From UK Police Intelligence to academia: Support versus specialist - Interview with Nadia Tuominen (S2E2)

Summary

Listen to Nadia Tuominen's path from crime science student to intelligence analyst in London’s Metropolitan Police, where she learned mostly on the job in a changing organization. She explains how austerity and lack of development pushed her to leave for sports integrity in tennis, then into the financial sector to work on economic crime. A later shift into academia and training lets her “close the circle” by teaching police officers and practitioners, creating qualifications she wishes had existed earlier. Across her journey, she emphasizes intelligence as a reasoning process, the importance of frameworks, elevating analysts from “support staff” to specialists, and helping people think better rather than just learn tools. Nadia emphasizes the need for analysts to be proactive, build relationships, and continuously develop their skills to adapt to the changing landscape of intelligence work.

Key takeaways

• Intelligence is a reasoning process for decision-making, not magic or perfect prediction.
• Definitions of intelligence should fit each organization’s mission and context, rather than chasing one universal formula.
• Frameworks like the UK National Intelligence Model, though imperfect, become clearly valuable once you work in less-structured private-sector environments.
• Analysts should be treated as specialists, not generic “support staff,” to improve respect, pay, and decision quality.
• Training should focus on how analysts think (cognition, self-awareness, bias) as much as on tools and structured techniques.
• Biases are unavoidable and not inherently bad; the aim is to understand and manage them, not pretend they can be removed.
• Many law enforcement analysts lack formal, portable qualifications, so building accessible, practice-based education helps careers and professionalizes the field.

Resources and references mentioned

• NIM https://library.college.police.uk/docs/npia/NIM-Code-of-Practice.pdf
• ICD 203 https://www.dni.gov/files/documents/ICD/ICD-203.pdf
• Intelligence Architecture Mind Map - https://github.com/Errum/IntelArchitectureMap
• Psychology of intelligence Analysis - https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/static/Pyschology-of-Intelligence-Analysis.pdf
• Analyst & Decision-Maker Conference - https://i2group.com/events/analyst-decision-maker-conference-2026

Chapters

02:59 Journey into Intelligence and Law Enforcement

05:56 Training and Development in Intelligence Analysis

09:12 Transitioning from Law Enforcement to Sports Integrity

12:07 Understanding Intelligence Frameworks

14:51 Exploring Financial Crime and Economic Crime

17:49 The Role of Academia in Intelligence Analysis

20:51 Training and Cognitive Function in Intelligence

23:59 Defining Intelligence: Perspectives and Processes

27:10 The Importance of Forward-Looking Intelligence

29:57 Analysts as Specialists, Not Support Staff

37:13 The Role of Analysts in Decision Making

38:25 Understanding AI and Its Implications

40:30 Critical Thinking in AI Usage

42:35 Explainability and Trust in AI

44:22 Evaluating AI vs Human Intelligence

46:24 The Importance of Input in AI

48:28Training and Experience in Intelligence Analysis

55:33 Measuring the Value of Intelligence

01:01:05 The Dialogue of Intelligence

01:04:17 The Future of AI in Intelligence

01:12:10 Preparing for a Career in Intelligence