Journal - Cultural Intelligence

The Journal of Cultural Intelligence

The Journal of Cultural Intelligence examines a wide array of issues of culture, with each edition focused on a specialized topic.

Corresponding to the First International Conference on Cultural Intelligence: Culture in National and International Security, Law Enforcement, and Irregular Warfare, the theme of the upcoming journal is similar. The journal will explore these topics as they relate to government, military, and intelligence domains in tactical, operational and strategic settings. Among topics discussed are macrocultures and microcultures, cross-cultural awareness and training, cultural ethics, culture shock in operational environments, classification of cultures, cultural imperialism, and others.

Objectives: The current environment in government and military circles is one of a growing awareness of the need for cultural intelligence, but with limited resources possessing the appropriate expertise. This has resulted in a lack of cultural awareness among government, military, and intelligence personnel. Worse, there is a lack of understanding about the nature of culture itself. Field techniques and methods used within this community tend to be stale and academic, without consideration of field-specific issues such as rapid deployments, a range of experience and awareness levels (from the 18-year-old who has never left his hometown to the operator who has studied specific cultures in depth), and short-term deployments (why learn about the culture when we’ll only be there a couple of weeks?). The impact on both Service members and on members of foreign cultures is severe but as yet not fully appreciated.

Differences in operational objectives also demand variations in cultural knowledge, whether knowing if a male doctor can treat a female patient during disaster relief efforts or understanding the internal tribal rivalries underlying otherwise seeming acts of international terrorism. At this point in history, there is nascent recognition that cultural awareness and intelligence are important factors, but an ignorance of what to do about them. Not only on an academic level, but tactically, operationally, and strategically, cultural intelligence is essential to U.S. (and allied) defense and national security. The Security edition of The Journal of Cultural Intelligence brings these issues, techniques, and ethical considerations to a level of discussion and insight, so that U.S. government and military leaders can be educated and aware of issues that are otherwise usually outside their scope of knowledge. Participation from leaders and academics from other nations will contribute to the diversity, perspectives, and ultimate success of both the journal and the U.S.’s security mission.

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