Intelligence: Practice, Problems and Prospects
This MIT OpenCourseWare course examines the organization and functions of the U.S. Intelligence Community and its relationship with national security policymakers. Lectures and readings cover the intelligence cycle, analytic tradecraft, covert action, and oversight, framed against the reorganization triggered by the National Security Act of 1947 and the post-9/11 creation of the Director of National Intelligence. The course looks closely at how the invasion of Iraq exposed failures in intelligence assessment and what reforms followed. Materials include a syllabus, assigned readings on agency structure and case studies of intelligence failures and successes, and discussion topics on the balance between secrecy and accountability. As with other MIT OCW offerings, all course materials are free to access, with no certificate offered. The course suits students interested in how intelligence agencies inform, and sometimes mislead, national decision-making.