Intelligence refers to the process of collecting and analyzing policy-relevant, often difficult to obtain, information.  Accurate intelligence is crucial for policy-makers and practitioners to formulate and implement strategies with regard to the core issues of national security, including counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, foreign policy and defense policy. 

In recent years,  the "tacticization" of intelligence requirements, the explosion of open source material and access to it, polarization of opinion and of sources of information, and the disparagement of expertise, have all called into question the importance of knowledge to policymaking in general -   and of strategic intelligence in particular. The issue of the relationship between intelligence and policy-making has also become a key issue in many democratic states.

This course introduces participants to the craft of collecting, processing, analyzing and presenting intelligence.  It discusses intelligence’s role in policy-making and examines key issues and challenges facing intelligence communities, including the proliferation and "democratization" of information; intelligence failures; pathologies affecting intelligence assessment, and ways to ameliorate them; politicization; challenges to forecasting; and the tension between the quest for relevance and professional standards.