GU International Law Discussion

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FhenNymnznav

Law

Georgetown University

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1. Describe how the -INTS contributed to the capture of Bin Laden.

2. What are the most common analytic traps that intelligence and policymakers suffer from?

3. What are your recommendations to mitigate this (question 2)?

Explanation & Answer:
500 words
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Explanation & Answer

View attached explanation and answer. Let me know if you have any questions.Hey buddy. Here is question 2 and 3. I am working on question 1 as you just made clarification on it. Thanks.

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International Law Questions

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2

International Law Questions
Question #1: (I will be sending it soon).
Question #2: Common Analytic Traps that Intelligence and Policymakers Suffer from
The intelligence community and policymakers are charged with gathering and analyzing
a voluminous amount of data to aid in maintaining national security and other interests of the
country (Wright, 2018). However, with all the merits of intelligence agents and policymakers,
they unconsciously make analytic mistakes. Heuristics are common analytic traps that inhibit the
work of intelligent agents and policymakers. Heuristics can be defined as the generally accepted
rules of thumb that are mentally hard-wired to quicken judgment and routine decision-making.
They are short-cuts that intelligent agents can conclude by thoroughly analyzing every decision
they have to make (Wright, 2018). Intelligent failures have historically occurred due to these
cognitive biases, including representative heuristic, availability heuristic, and anchoring and
adjustment heuristic. Representativeness heuristic occurs when the intelligent agent or
policymaker analyzes the possibility of an event’s occurrence “by the similarity of that
occurrence to their stereotypes of similar occurrence” (Wright, 2018, p. 3). Availability heuristic
occurs when an emotional but imagined event is more available from memory than an
unemotional event. Anchoring and adjustment heuristic is when the intelligence agent starts their
initial point (anchor) with historical precedents and facts before making adjustments for their
conclusion. Heuristics, therefore, distorts the process of analyzing facts about data leading to
inconclusive judgment. Another common analytical trap is mirror-imaging which emanates from
the personality trap (Witlin, 2008). In other words, an intelligence analyst, regardless of their
level of experience, maybe unwilling to evaluate all variants of what seems reasonable. As a
result, they fail to look beyond their ego to the merits of a legitimate question they perceive as a

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personal attack. The occurrence of such traps makes it hard for intelligence analysts to be biased
unconsciously, which works to the negative of an investigation (Witlin, 2008). As such,
intelligence analysts should find a way to constantly remind themselves about the intelligence
standards to uph...


Anonymous
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