Who is THE ANALYST?

As her name implies, THE ANALYST is a professional analyst.  Upon graduating from Georgetown University with a degree in Science, Technology, and International Affairs, she started her analytic career as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy.

After five years of military service, ANALYST eagerly settled into her new job as an intelligence analyst with a certain three-lettered government agency.  It takes a distinct type of personality to work in this field.  Like most of her colleagues, ANALYST is an unambiguous introvert and doesn’t mind spending long days in windowless rooms while researching complex technical issues. 

Quality analysis involves more than just collecting “the facts” and assembling them into a finished product, as if putting together the pieces of a puzzle.  Intelligence analysis is more like trying to assemble a puzzle when half the pieces are missing and you don’t know what the picture looks like on the top of the box.  Plus, someone threw in thousands of pieces that go with different puzzles altogether.  And then, for reasons that may or may not be malicious in nature, other people mixed in random pieces designed to LOOK like they belong to your puzzle but they actually don’t.  Maybe the pieces fit together on one side, but not the other.  It’s easy to see why intelligence analysis can be a frustrating endeavor.

One of the main reasons intelligence analysis is so challenging is because it deals with ambiguous, ambivalent, and incomplete data.  When the human brain confronts this type of information, it usually relies on certain subconscious mental processes to interpret the info at hand.  These mental models are essential for making sense of the world, but they also lead to common analytical traps.

Professional analysts spend their careers developing specialized skill sets to help them avoid these cognitive pitfalls.  While working for Said Government Agency, ANALYST won a coveted Fulbright award to further study the art of analysis in the United Kingdom, where she earned a master’s degree from the University of St. Andrews.  ANALYST focused on a branch of International Relations theory that involves uncovering hidden assumptions and exploring alternative scenarios.  It was in this academic setting, with her head swimming in dense theoretical essays, that her professional interest in analysis and her personal interest in cellulite first came together.

**Interested in learning more about the art of intelligence analysis?  You can download Dick Heuer’s seminal book, The Psychology of Intelligence Analysis, for FREE from the CIA’s online library.  Be sure to let THE ANALYST know what you think!