Analytic Tradecraft Writing

Catalog description

Based on an introduction to the intelligence cycle - the process for gathering, analyzing, and using information to reduce threats - this course focuses on its analysis, production, and dissemination stages. Students will learn fundamental skills of a successful intelligence analyst: performing defensible analysis through the use of structured analytical techniques and communicating analytical judgements effectively. Students will be taught how to compose analytic products consistent with the tradecraft used by professionals from the Intelligence Community professionals. Students will also learn how intelligence analysis and its dissemination differ from traditional academic writing and how to brief senior government officials and business executives. At the end of the course, students will be able to write a high-value intelligence product that gains the customer's attention and meets their needs.