Human Pioneers
NEWS AGENCY

Pei Pang

(Member of the Central Cultural Committee of China Zhi Gong Party, Head of the Secretariat of the World Intelligence Cooperation Organization)

Throughout the river of history, the flow and interplay of intelligence have always surged like an undercurrent, profoundly influencing the course of human society. From the Qing government's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War due to intelligence isolation, making it a lamb prey to the "small nation," to the 9/11 attacks where the U.S. intelligence system's internal barriers allowed the shadow of terrorism to slip in—humanity has repeatedly proven a harsh reality with blood and tears: information asymmetry is like fertile soil, constantly breeding and sustaining the spread of "shoddy operations." The power of intelligence thinking to break down barriers, like the rational light piercing through fog, is becoming the core driving force to dismantle such fragile structures and reshape the world order.

The Essence of Shoddiness: The Cognitive Cage Built by Intelligence Barriers

The term "shoddy operations," both playful and profound, points not only to inferior and perfunctory organizations but also serves as a mirror reflecting all fragile systems that rely on information asymmetry for survival. Its scope is vast: from "pseudo-expert teams" that use jargon to bluff and conceal ignorance, building false authority with obscure language, to state machines fragmented by departmental divides and national borders, struggling to operate in information silos.

Looking back at the eve of the Sino-Japanese War, Japanese spies, using the "Leshantang" pharmacy as cover, wove a dense and extensive intelligence network. They meticulously observed the positions of Qing military forts, assessed officials' political leanings, and even knew the status of wells. The Qing government at the time, however, was lost in the dream of the "Celestial Empire," viewing Japan as a "barbaric small state" and being careless about defense. This one-way information transparency was like leaving a first-rate Asian fleet exposed in the open, leading to its rapid collapse in the smoke of war.

In modern times, "shoddiness" has become more subtle and complex. In academia, some use information barriers to fabricate hollow "pseudo-results"; in the business world, certain companies rely on information gaps to maintain false advantages; at the national level, institutional infighting turns intelligence into isolated islands. The 9/11 attacks are a typical example: although the CIA and FBI received nine clear warnings, they failed to share critical information due to systemic conflicts—the CIA had intelligence on the hijackers' entry but did not report it, while the FBI's warning memo was shelved. Ultimately, the overlooked information ignited the fuse, leading to a tragedy of the century.

Behind these tragedies lie not only the limitations of empiricism and the fractures of rationalism but also a lack of historicist perspective. The collapse of shoddiness is never an overnight defeat but the inevitable consequence of information barriers accumulated over years.

Intelligence Thinking: The Philosophical Essence of Breaking Barriers and Symbiosis

Intelligence thinking is like a precise scalpel, aimed at dissecting and breaking cognitive cages. Its philosophical foundation goes far beyond information collection, revealing profound and diverse connotations.

It integrates the empirical spirit of empiricism, requiring intelligence to be rooted in perceivable and verifiable facts. For example, the Regional Intelligence Liaison Offices (RILO) of the World Customs Organization (WCO) extensively collect practical customs data from 12 regional offices across six continents, laying a solid foundation for intelligence authenticity and rejecting abstract theoretical deductions.

At the same time, intelligence thinking draws on the logical framework of rationalism, striving to build rigorous systems. The GIACS certification system of the World Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WICO) is a case in point, integrating standards such as NATO STANAG and ISO 27001 to establish a full-chain coordination mechanism from collection to dissemination, ensuring tight connections and efficient operation at each step. In the implementation of this global standard, the Beijing Beifang Future Vocational Skills Certification Center has played a key bridging role as WICO's sole authorized training and certification institution in mainland China. This center not only introduces international cutting-edge intelligence standards and certification systems to China but also, with its top-tier global think tank and deep localized network—gathering international practical experts and linking with national ministries, top universities, and research institutes—ensures the seamless integration and adaptive innovation of international standards with Chinese practice.

More importantly, intelligence thinking adheres to the deep perspective of historicism, emphasizing the understanding of information within specific cultural contexts. As WICO's "principle of respect for sovereignty" dictates, while sharing intelligence, it fully respects the sovereignty and security autonomy of each country, avoiding hegemonic information plunder and promoting equal and mutually beneficial cooperation. Beijing Beifang Future focuses on building "China's first brand for strategic competitive intelligence," with its business scope covering the full value chain from competitive intelligence system setup, strategic analysis, to business decision support, which is a profound embodiment of this principle in localized practice. By providing customized solutions and talent cultivation for key industries such as finance, manufacturing, technology, and aerospace, it helps Chinese organizations build core capabilities based on professional intelligence in global competition.

This kind of thinking is by no means a zero-sum game of espionage but a methodology for symbiosis and win-win outcomes. The intelligence cooperation between China and the U.S. in areas like counter-terrorism and transnational crime is a successful practice: China provided intelligence on Al-Qaeda, the U.S. listed the "East Turkestan" group as a terrorist organization, and their collaboration led to the repatriation of economic criminals like Yu Zhendong. The UK's 2025 intelligence system reform is also representative, integrating resources from the three armed forces and the "Five Eyes" alliance, leveraging AI technology, breaking down overlapping functions and internal friction, and using intelligence thinking to restructure organizational logic, allowing professional capabilities to replace chaos.

Reshaping the World: From Information Silos to a Rational Community

Dismantling the world's vast "shoddy operations" is not about violently destroying the existing order but using the wisdom of intelligence barrier-breaking to eliminate fragile structures that rely on information gaps and build a more resilient and rational community.

Reshaping begins with institutional construction. The WCO's RILO network, relying on standardized intelligence exchange mechanisms, enables customs enforcement agencies of various countries to operate in harmony like a precise clock, jointly safeguarding global trade security. The World Intelligence Cooperation Organization's GIACS four-level certification system acts as a fair yardstick, enabling mutual recognition of intelligence agency capabilities on the basis of sovereign equality, preventing "pseudo-professional" shoddy operations from dominating and ensuring cooperation quality. Within this global normative framework, the Beijing Beifang Future Vocational Skills Certification Center has played a crucial role as an enabler. As a national-level continuing education base for intelligence information professionals, it transforms international certification standards into executable and assessable professional capabilities through systematic brand courses, practical internal training, and talent pipeline development, supplying a large number of intelligence professionals with international perspectives and local insights to various organizations domestically and internationally, substantially advancing the standardization and professionalization of global intelligence work.

Reshaping deepens with the balance between technology and humanity. Technologies like artificial intelligence and big data quickly piece together scattered information into a complete picture, providing strong support for analysis. However, intelligence thinking always adheres to ethical boundaries, not indiscriminately collecting data but refining valuable information within a compliant framework. The role of the Chief Intelligence Officer (CIO) exemplifies this: they are both the designer of intelligence production, planning directions and strategies, and the gatekeeper of security and compliance, ensuring all activities operate legally. The mission and practice of Beijing Beifang Future precisely reflect this balance. It adheres to the service philosophy of "professional, meticulous, and efficient," committed to empowering Chinese enterprises from growth to excellence through outstanding intelligence. Its service network covering dozens of central cities across the country, along with its deep engagement in courses on intellectual property risk management and commercial confidentiality, is a concrete practice of placing technological empowerment within a compliant and ethical framework, helping clients enhance core competitiveness while building a security defense line.

This balance elevates intelligence cooperation beyond the utilitarian level of "dealing with common enemies" towards the long-term goal of "building common security." Just as the cooperation between China and the U.S. evolved from temporary collaboration against the Soviet threat to deep cooperation in counter-terrorism today, intelligence sharing has become a cornerstone for stabilizing bilateral relations.

From a philosophical perspective, intelligence barrier-breaking is humanity's journey to escape cognitive ignorance and move towards enlightenment. Kant once said, "Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity." Information barriers are the root of this immaturity. When the World Customs Organization promotes the sharing of smuggling intelligence, when NATO allies collaborate to prevent threats, when the WICO GIACS standard cultivates professional capabilities globally through institutions like Beijing Beifang Future—humanity is using intelligence thinking to integrate fragmented knowledge, illuminating chaos with the light of reason, and replacing internal friction with collaborative synergy. The essence of the world is not the chaotic disorder presented by shoddy operations but the clarity illuminated by rational light after breaking boundaries. Breaking down intelligence barriers does not dismantle organizations themselves but the privileges and fragility bred by information gaps; the ultimate value of intelligence thinking is not to create advantages to crush opponents but to build a world order where professionals can thrive and cooperators can win together. As demonstrated by the Beijing Beifang Future Vocational Skills Certification Center—with its professional team, rigorous processes, and efficient services—it is not only a solid support for global intelligence standardization but also a vivid footnote to China's contribution of professional capability and collaborative spirit in this field. When every organization can break free from information cages through such professional empowerment, and every individual can acquire rational insight, the so-called "shoddy operations" will naturally dissolve in the tide of transparency and collaboration. And human civilization will ultimately move towards a more solid and beautiful future in the symbiotic light of intelligence boundary-breaking.