Intelligence in National Security Policymaking and Strategy

Overview

Intelligence refers to the process of collecting and analyzing policy-relevant, often difficult to obtain, information. Accurate intelligence is crucial for policymakers and practitioners to formulate and implement strategies regarding the core issues of national security, including counterterrorism, counter-proliferation, foreign policy and military action. Good intelligence is not sufficient for good policy, but bad intelligence almost always leads to bad outcomes. Intelligence usually comes to the attention of the whole of government, and of the public, when it goes badly wrong, and there is intelligence failure and/or surprise.

In this course, participants will discuss intelligence’s role in policymaking and examines key issues and challenges facing intelligence communities. You will consider in detail organizational culture and the analytical process, as well as the sources of intelligence failure and surprise. You will be exposed to the analysis of the complex relationship between the intelligence community and policy communities, especially the decision-making political level. You will gain knowledge about the uses of the intelligence community in combatting and disrupting terrorism and proliferation, in secret diplomacy, and in covert action, when its role is not only to understand reality, but to shape it.

This course serves as a continuation of the "What is Strategic Intelligence?" course. It's worth mentioning that there are no prerequisites for enrolling in this course. The two-part series replaces the existing course titled Intelligence in Strategy and National Security Policymaking.

Learning Outcomes

• Effectively use intelligence in policy making and analysis to attain better outcomes.
• Determine the uses, capabilities and limitations of intelligence as a tool and enterprise.
• Analyse the world like intelligence officers in a dispassionate fashion

Audience

• Officials and subject matter experts from government, especially the intelligence community and those whose work requires interface with intelligence material or the intelligence community
• NGOs and relevant private sector bodies, graduate students
• Professionals who seek a deeper understanding of the importance of intelligence in the governing and decision-making process

Duration

Cost

• $1095 (plus tax)

Featured Instructor

Joshua Krasna retired in 2017 after 30 years of government service in Israel, including as a strategic planner, senior Middle East and strategic analyst, and diplomat. He served as counselor at the Israeli embassy in Ottawa, and was an instructor and team leader at the Israel National Defense College. Joshua Krasna is Director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Center for Emerging Energy Politics in the Middle East, a Research Fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the New York University Center for Global Affairs.

Sessions