Stratfor

Strategic Forecasting, Inc., more commonly known as Stratfor, is a private intelligence company founded in 1996 in the United States. George Friedman is founder, chairman and Chief Intelligence Officer of the company.

Clients

Stratfor's client list is confidential, but the group claims it "includes Fortune 500 companies and major government agencies." On a previous version of Stratfor's home page the company identified government agencies as among its customers - the New Zealand Police was one example given.[1]

Currently Stratfor's products are oriented around individual subscriptions, of which the 'Premium' product is the most comprehensive in content offered. Other packages, such as 'Global Vantage', are tailored to appeal to commercial or governmental customers. They feature regional and customisable intelligence whereby users are able to partake in monthly teleconferences with Stratfor's founder, Dr. George Friedman, and have the option of e-mailing Stratfor's analysts with a "guaranteed response within 24 hours Monday - Friday" [2]. It is worth noting that some of Stratfor's work remains available free to the public [3].

Briefings

Stratfor has published a daily intelligence briefing since the late 1990s, which has generally been well received by its audience. Its rise to prominence occurred during the 1999 NATO air-strikes over the Kosovo issue while Stratfor's services were still free to the public. Before the end of 1999, however, Stratfor had introduced a subscription service through which it offered the majority of Stratfor's analyses. At the time of September 11, Stratfor made its 'breaking news' paragraphs, as well as some notable analyses predicting likely actions to be taken by al-Qaeda and the Bush Jr. administration available freely to the public. Interestingly, according to contemporary Stratfor analyses shortly after the events of September 11, Stratfor believed that it was highly likely al Qaeda had planned subsequent attacks on targets inside the continental United States (although it was emphasised that it was highly unlikely that any would approach the complexity of those seen on September 11).

Failures and criticisms

In the late 1990s, Stratfor repeatedly predicted that due to, among other things, domestic pressure, the People's Republic of China would make an overt military strike against the Republic of China on Taiwan, including possible missile strikes and a move against ROC-held islands off the coast of the mainland. None of these predictions came true. They also failed to predict the reaction of European and world economies to the introduction of the Euro.

Ignoring Stratfor's intelligence failures, possible criticisms of Stratfor's offerings include their commercial nature - they are attempting to attract customers through accurate interpretation and predictions, and as such do not appear to be willing to revise their position on issues or to accept fault. Additionally, their intelligence is based strongly around American interests with regions such as Southeast Asia receiving scant attention.

External links

• Official Site
• STRATFOR's Roger Baker predicts Chinese move against Taiwanese-held islands: [4]