Jonathan Jarrett

ENGL 2116
10/25/15
Annotated Bibliography
Intelligence Analysis
First Source:
Natioanl Security Agency. Career Pathsat the National Security Agency (NSA) - Intelligence
Analysis. 24 September 2015. Web page. 25 October 2015.
<https://www.nsa.gov/careers/career_fields/intela.shtml>.

As this is a federal government maintained website and its most recent review merely a month
ago, this website can be used as a viable source. This source is a collection of information that
the National Security Agency, a government agency of the United States has published about the
job details of an intelligence analyst. It was comically referred to as No Such Agency as a
huge building existed with no name or street address. The NSA was founded on November 4,
1952 by President Harry Truman after World War II, recognized previously as the Armed Forces
Security Agency and its major role in breaking codes that the Axis powers used during the war.
An intelligence analyst can come from virtually any field of study that has a specific
concentration area: computer science, mathematics, foreign languages (especially less studied
languages such as Korean or Mandarin Chinese), or others. Even music! As an analyst you
spend much of your time researching on your own technical problems using specific techniques.
You prepare both written and oral assessments of current events based on a lot of data that has
been presented with you.
As an intelligence analysis, you provide SIGINT (signals intelligence) to policymakers, military
commanders, and other people in the government to assist them with their jobs. Signals
intelligence is a type of intelligence gathering by a variety of other sources such as COMINT

(communications intelligence, ex. satellite-to-ground) or ELINT (electronic intelligence). While

other branches of the intelligence community such as the CIA, FBI, Department of Homeland
Security gather intelligence, the intelligence analysis works in one of these departments and sifts
through all of the information gathered to determine whether or not its useful to a certain topic
at hand. An example of this is the Presidential Daily Briefing. Every morning the President of
the United States receives a one to two page document containing the most important things that
are going on that they need to know about. The President also can request specific things to have
on the PDB. It is then the responsibility for a group of intelligence analysts to get this
information for the President. (Wikipedia)
To summarize this source, it is reliable as it is a federal government maintained website. This
career path is a viable choice for virtually any degree should they choose to go towards this. The
person should be ready to read a lot, do a lot of research on their own, and be able to say a lot in
very few words. As an analysis you may only write one briefing every month, but the brief you
write will be the best half-page of information that policymaker will need.
Second Source:
Investigation, Federal Bureau of. BI - Intelligence Analysts: Subject Matter Expects. n.d. Web
page. 25 October 2015. <https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/august/intelligenceanalysts-subject-matter-experts/intelligence-analysts>.
This source is on a federal government maintained website, giving it reliability. The Federal
Bureau of Investigation is the United States prime federal law enforcement agency, providing
intelligence and security service. They are part of the intelligence community and play a huge
role in intelligence analysis. Before taking its name as the FBI, it was called the Bureau of
Investigation in 1908 and renamed later in 1935. (Wikipedia)

Being an intelligence analyst allows you to work for the FBI or CIA without carrying around a
gun or handcuffs. You come to a desk to read for hours at a time and then make a short memo
about it that a policymaker reads. Because of this, every sentence needs to be very short and to
the point. It needs to be quickly consumable so that you do not waste the policymakers time.
Active voice means making the subject act upon the verb, rather than the subject be acted upon.
Take for instance this sentence: Mail was delivered by the mailman. We can convert this into
active by saying: The mailman delivered the mail. If we were really trying to simplify it
because we needed more space on the page, we could just say: Mail was delivered. Instead of
being verbose, you should ask Do I really need this word? Is it important that the mailman be
mentioned? Does it matter that the mail was delivered at all? A policymaker may spend about
thirty seconds reading something that you have worked weeks or months on. In addition to this,
you may be called into a conference with this person to talk more about the subject.
Analysts come from all types of backgrounds. However, all analysts have the same job. As you
are tasked to gather data for a specific event (ex. increase in communication between two
countries), you will need to analyze the data gathered and extract all essential information. Not
only should you be able to look at things at a smaller detail, but also as they are all together. You
have to be able to put all the pieces together from tons of different sources and put this into one
document that can be distributed to others that is easily understandable. You are doing all of this
work so that others who need to know about this dont have to.
I view both of these sites as great resources because they are maintained by the federal
government and cannot be edited by other people. I believe that the articles themselves are great
at describing the qualities that you need to have to be an intelligence analyst, but not really what
its like to be an intelligence analyst. I have included information that I have from other classes

in order to fully explain what it is like to be an intelligence analyst. It would not be right to
simply explain what the job is and not what it is like. The job is doing months of research to
have your paper critiqued and reviewed for every single word, and then read for thirty seconds
and then filed away, potentially never to be read again. While that may seem bleak, its a very
interesting job to some and may be a great match for some people. This particular topic relates
to nearly every field there is, especially computer science involving cybersecurity.

Bibliography
Investigation, Federal Bureau of. BI - Intelligence Analysts: Subject Matter Expects.
n.d. Web page. 25 October 2015.
<https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/august/intelligence-analysts-subjectmatter-experts/intelligence-analysts>.
Natioanl Security Agency. Career Pathsat the National Security Agency (NSA) Intelligence Analysis. 24 September 2015. Web page. 25 October 2015.
<https://www.nsa.gov/careers/career_fields/intela.shtml>.
Wikipedia. Federal Bureau of Investigation - Wikipedia. 25 October 2015. Web site.
October 25 2015.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation>.
. President's Daily Brief - Wikipedia. 19 September 2015. Web page. 25 October
2015.