Directorate of Analysis (DA) officers use their expertise, creativity, digital acumen, teamwork, and critical thinking to generate unique analytic insights that inform the highest levels of the US Government, including the President. Their mission is challenging, and the issues they seek to anticipate, understand, and explain are complex and evolving. During the DA’s more than 70-year history, DA tradecraft—how officers do what they do—has transformed. DA officers strive to stay ahead of the curve, and learn from both successes and failures, to identify and tackle new challenges.
Whether based at Headquarters or around the globe, DA officers at this very moment are tapping into their expertise and poring over intelligence—from publicly accessible data to highly sensitive information acquired at great risk and cost—to keep Americans safe.
A Learning Culture
Seeking out knowledge and creating new insight has been the foundation of the DA dating back to WWII when then-Colonel William Donovan established its predecessor, the Research and Analysis (R&A) Branch of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). He knew that the OSS needed a group of officers who would assess information from multiple sources to offer insight on key intelligence questions. Through the years, the DA has undergone numerous name iterations, starting as the Directorate of Intelligence in 1952, five years after the establishment of the CIA.
OSS veteran Sherman Kent was one of the DA’s most influential figures in its early years, and he made learning central to its culture. He championed intellectual rigor, conscious efforts to avoid bias, collective responsibility of judgment, precision of language, systematic use of outside experts to preempt analytic blind spots, and the need for close ties to the policy world to make our analysis relevant. This remains the DA’s ethos nearly eight decades later and serves as the basis for DA tradecraft today.
Successful DA officers not only evaluate what they think, they also reflect on why they think what they do, and—most importantly—what the implications could be. They routinely ask themselves “how might we be wrong?” and consider when it's time to reevaluate and adjust their analysis. This is key to the DA’s analytic integrity, and its officers always seek to learn from their successes and their mistakes. Challenging assumptions and acknowledging errors are not only important elements of DA tradecraft, they are essential to maintaining CIA’s credibility.
DA officers pursue comprehensive professional development throughout their careers. One of the first places they do this is at the Sherman Kent School, where officers are supported from their earliest days through a series of tradecraft learning opportunities, including the Career Analyst Program (CAP). CAP teaches all new DA officers the foundational skills of critical thinking, writing, and briefing, as well as how to maintain objectivity and integrity throughout their analytic career.
In addition to formal training, the DA encourages its officers to broaden their skills and grow their leadership through a range of experiences, inside and outside of the DA. This can include working on an interagency task force; taking a policy-related assignment at the State Department, the Department of Defense, or on the National Security Council; or serving elsewhere in the CIA or Intelligence Community. DA officers can also serve overseas or in full-time language or academic training.
A Vital Mission Grounded in Objectivity
Whether serving as a political analyst, cyber threat analyst, targeting analyst, data analyst, editor, interactive designer, or in another analytic position, a career in the DA involves drawing on all-source information to identify threats and opportunities or otherwise assess international developments and their broader implications for US and global interests. Officers proactively apply their expertise and critical thinking skills to protect national security.
The day-to-day work of an analyst entails quick thinking and supporting various intelligence customers (as we refer to them), including the President of the United States, senior national security officials and policymakers, and military commanders.
One of the toughest—yet most important—parts of the job is delivering information and insight that US officials need to know, but may not always agree with. Yet, seeking truth is what we at the CIA are about as an institution, as professionals, and individuals. The words, “and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free,” are chiseled into the marble at the main entrance of CIA Headquarters.
DA officers at all levels strive to guard against analytic bias or politicization. They fully explore analytic issues, evaluating information and identifying where gaps, blind spots, or alternative scenarios exist. They are not swayed by policymakers—rather, they provide honest, even-handed assessments of realities and possibilities.
The DA prizes the objectivity of its analysis, and every officer shares the responsibility to maintain it. The Agency even has an Ombudsperson for Analytic Objectivity, who serves the entire workforce and is independent from the DA’s organizational structure, to protect against the politicization of analysis.
Leveraging Technical Acumen Against Today’s Threats
How CIA executes its mission changes as threats evolve. An increasingly complex and digitally connected world poses new, exciting challenges that require analysts to find innovative ways to convey insights to policymakers. As emerging technology provides new and better ways to execute the Agency’s mission and creates novel and diverse areas to explore, the DA is at the forefront of CIA’s effort to make sense of the vast quantities of clandestine and open-source information that we collect every day. Simply put, it’s an exciting time to be in the DA.
For example, artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly shapes global society and presents opportunities and risks in ways that are critical to intelligence analysis. The DA was an early adopter of AI technology in the US Government, developing tools to enhance productivity and build expertise to inform policymakers. We are now supercharging those efforts, providing US policymakers decision advantage by delivering sophisticated, timely, and trustworthy analytic insights through the smart application of AI tools and methods, AI-accelerated processes, and expert understanding of the AI capabilities of US adversaries.
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If you would like to learn more about how there’s rarely a routine day in the DA, be sure to tune in to The Langley Files podcast episode in which former Director for Analysis Linda Weissgold shared her insights and experiences.