On Being a Drug War Analyst: The View from 30,000 Feet

Most of my regular readers know my professional background, and why I write about the drug war in Mexico the way that I do. But for those of you who would like to know more about how I reach my conclusions, I want to use this post to talk a bit about intelligence analysis and the process I used to write Cartel.

For eight years, I was a Special Agent for the Air Force. I worked criminal investigations, counterintelligence, and counterespionage operations for most of that time. But during the...