INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR
INTELLIGENCE EDUCATION
STANDARDS FOR
INTELLIGENCE EDUCATION
UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE
PROGRAMS
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These standards are
recommended for undergraduate and graduate academic programs having
"intelligence” in their program titles and support competitive (business), law
enforcement, homeland security and national security intelligence activities.
Standards presented
below for undergraduate and graduate programs provide the general knowledge and
skills recommended when institutions develop learning outcomes and assessment
procedures for intelligence education programs.
The extent to which each below core area is developed and emphasized in
a given program should be consistent with the program and institution’s mission
and objectives. For undergraduate associates degrees, certificates and minors,
the below undergraduate degree general outcomes and undergraduate core area
outcomes should be included to the greatest extent possible.
Undergraduate
Degree General Outcomes
Satisfying
undergraduate degree general outcomes indicate a program meets a minimum set of
professional and intellectual standards in their curricula. Though some of the
following general outcomes may be satisfied by intelligence program coursework,
some may also be satisfied by the institution’s general education requirements,
course test-out programs or high school AP equivalency. At the general level, intelligence
education programs must demonstrate that their graduates are able to:
1)
Employ knowledge of mathematics and science.
2)
Identify, describe and critically evaluate applicable intelligence
technologies.
3)
Demonstrate the ability to professionally speak, read and orally comprehend a
foreign language—as applicable.*
4)
Identify professional ethics and how they apply to the intelligence field.
5)
Develop general professional written and oral reports and presentations.
6)
Demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively in diverse groups.
7)
Demonstrate intelligence knowledge, skills and abilities in a non-academic
setting through an internship, cooperative or supervised experience.
8)
Evaluate intelligence issues or challenges through either a capstone practicum
or undergraduate thesis.
9)
Appraise contemporary and emergent threats, challenges and issues to business,
law enforcement, homeland security, national security and regional studies spheres—as
applicable.*
10)
Explain application of intelligence strategies and operations to business, law
enforcement, homeland security, national security and regional studies issues—as
applicable.*
*
In addition to the intelligence education undergraduate general outcomes
(above) and core area outcomes (below), intelligence curricula should also
include substantive and theoretical instruction in the student’s intended
career field. This should include courses,
as applicable, in foreign languages and the areas of business, law enforcement,
homeland security, national security and regional studies, as applicable to the
student’s intended career field. For
example, students planning careers in regional studies should have instruction
in history, geography, economics, politics, cultures, foreign policy and
security issues and foreign languages applicable to the region of student
interest.
Undergraduate
Degree Core Area (CA) Outcomes
Undergraduate core area
outcomes demonstrate professional breadth of preparation as it applies to the intelligence
field. Programs satisfying core area outcomes should include the following
curricular areas. Suggested definitions for each academic area follow the
curricular area title. Although programs can assume some latitude in how their
specific curriculum integrates each of the core areas below, programs should
accomplish each of the following outcomes. Depending on the program or institution, a
given core area outcome may be addressed in a devoted course, a portion of a
course, or in an appropriate extracurricular experience (cooperative study,
internship, field experience, independent study, etc.).
CA1.
Intelligence History – To identify
key events, persons, successes and failures in intelligence activities,
including their role and influence in history.
1) Discuss
the evolution of intelligence from ancient to modern times.
2) Explain
the evolution of intelligence as it applies to the academic institution’s home
nation.
CA2. Intelligence
Organizations – To
understand the current organizational structures, resources, capabilities and
responsibilities of intelligence institutions.
3) Explain the current
intelligence organizations at the academic institution’s home nation national
and local levels.
4) Discuss the general
characteristics of current intelligence organizations in key foreign nations
(adversaries and allies).
CA3. Intelligence
Planning – The process of defining an
intelligence organization’s strategy or direction, including making decisions
on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy.
5) Demonstrate
knowledge of legal and ethical principles applicable to intelligence activities,
including intelligence collection, counterintelligence and covert action.
6) Discuss
the current organizational structures, functions, capabilities, and
responsibilities of intelligence customers.
7)
Demonstrate knowledge of applicable national strategies and plans, including
their history, inter-relationships, similarities and differences.
8)
Explain the strategic planning interface between various levels of the public
and private sectors.
9)
Employ the latest in strategic and organizational management, organizational
behavior, leadership, interagency operations and information sharing procedures
used in the intelligence community.
10)
Explain the intelligence resource management process.
11)
Demonstrate the preparation and presentation of intelligence management written
and oral communications.
12)
Appraise the use of the "Intelligence Cycle” as a framework for understanding
intelligence activities.
CA4. Intelligence
Collection – The
process of collecting, processing and exploiting information used in
intelligence products.
13) Discuss processes for prioritizing and tasking the employment of
collection assets to support strategic, operational and tactical intelligence
analysis.
14) Explain the organization, capabilities, limitations, exploitation and
key issues in Human Intelligence (HUMINT) (informant direction) collection
operations, both overt and covert.
15) Explain the organization, collection platforms, capabilities,
limitations, exploitation and key issues in Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) (wiretaps-eavesdropping)
collection operations.
16) Explain the organization, collection platforms, capabilities,
limitations, exploitation and key issues in Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) (imagery-mapping)
collection operations.
17) Explain the organization, collection platforms, capabilities,
limitations, exploitation and key issues in Measurement and Signature Intelligence
(MASINT) (other technical) collection operations.
18) Discuss the contributions, limitations and issues related to
collaboration of information and intelligence sharing obtained through foreign services.
19) Describe the issues and challenges in coordinating intelligence
collection from multiple sources.
20) Discuss future technologies and their potential impacts on
intelligence collection.
CA5. Intelligence
Analysis – The
process where information is analyzed and intelligence products are developed
and provided to strategic, operational and tactical consumers.
21) Formulate analyzable questions through de-construction of the
intelligence tasking or problem.
22) Locate
and search available databases and other sources to gather existing information
and intelligence products, including Open Source Intelligence (OSINT)
(publically available information), and identify information gaps.
23) Assess
the validity of human and technical information through vetting procedures
designed to detect misinterpretations, fabrications, deliberate deceptions, and
unacknowledged biases.
24)
Explain the challenges of tasking multi-source collection assets to fill identified
information gaps.
25) Select
appropriate procedures for group analytic efforts (brainstorming, Red Team
analysis, Team A/B, etc.).
26)
Demonstrate procedures for modeling and hypothesis generation.
27) Employ
basic qualitative and quantitative analysis procedures to test hypotheses and
develop analytic findings.
28)
Demonstrate the ability to present complex data and findings in meaningful ways
(e.g., maps, charts, tables, graphs, etc.).
29) Create
written and oral reports to convey analytic findings to superiors and customers.
CA6. Counterintelligence and Security – The
countering of adversary threats to one’s nation, organization, personnel,
systems and information.
30) Discuss the history of counterintelligence and counterespionage,
including recent case studies.
31) Explain the employment of general security measures (physical,
personnel, information, cyber, investigations and security management).
32) Demonstrate knowledge of the classification management systems
applicable to home nation.
33) Discuss operational security measures.
34) Differentiate between the fields of counterintelligence,
counterespionage and counterterrorism.
Graduate Degree
Outcomes
Standards for graduate
degree programs in intelligence education should include increased depth and
rigor in the instruction of the above undergraduate degree general outcomes and
undergraduate core area outcomes. These
outcomes may be met through previous degree programs where possible. For graduate degrees the following additional
outcomes should be met:
35) Complete a minimum
of one year of study beyond the undergraduate level.
36) Create a research
project or other research activity resulting in a report that demonstrates both
mastery of the subject matter and a high level of professional communication
skills.
37) Complete advanced instruction
in qualitative and quantitative analysis skills.