that significant opportunities to pool information regarding individual terrorist suspects or cells moving across zones were missed. This decreased the likelihood of detecting ominous patterns of terrorist associations and movements. “Had its information been shared with the FBI,” the report suggested, “a combination of the CIA’s zone defense and the FBI’s man-to-man approach might have been productive” (p. 268). Unfortunately, no such combination or effective integration ever occurred. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1993 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Categorization systems fail and threaten authority when semantic boundaries overlap. — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 776; Mere arbitrary categorization creates fault lines blocking intergroup cooperation — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1974; Divergent categorization schemes between groups block pooling of complementary information — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1993 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Divergent categorization schemes between groups block pooling of complementary information #corroborates (0.93) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1993