Teaching Structured Analytic Techniques across Nations: Same, Same but Different

Abstract

The implementation and evolution of structured analytic techniques (SATs) steadily advanced across several North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Intelligence Communities (ICs) post–11 September 2001, with an aim to enhance analytic rigor to prevent intelligence failures. Despite SATs’ widespread adoption, there remains a lack of consensus and uniformity in their application across nations and agencies, resulting in varied teaching and implementation approaches. Current research often overlooks these differences, leading to a distorted understanding of SATs’ effectiveness. This article investigates SATs’ teaching methodologies within and beyond the Anglosphere, revealing significant transatlantic and interagency divides. While the American approach treats SATs as discrete tools, European methods emphasize a more comprehensive methodological framework. Moreover, within Europe, there exists a distinction between an old and new generation of analysts, with the latter having received SATs training from the beginning and seeing the value of a social science–based methodological approach to intelligence analysis. The research found that a collaborative, creative application of SATs, coupled with critical thinking and sensemaking, can bolster analytic rigor and improve intelligence support to decisionmaking. This assertion draws from the educational experiences of Norwegian intelligence specialists, feedback from Ukrainian officers, and research within the UK IC, suggesting a path to professionalize intelligence analysis education in Europe.