Rhetorical Analysis Blog
Assignment:
For this blog entry, select a scholarly article from the Hunt Library on a subject that
interests you.
Write a blog in which you:
Identify the elements of the rhetorical situation
▪ Topic - the subject
▪ Writer and role - the creator(s) of the article and attitude toward topic
▪ Audience - the readers (both primary and secondary audience).
▪ Purpose - the reason for writing (informative or persuasive)
Select 3-4 rhetorical strategies from the text
▪ Form (organization and format)
▪ Style (sentence design, word choice, and use if figurative language)
▪ Types of evidence/support (facts, quotes, statistics, case studies, etc.)
▪ Appeal to logos (logic)
▪ Appeal to ethos (credibility)
▪ Appeal to pathos (emotions)
Analyze those strategies
▪ Identify the strategy
▪ Give an example from the text
Evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies
▪ Explain why the strategy successfully appeals to the audience (or why it does
not).
▪ Explain how the strategy accomplishes (or does not) the author’s purpose.
General Format of the Rhetorical Analysis Essay
▪ The introduction should include the title and author of the text to be analyzed,
along with a link to the article, some background on the topic and your thesis
statement.
▪ The thesis statement should be a claim about the overall effectiveness of the
text.
▪ The body paragraphs describe the text’s rhetorical situation and then describe
and analyze several of the rhetorical strategies.
▪ The brief conclusion should summarize points about the text’s overall
effectiveness and explore possible future implications.
ENGL 123 September 2017
International Journal of Intelligence and
CounterIntelligence
ISSN: 0885-0607 (Print) 1521-0561 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujic20
A Good Intelligence Analyst
Michael Douglas Smith
To cite this article: Michael Douglas Smith (2017) A Good Intelligence Analyst,
International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, 30:1, 181-185, DOI:
10.1080/08850607.2016.1230708
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2016.1230708
Published online: 02 Nov 2016.
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Date: 29 November 2017, At: 18:24
International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, 30: 181–185, 2017
Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0885-0607 print=1521-0561 online
DOI: 10.1080/08850607.2016.1230708
COMMENTARY
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MICHAEL DOUGLAS SMITH
A Good Intelligence Analyst
A few days after I drafted the following list of attributes for an introductory class
on intelligence analysis, this journal published a short thought piece by Mark
Lowenthal and Ronald Marks titled ‘‘Intelligence Analysis: Is It As Good as
It Gets?’’1 The authors pointed out, correctly I believe, that analysts are no
more clairvoyant than their audience, and any expectations of infallibility
must be removed from the objective discussion of successful analysis. What
good analysts can do, however, is to bring critical insight to a national
security issue and submit that insight in timely products to policymakers.
Accordingly, my take on the attributes of a good intelligence analyst are:
A Good Intelligence Analyst is Curious about This World
This may seem obvious but many people become expert in an area that does
not need knowledge of the world and its people. An analyst who looks
beyond a single specialty often finds influences and connections that
provide better insight into an assigned topic. Serendipitous connections are
not only fun but may provide the unique insight that elevates an analytical
product above its competitors.
A Good Intelligence Analyst Has a Passion for ‘‘Something’’
An analyst is hired for expertise in a field and the day-to-day work can lessen
the time available for continued exploration of the field that got him=her
Dr. Michael Douglas Smith is adjunct Professor of Intelligence Analysis at the
Daniel Morgan Academy, Washington, DC. He is a retired CIA officer. Holder
of an M.A. and Ph.D. in Russian History from Florida State University,
Dr. Smith has taught at the Joint Military Intelligence College and served as
a contract instructor at the CIA’s Sherman Kent School for Intelligence
Analysis and for the Director of National Intelligence.
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182
MICHAEL DOUGLAS SMITH
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hired in the first place. Carving out a regular time to read or search for new
information on one’s ‘‘passion’’ can recharge the desire to know more.
Perhaps not incidentally, this may increase one’s expertise.
A Good Intelligence Analyst Knows the Intelligence Community’s
Members
The U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) is an amazingly diverse collection of
organizations and analytical approaches to the world. An analyst who
doesn’t understand the IC beyond the big six—CIA, DIA, NSA, NGA,
FBI, State Department Bureau of Intelligence Research (INR)—will not be
able to bring the full force of the Community to bear on issues nor
adequately target the audience for a product.
A Good Intelligence Analyst Knows Those in the Executive Branch
and Military Who Deal with His/Her Account
Non-IC military and Executive Branch officials often meet with people an
analyst cannot, may follow an issue from a policy perspective, and have
sources of information an analyst cannot access. Establishing good relations
with the staffs and principals in non-IC organizations should be a priority of
analysts. Such relations will allow an analyst to understand when analytical
support is needed for the policy process and what kind of product fulfills that
need. An insightful product that arrives after the policy decision has been
made is worthless and can be irritating to the policymaker. Providing useful
products when the policymaker needs them will be rewarded by improved
input to the policy decision cycle.
A Good Intelligence Analyst Knows Where Congressional Interest
Lies on His/Her Account and the Committees That Deal with It
Many accounts have congressional interest beyond the intelligence
committees. Knowing and connecting to them, with the analyst’s
agency’s approval, can provide insight into not only U.S. and foreign
activities, but also about the personalities involved. Many members of
Congress and congressional staffers meet with foreign officials who may
be of interest to an analyst. And congressmen are interested in what the
IC has to say on many issues. Politicians tend to be ‘‘people persons,’’
who have an unquenchable thirst for information on foreigners they have
met or will meet. This is also true for political appointees in the Executive
Branch.
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A GOOD INTELLIGENCE ANALYST
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A Good Intelligence Analyst Knows How to Use the IC Structure
Effectively
This is closely related to the previous element. Many issues facing the U.S.
today can be understood only by using all sources available to the nation.
This means tapping the expertise in other parts of an analyst’s own
organization and in other agencies. It means knowing how and where to
find the right source of information.
A Good Intelligence Analyst Knows Who in the IC Works on the
Same Issue and Maintains Contact with as Many of Them as
Possible
The complexity and rapidity of change in this world necessitates teamwork
and learning to use the tools that facilitate it. Often an analyst will have to
take the initiative to build his or her own ‘‘community of interest’’ because
an up-to-date one doesn’t exist in the organization. This, then, is one of the
first tasks an analyst should do when starting to work on an issue. Social
media is now a widespread tool available to analysts and its use should be a
default. In addition, these others are usually the people who will have to
coordinate (give their agency’s concurrence to) an analyst’s piece before
publication, and having had previous contact will work to one’s advantage.
A Good Intelligence Analyst Anticipates Demand for Products
Intelligence analysts don’t produce a product just because they are interested
in it: they do so because it meets a requirement within or outside the IC.
Some ‘‘serial’’ products are issued by the IC on a regular or semi-regular
basis, but for most analysts the bread-and-butter products are the ad hoc
ones demanded by the policymaking process or by an unexpected change
in world events. By keeping contact within the policy community an
analyst learns when and for whom a product is needed.
A Good Intelligence Analyst Works Well with Other Analysts and
Effectively When Alone
The time of the lone analytic genius is largely past, though the talented, often
eccentric individual should still be allowed and encouraged. Today’s analysts
must be able to work harmoniously and effectively with others, usually as
part of a team. A team may be co-located physically or be a virtual one.
This is an area where an analyst’s attention to his=her community of
interest will pay off.
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MICHAEL DOUGLAS SMITH
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A Good Intelligence Analyst Seeks Knowledge of an Issue from All
Sources
In the past, analysts often concentrated on clandestinely acquired (i.e., secret)
information. Such information is important and often constitutes the IC’s
‘‘value-added’’ to policy discussion. But, in many cases, open source
information is crucial to analytic judgments.
A Good Intelligence Analyst Looks for Danger Signals to U.S.
National Interests
Specialized warning staffs atrophied during the 1990s and have been largely
replaced by requiring every analyst to provide warning of imminent danger
to U.S. national security interests. This means an analyst must look for
information indicating that an unexpected threat to the U.S. national
interest is imminent. An intelligence analyst has to consciously look for the
possibility of change to the usual—for the outlier event that indicates a
major change in the normal is about to happen or is happening. Examples
of this problem abound in intelligence history: Who thought Egypt would
attack Israel in 1973? Not many. Who believed a religious leader living
outside Iran could overcome the power of a dictatorial Shah? Not many.
A Good Intelligence Analyst Embraces Training on New Methods,
Techniques, and Critical Thinking
Living in an era of speedy and widespread change in technology also requires
a profound reappraisal of understanding human cognition. The Internet,
now ubiquitous, has increased the availability of knowledge and has grown
so vast that finding ways to aggregate that knowledge is a central task of
the private and government sectors. It has also increased the amount of
misinformation readily available. This new world means that an analyst
cannot expect that knowledge acquired in college or past employment will
remain completely relevant during an entire career. Knowing what one
needs to know is an essential element of today’s analysts, and the eager
pursuit of that knowledge is a characteristic of a good analyst. It also
mandates learning about cognitive obstacles to critical thinking and how
to reduce their impact.
A Good Intelligence Analyst Is Ethical and Limits the Effect of
Personal Beliefs on Evaluation of an Issue
Every IC organization has an ethical creed, and some organizational
subdivisions also have one. Nine years after it was stood up, the Office of
the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) issued an overarching
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A GOOD INTELLIGENCE ANALYST
statement of ethics. These are promises to the American people that
intelligence officers will abide by the principles contained in the statement.
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These thirteen elements of a good intelligence analyst combine intellectual
curiosity, critical thinking, and the use of certain knowledge tools to
provide the foundation of analytical judgments. Analysts who adhere to
them will go a long way toward meeting the Lowenthal–Marks touchstone:
We cannot stress enough the importance of recognizing and
understanding that intelligence analysis is an intellectual activity, not a
mechanical one where the proper formula or recipe will produce the
preferred outcome each time. Although the possibility that some
analytic tools and information technology solutions will assist analysts
is appreciated, they all remain tools that do not change the core
substance of intelligence analysis: namely, the ability to read, think, and
write critically . . ..2
REFERENCES
1
Mark M. Lowenthal and Ronald A. Marks, ‘‘Intelligence Analysis: Is It As Good
As It Gets?,’’ International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, Vol. 28,
No. 4, Winter 2015–2016, pp. 662–665.
2
Ibid., p. 665, emphasis added.
AND COUNTERINTELLIGENCE
VOLUME 30, NUMBER 1
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