Over the past decade, numerous post-incident enquiries have recommended better use or handling of intelligence in emergency management.  Hence, the recognition of intelligence as a discrete function in the Incident Management structure is a significant and positive innovation in the fourth edition of the Australian Inter-Service Incident Management System. However, for the emergency management community to gain full value from an intelligence function, there needs to be an unambiguous understanding of what “intelligence” is, how it differs from planning and how it contributes to supporting decision makers in emergency management. This paper contends that an intelligence function in emergency management needs to be clearly focused on advising decision-makers about current and future hazards[1] and the implications of and for the operating environment[2]. This is the single unifying idea around which an intelligence capability is built and all other “intelligence” activity is contextualised. Note that this is not just about intelligence in the response phase. In the prevention and preparation phases, the intelligence function should drive proactive community engagement; both to build human information networks and to directly support community resilience measures. Good intelligence will also assist the recovery phase. This paper will use lessons learnt examples to illustrate the key points.

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[1] ‘Hazard’ in this context refers to an occurrence that is causing, or may potentially cause, harm to the community. Specific types of hazard may be natural (including earthquake, flood, wildfire, cyclone, storms, disease epidemic and insect/animal plagues) or man-made (including industrial accidents and transport accidents).

[2] The term ‘operating environment’ encompasses all factors external to the emergency services (other than the hazard itself) that impact on emergency management. These include: the population, terrain, climate and infrastructure.