The Bachelor of Science degree in Intelligence Analysis provides a multi-disciplinary education for students who seek careers as analysts, with a specialization in intelligence analysis.
The degree integrates knowledge from a variety of academic disciplines (philosophy, history, political science, technology, business) and combines that with professionally oriented knowledge and skills.
Students learn innovative ways to structure their thinking to assess complex real-world problems, along with how technology can be employed to acquire data, evaluate that data, and communicate it effectively to others.
Intelligence analysis is the analysis of information to support decision-making in a range of different fields.
Intelligence functions—and intelligence analysts—exist in eight different domains. In the public sector (i.e. government), there are intelligence analysts supporting decision-makers in the national security, military, homeland security, and law enforcement sectors. There are also intelligence analysts in the private sector, supporting decision-makers in competitive and private sector security intelligence domains. Finally, there are intelligence analysts specializing in technology in the cyber intelligence and geospatial intelligence domains.
In all eight of these intelligence domains, analysts acquire the data, assess its significance, and communicate those assessments to clients who then make decisions. The analyst is not the primary collector nor the primary decision-maker, but instead is the “expert” who supports the decision-making process. The core skills of the intelligence analyst entail: research, reading, thinking, writing, and speaking.
The IA program provides a common platform for students to learn how to be analysts, with courses emphasizing effective communication and the use of technologies to facilitate that. The topics addressed in the courses could cover subjects from any of the eight intelligence domains, such as terrorism (national security) or cybercrime (law enforcement). There are so many different possible topics covered in the IA degree that it is impossible to list them here, but many of them address security issues from various perspectives.
The BS in Intelligence Analysis is for students who want to become analysts in a variety of industries, including government and the private sector. Successful students communicate effectively, have broad interests in a wide variety of fields, are curious about all sorts of issues and problems, and enjoy learning and applying new technologies to understand them.
