You do know that the game is still in alpha, and there's no AI yet, right?
The number of Officers you get per turn depends on how much pop you have. Every turn you get a certain % of your pop as Officerds, that % depends on which empire you're playing - it goes from something like 15 to 18% IIRC (the latter for the Dominion).
Ship upkeep is not implemented yet in that version, so don't be afraid to build ships. IIRC Intelligence isn't either.
Build Shipyards in your systems to expand your Range. That way you don't have to tow ships
unless you stray very far from those systems that is. 
BTW, both Personnel and Intelligence have been / are being redesigned in the game. We now have Agents (Officers, Diplomats and Spies). Complete with pics, stats, probably even special traits. Hopefully it'll improve the whole Intel system.