ABSTRACT
Designing the educational curricula for undergraduate intelligence analysis programs is inherently difficult, as they entail highly complex, interwoven degree structures that integrate liberal arts knowledge with professional skills in novel combinations. This chapter discusses the concepts from existing educational literature to develop an evaluative framework for intelligence analysis programs in the United States and then applies that framework to James Madison University’s intelligence analysis program as a case study. It argues that challenges and tensions can arise from efforts to combine liberal arts with professional education, which highlight difficulties of achieving both simultaneously due to the tradeoffs involved. Academic studies of intelligence education have not yet used the educational literature to create a conceptual baseline for evaluation purposes. Procedural knowledge—to include knowledge about intelligence analysis—provides contextual knowledge about the working conditions and environment of the intelligence analyst. As the James Madison University Intelligence Analysis program shows, there is significant value to intelligence analysis as an undergraduate professional degree.
