Tradecraft Standards of Analytic Production
Analytic standards for production and review.
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
Who this course is for:
This course is ideal for intelligence analysts of all levels, as well as intelligence managers responsible for a team’s analysis and analytic production.
Course Prerequisites:
There are no prerequisites, but participants should understand the fundamentals of intelligence and analysis.
Duration:
In-Person Classroom Training: 5 Days, 7 hours of instruction per day*
Virtual/Remote Training: 5 days, 3.5 hours of instruction per day*
* We offer this class both as an in-person classroom event and as online, remote instruction. While the material and instruction is consistent between the two, we are able to offer practical exercises and personal instructor support to the training in-person that we are not able to offer remotely.
What you will receive at course completion:
A certificate of completion
A set of slide handouts in pdf form
A set of worksheets, checklists, and job aids
Six months post-course support to help implement training on-the-job