News

Intelligence professionals from the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity at Quantico VA and from the Defense Intelligence Agency at the Pentagon, achieved top scores in an ExecuRead Advanced Reading Skills Course for Military Intelligence Professionals held at USMC Quantico this week. Forty-four Marines, DIA and civilian contractors increased their reading speeds almost 10-fold, together with an increased comprehension level.

Described by a senior officer as "one of the most sophisticated, yet simple, presentations that tied so many and different venues into a single concept. Brilliant, elegant and truly a pleasure to participate.  Instructor's knowledge in the field is remarkable.  I wish I had this 20 years ago. I wish my staff had this too. I want my kids to be taught this skill."

Another senior officer declared the ExecuRead course to be "World-class training that will become mandatory for senior staff. I increased from 417 words a minute with 50% comprehension to 3111 words a minute with 70% comprehension. You figure out the value of this. I have!"

A civilian contractor from the Pentagon rated "This course (as) possibly the best course I've ever attended. In the top 1% of all instruction of all courses, military and civilian, that I've attended. All intel analysts need these skills."

"This is one of the most relevant courses of instruction for any and all intelligence professionals" declared a Gunnery Sergeant. And according to a captain in the intelligence community "speed reading is crucial to information management and it is imperative for Marines in the intel community to quickly identify usefulness of information."

The ExecuRead Advanced Reading Skills Course for Military Intelligence Professionals was developed following a communication by Marine General Peter Pace to the Senate Armed Services Committee in September 2001 that the Department of Defense (DoD) must increase intelligence capabilities as the country confronts asymmetrical threats. Shortly thereafter the conference report for the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 stated primary concerns for the intelligence community - a correction of human intelligence (HUMINT) deficiencies and correcting a perceived imbalance between collection and analysis.

Both the Military and Congress sees a national security imperative to improve HUMINT - the one type of intelligence that nearly all outside experts believe needs to be increased, as it can provide access to potential enemies' plans and intentions in greater detail than other sources. However, collection is only part of the issue. The information gained must be analyzed and processed in a timely manner. This is a difficult problem currently without a clear solution as there is reported to be more information than can be analyzed. All of the services report that analysis requires more attention.

The ExecuRead Advanced Reading Skills Course for Military Intelligence Professionals has since been deployed at the Pentagon, NASA, 1st Intel Btn, 2nd Intel Btn, Navy Special Warfare Development Group, Marine Corps Intelligence Schools, Navy & Marine Corps Intelligence Training Center, US Air Force, US Army and US Coast Guard.

The training is provided by Dr Bruce Stewart, developer of the ExecuRead range of courses and president of Speed Reading International.