Critical Thinking for Intelligence Analysis
Learn what critical thinking is, the different kinds of reasoning, identifying assumptions and analyzing arguments to take charge of your thinking and apply it to intelligence analysis work.
Enroll in ICAT101
About This Intelligence Community Online Course
Critical thinking skills are integral to the success of intelligence analysts in tackling hard challenges in support of the mission of their Intelligence Community customers.
The most successful intelligence analyst can identify assumptions, analyze arguments, draw relevant conclusions and ultimately applying these skills to their work.
This course demystifies, discusses and provides application techniques for critical thinking in an intelligence analysis context. We will cover how to draw connections to your own work experience by analyzing and critiquing case studies.
This online course is aligned to the Defense Intelligence Agency Certified Defense All-Source Analyst certification Body of Knowledge Topic Area 4 – Creative and Critical Thinking.
What You Will Learn
- Define critical thinking and its importance to intelligence analysis
- Describe the difference between inductive, deductive and abductive reasoning
- Demonstrate the ability to identify underlying assumptions
- Demonstrate the ability to analyze an argument
Your Instructor
This course was developed by Dr. J. Keith Dunbar . Dr. Dunbar is the founder and chief executive officer of FedLearn.
He is a former naval intelligence officer whose career culminated with a tour of duty as the director of the Global Learning Solutions Group and the Leadership Academy, Academy for Defense Intelligence, at the Defense Intelligence Agency. After retiring from the U.S. Navy, Dr. Dunbar led the learning and talent development organizations at two large government contractor companies, SAIC and Leidos.
He received his Doctorate in Education from the University of Pennsylvania (in a partnership with the Wharton Business School) and his Master of Science in strategic intelligence from the National Intelligence University.
Who Should Take This Online Course
This online course is designed for anyone interested in improving their critical thinking skills—particularly, intelligence analysts working in either Federal government agencies or government contractor companies.
Prerequisites
Prior completion of the FedLearn courses, Evaluating Evidence for Intelligence Analysis (ICAT118) and Marshaling Evidence for Intelligence Analysis (ICAT120) , are strongly recommended .
Course Certificate
To achieve a course certificate of completion, you must score 80 percent or higher on graded lesson quizzes and a final exam.
Course Format
Self-paced, online training course
Course Pricing
Individual courses are $89 (per person).
Seat licenses to access the entire FedLearn Intelligence Community catalog are also available. Click here to learn more and purchase.
If you are interested in learning about special team rates for Federal government and government contractor organizations, email [email protected] .
Continuing Education Unit Credits
This course provides 2 CEUs.
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Critical Thinking for Strategic Intelligence
- Katherine Hibbs Pherson
- Randolph H. Pherson
- Description
See what’s new to this edition by selecting the Features tab on this page. Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email [email protected] . Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html .
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“This is a wonderful resource for those beginning to master analytical writing techniques. It's thorough, complete and engaging. [The text is] an excellent resource for beginners who want to learn how to conduct intelligence analysis.”
This is exactly what I have been looking for to use for the advanced analytics course, as it combines techniques with application and has some examples. It walks the new analyst through the process and discusses the techniques for success. Best book I have found on the practical aspects of intelligence analysis.”
“Many instructors of undergraduate students complain that their students do not possess the tools and skills for problem solving, research, analysis, and writing demanded for their academic programs. Deployment of this text, in any academic field or context, can help solve that problem.”
“The Phersons have produced a clear and detailed guide to the application of critical thinking in the preparation of effective analytical presentations. This book should serve as essential reading for analysts everywhere, especially students and young professionals.”
NEW TO THIS EDITION:
- New source categories for cyber issues and suggesting best practices to deal with digital disinformation and deep fakes , which help students understand how media has evolved and the importance of recognizing how it can hamper as well as enhance analytic conclusions.
- Discusses how humans and machines can best work together—with humans using the strengths of the machine without being intimidated by it and recognizing when its programming might be susceptible to error or bias.
- Further stressed that analysts must be prepared to produce and tailor products quickly and succinctly. Book has included resources on different presentation styles and advocates for the increased use of online training to build skills and expertise.
- Added material on politicization in a polarized world as well as thinking about the future, where data for deductively accurate point predictions does not exist.
- Clarified what is meant by “critical thinking” by discussing how it relates to other kinds of thinking, including creative thinking, design thinking, computational thinking, and visual thinking. Incorporated how concepts like “mindfulness” and “self-awareness” fit into the critical thinking process.
- "Uncharted Territory: Conflict, Competition, or Collaboration in the Arctic"
- "The Downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17"
- "Blackout on the Eastern Seaboard"
- "The Case of Iraq's Aluminum Tubes"
KEY FEATURES:
- Each of the book's chapters is organized in the same four-section structure – Setting the Stage, Looking More Deeply, Key Takeaways, and Considering the Case Study.
- A set of carefully crafted case studies on national intelligence, homeland security, finance, defense, and law enforcement issues illustrate how to apply critical thinking skills directly to end-of-chapter questions and provides a valuable self-assessment opportunity.
- The Analyst’s Roadmap provides an at-a-glance “map” for readers depicting the best practices involved in perfecting the analytical product.
Preview this book
Sample materials & chapters.
Chapter 1: Who Are Your Clients?
Chapter 2: What Are the Key Questions?
Critical Thinking in Action: Case Solutions by Casey Cannon and Randolph H. Pher
For instructors
Select a purchasing option, related products.
Is technology producing a decline in critical thinking and analysis?
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Critical Thinking Skills for Intelligence Analysis
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10 Most In-Demand Soft Skills to Put on Your Resume
L ong gone are the days when listing hard skills was the best (and oftentimes only) way to get your foot in the door at a prestigious company. While technical knowledge and training will always be important, soft skills (or essentially personality traits) are becoming increasingly important to highlight on your resume. And it makes sense, as more companies prioritize work culture and, therefore, the personalities of those they’re hiring.
But which soft skills are the ones that standout the most on a resume? Using data from Indeed.com, CashNetUSA scoured job ads for 46 predetermined soft skills to find the ones that appeared the most on high-paid jobs that surpassed the 75th percentile of wages in America’s most populated cities as well as each state. These are the soft skills that came out on top.
10. Resilience
Percentage of highly paid jobs requiring the skill: 34.29%
Resilience is a soft skill that highlights your ability to handle stress and challenges that come up at work.
A good example of how to add this to your resume could be, “Showed resilience when leading a team after budget cuts by still delivering work on time and within scope.”
* Data comes from a January 2024 report released by CashNetUSA .
9. Financial Management
Percentage of highly paid jobs requiring the skill: 38.24%
If you’ve ever been in charge of a budget of any size, you can say that you have financial management skills.
For instance, something like “oversaw the financial management of the freelance budget” could work if you hired contractors for a specific project.
8. Innovation
Percentage of highly paid jobs requiring the skill: 39.24%
Sure, this one makes our eyes roll a bit, too, but in today’s fast-paced world, innovation is key. No one wants an employee that stays stagnant or, worse, digs their heels in at the slight mention of change.
You know who’s not stagnant? Someone who “excelled at brainstorming and ideation in the innovation process for [fill in project name].” You get it.
7. Emotional Intelligence
Percentage of highly paid jobs requiring the skill: 43.11%
We’re actually pleasantly surprised with this one. After all, we didn’t think corporations necessarily had it in them to care about this.
Jokes aside, having emotional intelligence is something that makes a good team member and an even better manager. After all, it’s hard to resolve team conflicts without it. The more a company emphasizes a “harmonious work environment,” the more this soft skill will matter.
6. Mentoring
Percentage of highly paid jobs requiring the skill: 47.89%
Here’s another managerial skill that job ads like to use to weed out the haves from the have-nots when it comes to managers. Do you actually enjoy mentoring people or have you just fallen up the corporate ladder into a management position?
True leaders will make mentoring a priority and want to highlight it on their resume.
5. Critical Thinking
Percentage of highly paid jobs requiring the skill: 47.94%
“Critical thinking” or “problem solving” can be put in the same bucket as resilience. How did you handle a challenging situation at work? It’s even better if you have data to back up your claim.
Well, maybe you “demonstrated strong critical-thinking skills when analyzing financial reports and making forecasts for the following quarter.”
4. Presentation Skills
Percentage of highly paid jobs requiring the skill: 56%
Presentation skills are the nature of the beast when it comes to today's Corporate America. That's because lots of today’s high-paying jobs require working with cross-functional teams and being able to explain your work in easy, digestible terms.
Think someone on a data science team explaining their findings to a marketing team. Along with "presentation skills," you could also add the specific presentation tools or software you use for your presentations on your resume.
3. Persuasion
Percentage of highly paid jobs requiring the skill: 57.41%
Persuasion sounds rather seductive, but it's crucial when trying to get specific projects across the finish line.
It's also a term that's used a lot in marketing when talking about "persuasive marketing skills" required to communicate well with a customer audience.
2. Negotiation
Percentage of highly paid jobs requiring the skill: 58.26%
This skill goes back to business basics. Proper negotiation skills come in handy in any aspect of life, whether you're negotiating a $1 billion merger or whether or not your toddler can have dessert for breakfast.
That said, it's a skill that takes time to hone — which is why it's considered all the more valuable.
1. Strategic Thinking
Percentage of highly paid jobs requiring the skill: 64.77%
Strategic thinking is essentially a combination of innovation and critical thinking, but the best way to incorporate this keyword on your resume is by using the CAR (challenge, action, result) technique.
You could say something like, "Used strategic thinking skills by analyzing user engagement data and running an A/B test that resulted in increased engagement of 20 percent."
For more resume advice, check out "How to Make Your Resume Shine."
IMAGES
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Critical Thinking Skills for Intelligence Analysis 213 Figure 2 also shows how the processing engine s interact with enviro nmental and individual factors. Both systems receive initial input from the environment in th e form of information about a situation or problem that requires judgment. Part of that input is a meta-task that
Intelligence analysts are charged with a difficult and challenging mission - to analyze current threats and to predict future threats. The good thing is that there is help in this mission, a discipline known as critical thinking. Critical thinking is defined as "disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by ...
Critical thinking is a vital skill for intelligence analysts and must be learned, practiced, and deeply ingrained in order to enable these analysts to effectively and accurately prepare. assessments. Unfortunately, no baseline currently exists upon which a Department of Defense. (DOD) intelligence analyst is trained in critical thinking.
Despite the vast array of organizational policies on how intelligence analysis ought to be performed, as well as the testimonies of ... "Critical Thinking Skills for Intelligence Analysis," in Ergonomics: A Systems Approach, edited by E. L. Nunes (2010), pp. 209-232.
These skills then form the crux of what an intelligence analyst must possess in order to apply critical thinking to their analysis. The critical thinking skills that Facione provides are interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation (Facione, p. 5), which he labels as the "Core Critical Thinking Skills".
The most successful intelligence analyst can identify assumptions, analyze arguments, draw relevant conclusions and ultimately applying these skills to their work. This course demystifies, discusses and provides application techniques for critical thinking in an intelligence analysis context. We will cover how to draw connections to your own ...
According to oxford's dictionary, critical thinking is the process of analyzing information to make a logical decision. So it is related to the analysis phase of intelligence [14]. Because it ...
Third Edition. With Critical Thinking for Strategic Intelligence , Katherine Hibbs Pherson and Randolph H. Pherson have updated their highly regarded, easy-to-use handbook for developing core critical thinking skills and analytic techniques. This indispensable text is framed around 20 key questions that all analysts must ask themselves as they ...
Critical thinking appears on almost every list of the essential skills for intelligence analysts. But any corresponding attempt to define critical thinking more precisely is seldom encountered. And, on those rare occasions when definitions are offered, they inevitably (albeit quite understandably) amount to new applications of existing approaches. Yet, these existing approaches derive from ...
Abstract : Analysts and analysts alone create intelligence. Although technological marvels assist analysts by cataloging and presenting data, information, and evidence in new ways, they do not do analysis. To be most effective, analysts need an overarching, reflective framework to add structured reasoning to sound, intuitive thinking. "Critical thinking" provides such a framework and goes ...
Critical thinking appears on almost every list of the essential skills for intelligence analysts. 1 But any corresponding attempt to define critical thinking more precisely is seldom encountered. A...
Refining critical thinking skills allows analysts to examine scenarios and make informed decisions based on logic and any evidence they find. ... An intelligence analysis must communicate effectively to close the gap between technical analysis and practical ideas. The main audience of intelligence reports are policymakers and government ...
comprehensive overview of how intelligence officers conduct analysis. Rather, the. primer highlights how structured analytic techniques can help one challenge judgments, identify mental mindsets, stimulate creativity, and manage uncertainty. In short, incorporating regular use of techniques such as these can enable one to structure.
Critical Thinking and Intelligence Analysis, Second Printing (with revisions) David T. Moore This series of Occasional Papers presents the work of faculty, students and others whose research on intelligence issues is supported or otherwise encouraged by the National Defense Intelligence College (NDIC) through
in applying critical thinking skills. The critical thinking process provides a framework for the analyst to ensure assessments are thorough and reasonably objective in nature. Moreover, by applying a critical thinking framework to intelligence analysis, it is possible to incorporate critical thinking into a domain-specific methodology instead of
4. Critical Thinking as an Applied Model for Intelligence. One definition of intelligence that directly addresses the question about intelligence and real-world problem solving comes from Nickerson (2020, p. 205): "the ability to learn, to reason well, to solve novel problems, and to deal effectively with novel problems—often unpredictable—that confront one in daily life."
A discussion of critical thinking as introduced in David T. Moore's Critical Thinking and Intelligence Analysis (https://ni-u.edu/ni_press/pdf/Critical_Think...
It is believed that the quality and accuracy of intelligence analysis will benefit from the use of critical thinking skills (see Harris & Spiker, 2011; Moore, 2007). According to cognitive scientis...
Yes, intelligence (i.e., critical thinking) can be enhanced and used for solving a real-world problem such as COVID-19, which we use as an example of contemporary problems that need a new approach. ... Instructional interventions affecting critical thinking skills and dispositions: A stage 1 meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 78(4 ...
Critical thinking is the process of analyzing and assessing thinking with a view to improving it. Critical thinking presupposes knowledge of the most basic structures in thinking (the elements of thought) and the most basic intellectual standards for thinking (universal intellectual standards). Critical thinking is key to the analysis conducted ...
January 27, 2009. As technology has played a bigger role in our lives, our skills in critical thinking and analysis have declined, while our visual skills have improved, according to research by Patricia Greenfield, UCLA distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Children's Digital Media Center, Los Angeles. Learners have changed ...
In the age of information overload, critical thinking is your best tool for navigating the news and media landscape. It's essential to approach media content with a discerning eye, questioning the ...
In the world of Business Intelligence (BI), critical thinking is paramount. You must sift through data, recognize patterns, and make informed decisions. Learning formal logic can be a game-changer ...
Critical thinking skills grouped into the intelligence analysis functions they support 6.1.2 Assess and filter for relevance and validity Critical thinking is required to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information, and valid and invalid information, relative to the desired end state, purpose or goal of the analysis.
The interpersonal aspect of emotional intelligence is crucial for group critical thinking and decision-making processes. Understanding and managing group dynamics through social skills can prevent ...
This approach does not equip students with skills that can transform their minds: critical and logical reasoning, argumentation, conceptual and analytical thinking, and problem solving.
Critical Thinking While problem solving and critical thinking might not be tangible skills you can see with the naked eye, that does not diminish their value. In the workplace, problems arise ...
Percentage of highly paid jobs requiring the skill: 58.26% This skill goes back to business basics. Proper negotiation skills come in handy in any aspect of life, whether you're negotiating a $1 ...
Assessing students' critical thinking abilities is a vital component of educational development, as it equips them with the skills to analyze information, solve complex problems, and make informed ...