Work through the intelligence cycle: requirements, collection, processing, analysis, delivery, feedback, and re-tasking. You will use a simple case to see how a question becomes a finished briefing.

Handle the main source types used in intelligence: human reporting, signals, imagery, measurement data, open sources, and official records. The focus is on what each source can show, what it can miss, and how analysts compare them.

Read declassified cables, estimates, maps, briefings, and oversight reports without getting lost. You will practice spotting dates, caveats, classifications, source notes, and confidence language.

Follow the CIA’s roots from World War II’s Office of Strategic Services to the National Security Act of 1947. This chapter explains why the United States built a permanent civilian foreign intelligence service.

Trace how the early Cold War shaped the CIA’s mission, culture, tools, and risks. Cases from Europe, Asia, and the nuclear age show how intelligence became tied to containment and crisis management.

Study major Cold War crises, intelligence successes, and failures using declassified records. You will connect collection limits, political pressure, secrecy, and flawed assumptions to real outcomes.

See how the CIA changed after the Soviet Union collapsed, as regional conflicts, terrorism, proliferation, and globalization moved to the center. This chapter shows why institutions built for one era had to adapt to another.

Follow the changes after September 11, including counterterrorism centers, paramilitary partnerships, drones, detention controversies, and intelligence reform. The chapter separates what changed in law, organization, technology, and public debate.

Use structured methods such as key assumptions checks, competing hypotheses, indicators, timelines, and red teaming. You will practice making judgments that are clearer, testable, and less driven by bias.

Turn evidence into a short written assessment with a bottom line, confidence level, sourcing, and caveats. The goal is to write for busy decision-makers without overstating what the evidence supports.

Build briefings that answer the decision-maker’s question, not just the analyst’s favorite facts. You will practice framing judgments, handling uncertainty, and answering follow-up questions.

Study human intelligence as a managed government activity with legal controls, source validation, security risks, and moral limits. This chapter stays at the policy and oversight level rather than operational instruction.

See how communications, radar, electronic emissions, and digital signals can become intelligence. You will focus on capabilities, constraints, privacy issues, and how signals reporting supports analysis.

Work with maps, satellite images, terrain, infrastructure, and time-based change. You will practice asking what imagery can prove, what it only suggests, and when other sources are needed.

Use public records, news, academic work, corporate data, social media, maps, and archives responsibly. This chapter covers verification, source tracing, translation issues, and the danger of mistaking visibility for truth.

Follow how foreign governments try to steal secrets, influence officials, and mislead analysts. You will study counterintelligence failures and the habits that reduce deception and insider risk.

Separate analysis, diplomacy, military action, covert action, and law enforcement so their roles do not blur. This chapter covers the legal approvals, oversight expectations, and public controversies around covert action at a high level.

Learn the main rules that govern the CIA: statutes, executive orders, Attorney General guidelines, congressional oversight, inspectors general, and internal review. You will see how secrecy and democratic accountability are meant to coexist.

Study classification levels, need-to-know rules, records handling, leaks, whistleblowing channels, and declassification. This chapter explains why secrecy protects real work but can also create serious public trust problems.

Follow one realistic intelligence workflow from a policymaker’s request through collection planning, source evaluation, analysis, briefing, feedback, and later review. You will see where judgment, coordination, and accountability enter the work.

Examine how cyber operations, digital surveillance, encryption, malware, cloud systems, and foreign hacking changed intelligence work. The focus is on roles, risks, coordination, and policy choices rather than technical attack steps.

See how commercial satellites, location data, shipping data, flight tracking, and other private-sector datasets changed what outsiders and governments can know. You will practice weighing powerful data against legality, bias, and privacy concerns.

Study how social platforms, influence campaigns, bot networks, leaks, and synthetic media affect intelligence and national security. You will practice tracing claims, separating persuasion from evidence, and spotting uncertainty.

See where machine learning helps with translation, image triage, pattern detection, document search, and warning systems. This chapter also covers false confidence, model bias, human review, and accountability for AI-assisted judgments.

Study how China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, terrorist networks, transnational crime, climate stress, pandemics, and supply chains shape current CIA priorities. You will connect long-term strategy to daily intelligence questions.

Look at public controversies involving covert action, detention, targeted killing, surveillance, politicization, and intelligence failures. The goal is to build judgment about power, harm, responsibility, and reform.

Build a final portfolio using declassified material: a source review, timeline, structured analysis, written assessment, and briefing slides. The project shows that you can reason carefully without needing access to classified information.

Finish with the paths connected to CIA knowledge: public service, analysis, language study, area expertise, cybersecurity, law, oversight, journalism, archives, and research. You will see what skills, clearances, degrees, certifications, and proof-of-skill artifacts matter for different routes.