For this week’s discussion board assignment, imagine you are an intelligence analyst for the Department of
Homeland Security assigned to the Office of Intelligence and Analysis (DHS-OIA). In light of recent threats
within the United States and increasing scrutiny and criticism regarding failures within the U.S. Intelligence
Community, you have been asked by senior DHS executives to provide them with an overview of the
intelligence cycle. In this overview, you are to specifically detail which phase in the cycle, in your opinion,
would be most susceptible to an intelligence failure and why. In addition, you have been asked to provide
recommendations based on your expert experience to prevent failures in that phase.
For your initial response posting, write 400–600 words that respond to the following questions with your
thoughts, ideas, and comments. This will be the foundation for future discussions by your classmates. Be
substantive and clear, and use examples to reinforce your ideas:
Which phase of the intelligence cycle do you feel is most susceptible to an intelligence failure? Why?
Be sure to justify your response with sufficient supporting research.
Do you think the failures have been occurring for some time, or are they relatively new developments?
Explain.
What 2 recommendations can you make to the U.S. intelligence community that you feel may help in
preventing those failures from occurring? Explain.
How difficult would it be to implement your proposed solutions? Why?
Which phase in the intelligence cycle do you think is the least susceptible to failure? Why?