Abstract
ABSTRACT The CIA Directorate of Analysis (DA) has conducted post-production evaluations of its analytic assessments to measure and improve their quality since the 1980s. This paper will examine those efforts, conducted by small staffs, which developed criteria used to evaluate systemically the analytic strengths and weaknesses of products provided to senior policymakers. However, for decades these evaluations were regularly restricted and disseminated primarily to a few supervisors and senior managers. Efforts to improve analytic tradecraft – through post-mortems, new training materials, and wide distribution of such product evaluations – briefly improved in 2016, when championed by CIA top officials. At that time the Quality Evaluation Program (QEP) posted analytic products and their evaluations on CIA’s secure, internal web for all analysts to see. Moreover, cumulative results revealed systemic strengths and weaknesses, and in several cases the QEP suggested remedial actions. For undisclosed reasons – but most likely in a ‘shoot the messenger’ reaction – the QEP faced internal resistance and largely died out in 2018. The paper will examine the purposes, results, and challenges of such efforts.
Published Version
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