A CONCEPT OF EDUCATION FOR THE INTELLIGENCE PROFESSION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP05T00644R000401310011-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 23, 2009
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: June 23, 1980
• Content Type: MEMO

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'NFAC- .Vfi'_ a
ER 80-7212/2
23 June 1980
MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director for Administration
Deputy Director for National Foreign Assessment /
Deputy Director for Operations
Deputy Director for Science and Technology
FROM
pecia Assistant to the DDCI
SUBJECT : A Concept of Education for the Intelligence
Profession
1. Attached is Don Smith's concept paper on education for the
intelligence profession. This subject was discussed with you at the
DCI/DDs meeting on 11 June.
2. Please review and be prepared to discuss at the next DCI/DDs
meeting. Any comments you may have on this paper before then should
be addressed to Don Smith.
Attachment
As stated
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RUT
OTR 80-1075
19 June 1980
MEMORANDUM
FROM: Donald E. Smith
Director of Training
SUBJECT: A Concept of Education for the Intelligence Profession
1. The meeting with the Director and the four Deputy
Directors on 11 June concluded with the requirement to prepare
a concept paper which outlines the proposed educational program
for intelligence officers. This proposal is an outgrowth of
discussions with the Director during his visit to the Office of
Training on 27 May in which the lack of a professional curriculum
for promising intelligence officers was discussed at some length.
2. To consider the function of education in this context,
it is necessary to start with the intelligence profession itself.
To be a fully developed and authentic profession, intelligence
should exhibit at least three characteristics. The profession
must rest on a systematic body of knowledge of substantial
intellectual content. It must embody the acquisition of a body
of principles and skills for the application of this knowledge to
specific cases. It must have instruments and procedures for the
enforcement of standards and the advancement of professional
knowledge.
3. Intelligence has made strides toward meeting these
professional criteria, but several important deficiencies
must be overcome before it meets them fully. One critical
problem turns on the question of professional education. Up
to the present, the ranks of professional intelligence
officers have been filled with individuals having a wide
variety of academic specializations and prior work experience
and who receive, upon entry, general orientation and skills
training courses. At subsequent points in their careers, they
may be enrolled in some of the large number of specialized and
highly pragmatic courses offered by the Office of Training and
they may attend external instructional programs.
Downgrade to Unclassified
Upon Removal of Attachment
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SUBJECT: A Concept of Education for the Intelligence Profession
4. What is lacking is an integrated program of professional
studies which educates intelligence personnel in the principles
and values pertinent to the intelligence profession, and
which enables them to gain necessary professional understanding
and molding.
S. A professional education program needs a number of
building blocks. A body of professional literature is a
vital first ingredient. Much is available in classified
and unclassified form through the publication Studies in
Intelligence, the monographs produced by DCI Fellows, tie
seminar reports of the Center for the Study of Intelligence,
papers by consultants of the Murphy and Rockefeller Commissions,
and academics writing for professional journals and periodical
literature. This body of material is, however, in disarray. It
needs to be collated and reviewed with a critical eye; selected
materials should be replicated in a form which can be used in a
professional studies program. The work of the Center for the
Study of Intelligence should be'strengthened and efforts made to
focus on gaps in professional literature. Concurrent with this
effort, a library function must be established at a level
adequate to enable the literature to be used in an intensive
and intellectually demanding curriculum.
6. Curricula and faculty are indivisible. A core
curriculum should be planned around in-depth study of the
intelligence process as total system and set of subsystems.
Subsystems comprise the collection function, processing of
sensor data and other "raw" materials, the analytical function
with coverage of both the traditional approach and the newer
quantitative methods and interdisciplinary approaches, and
a detailed examination of the intelligence producer-policy
consumer interface. As total system, the core curriculum
should examine the various products of the Agency, its
governance and feedback mechanisms, planning, and tasking.
Finally, it should take the student through the managerial
aspects of intelligence work, including resource application,
principles of leadership and organization theory, and particularly
the professional values and standards which managers must
uphold as intelligence professionals.
O EC 1 T
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S acv::
SUBJECT: A Concept of Education for the Intelligence Profession
7. As fully developed, the curriculum should be stratified
for three levels: the molding of the new intelligence officer,
the mind-broadening and horizon-broadening of the mid-level officer,
and restimulation and refocusing of the senior person. Some
elements in the core curriculum should be covered at each
level but in different degrees of detail, difficulty, and
perspective. Other elements of detail would be focused primarily
at a single level. After drawing on the "educational elements"
already available in the OTR program, some areas which need to be
added or strengthened are economic analysis, basic scientific
principles, legislative behavior, bureaucratic analysis, planning
techniques, legal-ethical issues in intelligence history and the
dynamics of intelligence organizations, social science method-
ologies, feedback mechanisms in physical science and in social
organizations, management science, and policy analysis and design.
A large number of applicable case studies also need to be developed.
(Attachment A sets out core curriculum.)
8. Some general policy concerning learning should be
specified. All elements of the curriculum should be predicated
on the intellectual involvement of the student and should
require constant and active student involvement in the learning
process. Extensive required readings from the body of pro-
fessional literature, student research projects, discussions
in seminar based on assignments, and heavy reliance on case
studies to be drawn from intelligence work should be emphasized.
Consideration should be given to a rigorous evaluation of student
performance, such as "high pass"-"pass"-fail", and lack of effort
should result in return to assignment short of course completion.
9. Faculty is critical. The faculty, some full-time staff
on assignment, others with adjunct appointments, and still others
who are recognized experts and participate on a guest basis,
should all meet a standard of excellence. Individuals who are
specialists in intelligence process subsystems are needed,
providing they possess the additional ability to understand how
their specialty is part of the professional whole and can reflect
and articulate effectively. Carefully selected academicians
on sabbaticals would be especially valuable, and the research
opportunities as DCI Fellows in the Center for the Study of
Intelligence would be an attraction for them.
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SUBJECT: A Concept of Education for the Intelligence Profession
10. The student selection process must be dovetailed
into the new Senior Officer Development Program (SODP) now
being developed by O/PPPM. OTR will work with O/PPPM to ensure
that planning for attendance be an integral element of the
pattern of assignment and other SODP developmental activities.
11. In order to get the program under way, it would be
best to undertake a transition effort during 1980-81 of about
16 weeks duration which is designed to lead to a full-scale
program in future years. The attendees during the first
program would be drawn from the SODP feeder group which is
comprised of highly promising GS-13s through GS-15s some of
whom might otherwise be attending the Midcareer Course or CIA
Senior Seminar. Attachment A sets out in broad form an illus-
trative curriculum which would provide the basis for more de-
tailed curriculum planning for the first year. Attachment B
examines how the new program would mesh with ongoing OTR courses
which have been tied to the. Personnel Development Program.
12. These are some general thoughts. Detailed planning
is needed in terms of curriculum and faculty. Questions of
resources--facilities, personnel positions, funding and space--
are critical and require study and decisions. Time is the most
critical factor and we must push ahead as speedily as possible
a
r. /j
if the new program is to be run this ye
Director of Training
Attachments:
As Stated
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