Program

Intelligence Cycle Fundamentals

Self-paced
Online
Accredited

Welcome to the Intelligence Cycle Fundamentals Program!

This comprehensive program equips you with the foundational knowledge and skills necessary to navigate the world of intelligence. Through a series of interconnected courses, you’ll gain a thorough understanding of the entire intelligence cycle, from understanding customer needs to disseminating actionable intelligence.

Program Description

The program is designed as a series of modular courses, each focusing on a critical stage within the intelligence cycle:

  1. Intelligence Fundamentals: This introductory course lays the groundwork by defining intelligence, exploring different intelligence disciplines and consumers, and introducing the core concept of the intelligence cycle.
  2. Intelligence Direction Fundamentals: Delve into the initial stage, where intelligence customers send their requirements to analysts. You’ll learn how needs are translated into clear and actionable intelligence requirements.
  3. Intelligence Collection Fundamentals: Shift your focus to how intelligence agencies gather information. This course explores various collection disciplines (INTs) like HUMINT (human intelligence) and SIGINT (signals intelligence) and emphasizes the importance of collection planning and risk management.
  4. Intelligence Processing Fundamentals: Bridge the gap between raw data and actionable intelligence. This course delves into the processing stage, where information is screened, translated, collated, and transformed for analysis. You’ll also explore how technology is revolutionizing intelligence processing.
  5. Intelligence Analysis Fundamentals: Now that information is processed, it’s time for analysis. This course equips you with the skills to transform data into insights using Structured Analytic Techniques (SATs) and critical thinking frameworks. You’ll learn to identify patterns, manage uncertainty, and craft clear and concise intelligence reports.
  6. Intelligence Dissemination Fundamentals: The final course focuses on getting intelligence into the hands of those who need it most. You’ll explore various dissemination methods like briefings and written reports, while emphasizing the importance of tailoring information to specific audiences and adhering to security protocols.

Expected Learning Outcomes

By completing the Intelligence Cycle Fundamentals Program, you will be able to:

  1. Define intelligence and differentiate it from information.
  2. Identify and explain the various intelligence disciplines (INTs) and consumers.
  3. Understand the different stages of the intelligence cycle and its variants.
  4. Explain the importance of intelligence direction and how customer needs translate into requirements.
  5. Describe the different collection disciplines (INTs) and their strengths and limitations.
  6. Recognize the importance of risk management in intelligence collection.
  7. Articulate the role of intelligence processing in transforming raw data into actionable intelligence.
  8. Explain how technology is impacting intelligence processing.
  9. Apply Structured Analytic Techniques (SATs) and critical thinking skills for intelligence analysis.
  10. Identify patterns, and anomalies, and manage uncertainty within intelligence information.
  11. Compose clear, concise, and visually engaging intelligence reports.
  12. Recognize the challenges of cognitive bias and deception in intelligence analysis.
  13. Describe various methods used for disseminating intelligence and tailor them to different audiences.
  14. Explain the importance of security considerations in intelligence dissemination.

Overall, the Intelligence Cycle Fundamentals Program empowers you to understand the complete intelligence lifecycle and how each stage contributes to informed decision-making.

Who this program is for

The courses of the Intelligence Cycle Fundamentals program are an introductory window into the world of Intelligence. thus no previous training or education on Intelligence is required.

This program is for anybody who wants to engage with intelligence in their career right now, or in the future. These could be researchers, journalists, analysts, policymakers, security professionals and much more.

Content Warning: 

This course deals with the common types of work in the intelligence industry and therefore features broad discussions of issues such as conflict, terrorism, and natural disasters. We also provide links to historical documents that deal with these topics throughout the course. We include this context because they are common topics in intelligence and are the subject of most historic and declassified documents. For specific concerns about the nature of any content please contact school@greydynamics.com.

Instructors

Ahmed Hassan

CEO & Founder

I’m Ahmed Hassan the CEO of Grey Dynamics and you will see me in most of our courses. I have over 12 years of experience in the intelligence and security sector across government and private sector. I hold an MA in Intelligence and International Security Studies with a specialisation in counterintelligence, strategic forecasting and information security. Over the last 6 years, I have trained and mentored analysts. My objective with the Grey Dynamics Intelligence School is to demystify intelligence and prepare capable intelligence professionals. 

Marcel Plichta

I’m Marcel Plichta, the Lead Instructor & Grey Dynamics Intelligence School Manager. I am a former analyst for the U.S. Department of Defense and PhD candidate at the University of St Andrews. I have taught and briefed on a variety of international relations and intelligence topics, including foreign policy analysis, African security, and emerging technologies. Currently, I hold a fellowship at the Centre for Global Law and Governance and wrote for Foreign Policy, the Irregular Warfare Initiative, and, the Counterterrorism Sentinel at West Point.

Contact

Have further questions? Feel free to email us at school@greydynamics.com.

Program information
Enrollment Open
Cost $1200
Certified Yes

Included courses

6. Intelligence Dissemination Fundamentals
Once intelligence analysts finalize their product, they must ensure it reaches the right customers. Intelligence Dissemination can be challenging, especially with a large customer base. For a smaller audience, comprehension often requires briefing. This course tackles the complexities of getting intelligence into the hands of those who need it most.
4. Intelligence Processing Fundamentals
Having grasped how intelligence is collected, let’s shift gears to Intelligence Processing. This crucial stage bridges the gap between raw data and actionable intelligence. Imagine a farmer sifting through a harvest – processing separates the valuable wheat from the chaff of irrelevant information.
5. Intelligence Analysis Fundamentals
Now that information has been collected and processed, it’s time to use it to answer the intelligence customer’s requirements and the critical thinking stage: Intelligence Analysis. This course focuses on the basics of intelligence analysis and serves as an introduction for the more in-depth courses on analysis.

Frequently asked questions

Yes! Our courses are all accredited by the University of Salford in the United Kingdom.

However, we do not offer university credit at this time.

The simple answer is: No!
You do not need training or schooling in intelligence before starting our courses.

All courses are available in a single Intelligence Cycle Fundamentals Program! Further, you will also get 
a discount if you buy the Program during pre-sale!

Attention: For the first cohort it will not be possible 
to buy single courses. This will change at a later date.

These courses are for anybody who wants to engage with intelligence in their career right now or in the future.

These could be researchers, journalists, analysts, policymakers, security professionals 
and much more. and anyone aspiring to those roles!

The prices per course are $250 per course, for the Fundamental courses and for the program with all 6 courses together is $1200.

We encourage feedback about the course. We integrated a feedback form into the course at the end in which learners can rate their experience and provide comments and recommendations.

If there are any technical issues with accessing the feedback form, please contact accessibility@greydynamics.com.

We designed our course to comply with all laws and are not aware of any legal or administrative restrictions that would prohibit access to the course. If you have specific concerns about your privacy while taking this course reach out at privacy@greydynamics.com.

Our regular course content functions with accessibility tools like subtitles and altering the speed and quality of the videos to ensure learners have a consistent experience regardless of their circumstances.

However, some written course material (i.e. historical documents), may not function with accessibility tools like read-aloud as they are scanned pdfs of varying quality.

Intelligence work is extremely broad and each case is different. Intelligence work ranges from normal office work to physically and mentally demanding activity.

Some roles, particularly those in the military or law enforcement, have physical requirements that are required by the institution rather than the role itself.

Additionally, some workplaces are better able to meet accessibility requirements than others. We recommend potential learners search for the specific roles or organisations that interest them and check those organisations’ requirements and accessibility policies before committing to our course.

Be aware that many organisations accommodate audio or visual impairment in some roles, but not all organisations or governments globally are required by law to make reasonable accommodations. 

For general inquiries, you can email school@greydynamics.com.

For privacy and accessibility issues please email privacy@greydynamics.com or accessibility@greydynamics.com as appropriate.

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