Tradecraft Standards of Analytic Production

Course Description:

This course is designed to help intelligence analysts understand the key standards and expectations for producing high-quality analysis, and help supervisors set clear expectations for their team’s intelligence outputs. In this course we explore the analytic standards of the US, UK, and Canadian intelligence communities and offer clear, practical guidance on how to both think of these standards in analytic design and apply them to analytic production.

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

• Justify the importance of analytic standards

• Provide objective, high-quality analysis and maintain analytic independence

• Effectively work with assessments, evidence, and assumptions

• Ensure relevance and timeliness of intelligence outputs

• Critically evaluate intelligence products for adherence to analytic standards

• Adapt analytic standards for use in diverse organisational contexts, including both public and private sector environments

Course Outline:

Day 1:

• Introduction to analytic standards

• Objectivity

• Clarity

• Argumentation 

Day 2:

• Clarity

• Uncertainties

• Sourcing

• Distinctions

Day 3:

• Relevance

• Insights

• Timeliness

• Trends and consistency 

Day 4:

• Accuracy

• Rigor

• Structured Analytic Techniques

• Alternatives

• Sourcing 

Day 5:

• Practical Exercise