The Intelligence-Policy Nexus in Canada

Overview

This course offers a primer on the dynamics of the intelligence-policy nexus in Canada, It focuses on the expectations of senior policy makers in terms of their intelligence needs and requirements. This course explains where intelligence fits as one input among many into the broader policy making process. It emphasizes how the policy and intelligence worlds have different bureaucratic cultures, and why this matters to their interaction. It also explains why both sides have traditionally had a limited understanding of the other. Participants will discuss ways to enhance policy literacy in the intelligence world, as well as intelligence literacy in the policy world. You will also dissect a series of specific challenges in intelligence policy-relations, such as client management, politicization, governance, and human resources.

Learning Outcomes

• Explain the dynamics of the intelligence-policy nexus in Canada.
• Understand the expectations of senior policy makers in terms of their strategic intelligence needs and requirements.
• Understand where intelligence fits as one input among many into the policy making process.
• Understand how the policy and intelligence worlds have different bureaucratic cultures, and why this matters.
• Discuss the importance for intelligence analysts of gaining a solid understanding of policy making – its process, the people involved, and the priorities.
• Discuss in depth a series of frequent problems and challenges in the relationship between intelligence and policy and exploring options to either overcome or better manage them.

Audience

• Intelligence analysts and officers in Canada who want to develop a deeper understanding of the broader policy context in which they operate; analysts in other fields who wish to better understand their interaction with the intelligence realm; graduate students interested in a career in intelligence or national security.

Duration

Cost

• $1095 (plus tax)

Featured Instructor

Thomas Juneau is associate professor at the University of Ottawa's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. His research focuses on the role of intelligence in national security and foreign policy making, the Middle East, and Canadian foreign and defence policy. He is a non-resident fellow with the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies. From 2003 until 2014, he worked with Canada’s Department of National Defence, mostly as a policy analyst covering the Middle East. He tweets @thomasjuneau.

Sessions