Analytic Intelligence Production

Course Description:

This course is designed to increase intelligence analysts’ ability to create clear, concise, relevant, and useful analytic intelligence products.  In this course, we will explore framing topics for specific audiences, asking relevant focus questions, generating insightful analytic messages, and crafting storylines to carry these messages with confidence.  Under instructor guidance participants will create a written analytic intelligence report and/or the slides and support material for an analytic intelligence briefing, then conduct structured peer reviews of these products.  Participating analysts should already know their problem set and be familiar with their organisation’s format and standards, and arrive to the course with both a topic they plan to work on and the background research already completed.  

At the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Focus their analytic topics on their clients’ needs

• Ask intelligent, relevant questions to focus analysis

• Compose clear, concise, relevant, and insightful analytic reports

• Perform a structured review of analytic reports for clarity, logic, and relevance

Course Outline:

Day 1:

• Analytic standards refresher

• Conceptualizing analysis

• Framing for your audience

Day 2:

• Asking the right questions

•  Analysis to answer questions

• Generating relevant analytic messages

Day 3:

• Building a storyline

• Intelligence writing vs academic and journalistic writing

Day 4:

• The analytic review process

• Structured self-review

• Structured sample review

Day 5:

• Structured peer review

• Structured report evaluation