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CIA Analyst Training Handbook (2000) [pdf]
- stephenitis 13y agocan someone analyze this and comeback with a tldr?
- CamperBob2 13y agoTL,DR: Read Strunk & White.
- pstuart 13y agoOr maybe not? http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/25497 http://chronicle.com/article/50-Years-of-Stupid-Grammar/2549...
- p1esk 13y agoS&W is a masterpiece. Just one cursory look through it improved my writing skills. I remember I opened it in a bookstore many years ago, and 15 minutes later I walked out with several great writing style advises planted in my head. I can't recommend that book enough. Geoffrey K. Pullum is a jealous little man.
- tokenadult 13y agoJust say adios to Strunk and White. http://www.amazon.com/Adios-Strunk-White-Handbook-Academic/dp/0937363413/ http://www.amazon.com/Adios-Strunk-White-Handbook-Academic/d...
- allochthon 13y agoWhile the English is good, there are very few standalone paragraphs. It's like a huge deck of powerpoint slides.
- hayksaakian 13y agoSeems like a decent writing and presenting guide -- something everyone should have learned in High School The main distinction is all of the examples casually relate to activity the CIA may be involved in: - elections - terrorist plots
- rfnslyr 13y ago"It is not our job to know everything" "We do not pile up detail. Data dumps are not the way to show our expertise."
- o0-0o 13y agoRight. That's the NSAs job, apparently.
- joel_perl_prog 13y agoIt's mostly a style guide for writing short essays that will be read by decision-makers who are too busy to read. In reading over it, I felt like I it reminded me 50 times to lead with your bottom-line main point. Also, be wary of any word with more than three syllables. Best part I found were some sentences an editor had yanked out. Here are a couple (editor comments in parens): "Production units that grow food." (Farms?) "Inhabitants of food-deficient countries." (Hungry people?) EDIT: *had yanked out of various analyst drafts
- thearn4 13y agoIt doesn't seem too different in scope from the Army's intel analyst course at Ft. Huachuca. At least the reporting aspects of the job.
- jakarta 13y agoA better read: Psychology of Intelligence Analysis by Richards J. Heuer, Jr. https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/psychology-of-intelligence-analysis/ https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intellig... This volume pulls together and republishes, with some editing, updating, and additions, articles written during 1978-86 for internal use within the CIA Directorate of Intelligence. The information is relatively timeless and still relevant to the never-ending quest for better analysis. The articles are based on reviewing cognitive psychology literature concerning how people process information to make judgments on incomplete and ambiguous information. Richard Heur has selected the experiments and findings that seem most relevant to intelligence analysis and most in need of communication to intelligence analysts. He then translates the technical reports into language that intelligence analysts can understand and interpreted the relevance of these findings to the problems intelligence analysts face.
- jtnl 13y agothanks!
- lasermike026 13y agoThis can't be serious. We are so screwed.
- gerberduffy 13y agoPage 1: "One plus one equals three!"
- testsheep 13y agoSo I am guessing that we have some people that collect data, and then others that sort through all that. God that job would suck so bad. They get to look through trash for treasure. They are pretty much dumpster divers. If I had that job, I would quit on my first day.
- njharman 13y agoThere are people who dumpster dive for fun.
- fit2rule 13y agoI dumpster dive because I think its utterly criminal to throw away perfectly working equipment. Revive, recycle, re-use! {A whole lotta oil-debt can be paid back with a return trip from the dump and a bit of patience..} The info-gathering nature of dumpster diving still impresses me, 40 years later. Peoples' trash-cans are an open door to their rear-end, if ya know what I mean .. Don't forget to WIPE, people!
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- steveplace 13y agoHere's a fun read from the CIA https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/Tradecraft%20Primer-apr09.pdf https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intellig...
- antimora 13y agoI like a lot of bullet points in this document.
- hacknat 13y agoMy least favorite bullet point: "And we are not historians" No shit.
- kumarski 13y agoyawn. I was hoping for something with a little bit more kick. for example: If you enter a room, identify the tallest and shortest people, the number of exits, their dimensions, and utilize any reflective surfaces to make this possible without dying. It seems an analyst is a paper-pusher.
- klapinat0r 13y agoI think you're confusing analyst with field agents. The information you mention could be in an analysis though, but not the techniques for aquiring it. One is writing intelligence (this), the other is gathering and collecting intel in the field (covert ops etc.)
- kumarski 13y agogood point. argh.