COM Quiz Study Guide

What is the core mission of the U.S. Intelligence Community? What four key
functions does it involve?

What is the core mission of the U.S. Intelligence Community? What four key
functions does it involve?

providing policy officials with decision advantage.

what is the role of intelligence analysts

being Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) who offer actionable insights to their customers without having primary responsibility for how those insights are used

What is the single most important difference between intelligence analysis
writing and most academic writing?

BLUF and active voice. Provide readers with our main analytic message up front.

How does a good KIQ help? What are the five characteristics of a good KIQ?

Helps focus on the message.

5 characteristics: relevant, non-trivial, actionable, timely, precisely worded

What does AIMS stand for?

Audience, Issue, Message, Storyline

What are the 5-Ws and an H questions?

Who, What, Where, When, Why, How

What’s induction, deduction, and abduction reasoning?

induction = specific (examples) to general

deduction = from the general (theory) to specific

abduction = from the effects back to the cause

What are the 5 collection disciplines (INTs)?

OSINT, SIGINT, HUINT, GEOINT, MASINT

What is the difference between System 1 and System 2 thinking? What are the
strengths and limitations of each?

System 1 = reverse to intuitive understanding, pulling evidence together quickly + past experiences. Subjective to biases (rush to conclusion)

System 2 = more analytic, scientific. Test what you have assumed initially

What are the six cognitive biases that we discussed in class?

What are assumptions, biases, and mindsets and paradigms?

Can we get rid of all our assumptions?

No, we carefully discern and weigh all the assumptions we make

What do we mean by active voice versus passive voice? Can you recognize the
difference between sentences that are in active versus passive voice?

Active = Subject → Action → Object

Passive = Object → Being acted upon → by Subject

What are the three types of sentences that we use in intelligence writing?

Fact, reporting, analysis

What responsibilities do we have for “fact” sentences?

Have done research, be confident that reader will accept facts as facts (not questioning what you wrote)

What responsibilities do we have for “reporting?

attributing to sources plus without hidden analytic leaps

What responsibilities do we have for “first-person analytic judgments?”

probabilistic language must be used

Do we ever use the second person (“you”) in intel writing?

no. never

What is the correct format for a title for a brief or article?

COUNTRY: Capitalize Words Like This or Fail

Which types of sentences belongs in the Development section of a brief?

Facts & Reporting.

Which type of sentences belongs in the Analysis section of a brief?

analytic judgements.

How do the purpose and focus of an intelligence article differ from an intelligence brief?

Articles look at bigger picture of trends, implications etc.

In an intelligence article, how is the Background paragraph similar to and
different from the Development paragraph in a brief?

Difference = doesn’t contain all of the facts and reporting for entire piece, can have 2 para

similar = facts and reporting

In an intelligence article, what role do the analytic steppingstones play?

build analytic call, like building blocks.

In an intelligence article, how is the Outlook and Implications similar to and different from the Analysis paragraph in a brief?

Similar = elaboration of BLUF, MAIN analytic message

Difference = can be 2 paragraphs, sees how stones build up to this and the future ‘implications’

What are the differences between collaboration, coordination, and cooperation
as we defined them in class? Which is the highest level of co-ownership?

Collaboration is highest in the hierarchy

What should our key goals be in managing conflict?

Don’t suppress differences, or be rude to a person/organization. Take advantage of different situations

Can we report on actions of the US Government or US persons? Can we report
on foreign reactions to what the US has done? When then would we
appropriately refer to the US President (POTUS)?

No, but can report on what a foreign country is doing in response to what the U.S. did

What overall roles does the effective use of Structured Analytic Techniques
(SATs) play? Do SATs replace substantive expertise or make it irrelevant?

Tools to help us add rigor to our intuitive understanding

What is the Starbusrting SAT?

generating multiple questions from the 5 Ws and H questions

What is the issue redefinition SAT?

intended to push us to think if we might reframe our KIQ slightly to optimize any added value

What is the analysis of competing Hypotheses?

aka “ACH”… t begins with a complete set of non-overlapping hypotheses: to the extent possible, the hypotheses being considered should cover all possibilities and be mutually exclusive.

What is Diagnostic Reasoning?

application of hypothesis testing to a new development or source of intelligence or piece of information

What is the Key Assumptions Check?

facilitators may ask the standard 5-Ws-and-an-H questions, but posed as questions about assumptions.

ex: are we assuming that the conditions will remain constant?

What is Devil’s Advocacy?

critiquing a proposed analytic judgment, plan, or decision, usually by a single analyst not previously
involved in decision-making or analysis

What is pre-mortem analysis?

asks us to imagine that our analytic line turned out in the future to be wrong and ask how we got there,

What is red team analysis?

a process for viewing an analytic problem from the perspective of one’s adversary or competitor.

It is intended to reduce risk

What does SAT stand for?

Structured Analytic Technique