brought in basic training such as Fundamentals of Intelligence Analysis , Crime Analysis , and Writing and Presentation ; advanced courses such as Financial Crimes Analysis and Advanced Excel ; as well as specialty training in software such as Penlink and Analyst ’ s Notebook . Analysts from different Georgia law enforcement agencies , taking these courses together over the years , meant a more robust training experience for them and an expectation that completing these courses created a standard baseline of intelligence analyst training . Both GBI Intelligence Unit and GISAC Intelligence Analysts attended the GTIP training courses over the years with their local law enforcement analyst cohorts . In 2010 , the GBI Intelligence Unit was blended into GISAC , which became an all-crimes fusion center . This evolution and emphasis on the all-crimes approach , although accepted for some time , recognized the role that criminal activity has in acts of terrorism , and the need to have an all-encompassing view of threats to the homeland and to the safety and security of Georgia citizens , not just from terrorism but narcotics trafficking , gang violence , homicides , and other criminal actions . This blending of the two units however , showed the baseline GTIP training was working - terrorism analysts that had not done criminal analysis were able to , almost seamlessly , switch to working criminal cases and vice versa with the criminal analysts . The shift also brings an awareness to the analyst of the precursor indicator activities ( criminal or non-criminal ), whether related to terrorism or criminal incidents . These analysts had the skills to work investigations across programs and there was no reason not to think that analysts with the same training , skillset , and abilities would be able to bring that all-crimes view to their home agency .
A “ Good ” Analyst What defines a good intelligence analyst ? Operationally , an intelligence analyst often is defined by the work that they do – collect , organize , analyze , disseminate information and intelligence . To this can be added the core functions of an intelligence analyst *:
• To gather information , to understand it and the relevance or relationship of each piece to all the others .
• To develop this information objectively to arrive at an understanding of the whole .
• To communicate this understanding to others and so to put the intelligence process to practical use .
These core functions more specifically define what the analyst is doing at both the tactical and strategic aspects of intelligence work , but there is more to consider as to what intrinsically makes a person a good intelligence analyst . Each agency must define their own needs and determine what kinds of information and intelligence products they want to produce or provide . The agency ’ s needs will affect their choice of who should have the position of analyst . However , there are aspects of personality of an analyst that should be prized in addition of those that a law enforcement agency would require of all their employees , such as honesty , integrity , and being unprejudiced . It can be all too easy to slide an employee into the analyst role without careful thought of first , their interest , and second , an objective consideration of their personality traits . Some are listed below but are not all the attributes that can lead to a successful intelligence analyst .
• Critical thinker- thinking critically is a major asset to an intelligence analyst and although it has multiple inflections of definition , essentially , a critical thinker thinks not just about developing a conclusion from data , but also considers the process they are using to evaluate and reach said conclusion . In other words , they are both thinking and thinking about the thought process . It sounds circular but really is not .
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