“Dick influenced analysis at the CIA more than any other single person.”

Former CIA Director Michael Morell

“Do You Really Need More Information? The US Intelligence Community invests heavily in improved intelligence collection systems while managers of analysis lament the comparatively small sums devoted to enhancing analytical resources, improving analytical methods, or gaining better understanding of the cognitive processes involved in making analytical judgments.”

Psychology of Intelligence Analysis — Richards J. Heuer

Former CIA veteran Richards “Dick” J. Heuer died on August 21st at Carmel Valley Manor. Dick was recruited into the Central Intelligence Agency during its early years. Throughout his career he worked in numerous areas of the intelligence field. He was the recipient of multiple honors from the Central Intelligence agency, the International Association of Law Enforcement Intelligence Analysts and the International Association for Intelligence Education. Follow us on Twitter:@INTEL_TODAY

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Dick was born in Philadelphia to Richards J Heuer, Sr. and Marion Dapp Heuer. After a brief stint as a draftee in the army, Dick attended Williams College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy.

He went on to study at the University of California, Berkeley where he met his future wife Feesie Farnsworth, the start of 61 years of devoted married life. Later in life he went on to complete his graduate studies obtaining a Masters in International Relations from the University of Southern California.

He was most known for his work on analysis of competing hypotheses and his groundbreaking book, Psychology of Intelligence Analysis, continues to be a staple in intelligence programs nearly 20 years after its publication by CIA; one of the most frequently cited examples of applied psychology in the literature.

Throughout his career, he has worked in collection operations, counterintelligence, intelligence analysis and personnel security. In 2010 he co-authored a book with Randolph (Randy) H. Pherson titled Structured Analytic Techniques for Intelligence Analysis.

Richards Heuer is well-known for his analysis of the extremely controversial and disruptive case of Soviet KGB defector Yuri Nosenko, who was first judged to be part of a “master plot” for penetration of CIA but was later officially accepted as a legitimate defector. [Wikipedia]

REFERENCES

Psychology of Intelligence Analysis — Richards J. Heuer Jr — Chapter V –  Do You Really Need More Information?

Richards “Dick” J. Heuer, Jr. — The Monterey Herald (Sept. 2, 2018)

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OBITUARY — Richards “Dick” J. Heuer, Jr. (July 15, 1927 – august 21, 2018)