FURTHER REFLECTIONS ON PROPOSALS FOR ANALYST TRAINING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-06213A000100110003-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 16, 2005
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: July 24, 1974
• Content Type: MFR

Approved Fc elease 2005/11/21: CIA-RDP78-0621 000100110003-8
24 July 1974
MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD
SUBJECT: Further Reflections on Proposals for Analyst
Training
1. The Report, like the various
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very clear: To meet future requirements successfully,
intelligence planning for the long run will have to cope
with a world that is growing more complex at geometric
rates and in which present day conventional wisdom may
become obsolete at an equally rapid pace. Implicit in
this view is the concept that the sophistication of analysis
must be stepped up to permit intelligence, which by its
nature is forward looking, to keep abreast with the dynamic
world in which it must function. From these observations
it is evident that a forward-looking training program must
attend to anticipated requirements for retooling in both
substance and methodology.
Having established this point, the
ether with most of the commentators
to
Report
,
g
on the Report, have moved on to discuss particular proposals
the modification of the present training program to
f
or
meet future needs. Each commentator has advanced suggestions
from his own experience and wisdom to steer the program in
worthwhile directions. But almost no one has applied opera-
tional methodology available today to explore systematically,
questions such as the following:
What is the present level of analytical.
attainment of analysts coming on board
currently?
(b) What are the remedial requirements in
analytical methodology for analysts
now on board?
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(c) Within how long a time frame should
plans be made at the present time for
future updating of analytical skills?
(d) At what quality level must recruiting
occur to acquire analysts with needed.
growth potential?
(e) In terms of scarce Agency resources,
what means can be devised to rate
reliably the effectiveness of competing
proposals for Agency training activities,
present and suggested?
(f) Which programs are so i_nte l l i gp.nrr?
oriented as to. require in-house training?
Which of these could most efficiently be
provided by the Agency or other components
in the intelligence community for Agency
personnel or the personnel of other members
of the community?
(g) To what extent can substantive programs
concerned with regional or international
developments be met cooperatively within
the Government or by the programs of
other agencies?
These are some of the questions to which it would seem that
management skills could now be applied to resolving the
questions of the broad lines along which Agency planning
should proceed, both in the immediate and in the long-range
planning period.
3. There is another category of issues that require
consultation and thought before a meaningful training program
can be developed:
(a) By what procedures will the flexibility
of middle and tipper management be main-
tained in order to insure a receptive
attitude towards changes in the intelli-
gence situation as well as advances in
analytical methods?
(b) How can means be established to :insure
that training courses will be available
to meet both orientation needs and
the requirement for the attainment
of operational competence?
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NNOW
(c) How can individual Agency components
be insured an appropriate voice in
the shaping of training courses
relevant to their interests?
(d) Are training courses most effectively
manned by a career instructional staff,
or by the rotation of instructo:,s
from operational units, or by other
means?
4. While much wisdom has been applied to the training
problem by the authors of the Report
and its commentators and critics, insufficient attention
has been, g i_ven thus f wr to the anp1 i ca.ti.on of systematic
analysis to the question of what to do about the matter.
Before the Report is distributed to the remaining Directo-
rates for comment, it is recommended that it be remanded to
the Director of Training for further study. While it may
be optimistic to think that the problem can be solved by
the application of operational analysis, it should be possible
at least to formulate a series of objectives which a forward
looking training program should seek to attain--not pie-in-
the-sky objectives, but realistic goals. Given a framework,
of objectives, problems, or any other pragmatic rubrics that
make sense, it should be possible to relate present and
future needs to resources, to develop a more systematic
approach to the development of a challenging and responsive
training program.
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Comments of ADDS&T
1. Survey of Intelligence- Collection and Processing, appears to be
inappropriately named. Since it is focused on intelligence research and
reporting processes, the topics that would seem to be explicitly excluded
are collection and processing.
2. Why are DDS&T consideration excluded from the Estimative Exercises
course. A m r problem in thn / gency involves the intelligent Simi l ti
tion of technical and technological considerations in broad gauge estimates.
3. The Seminar on Intelligence and National Policy should concern
itself explicitly with the role and objectives of intelligence in an
arms control milieu.
4. The substantive Advanced Seminar suggested might well be supported
by OTR but appear to be attempts to answer specific intelligence questions
now being addressed -- or at least would be more properly addressed -- by
production offices within the Agency or by other agencies altogether.
The goal of pursuing them would be to produce finished intelligence --- or
scientific research --- rather than having "utility in improving the ultimate
intelligence products", a far more generalized goal.
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2 2 AUG 1974
Comments from C/OD to D/OEL:
Problems of keeping pace with world change are
inherent to government conducted training programs.
As a result, the best return on resources is
normally achieved by:
1. Basic skills training.
2. Mid. management cross fertilization
such as offered by the mid-career
course.
3. Specialized university and/or industry
programs for senior management and
technical personnel.
The senior and/or advanced seminars.are
probably more beneficial as a "change of pace" than
an intellectual or professional experience.
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