Formation/Cours

Strategic Intelligence

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Syllabus : Strategic intelligence

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Course outline:

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This is an international relations course. The general purpose is to provide the students with the conceptual tools and academic knowledge to assess the goals and the means dedicated to the intelligence cycle in order to support the strategic decision process of the State in the foreign policy field.

Actually, strategic intelligence plays a critical role in everything related to foreign affairs, diplomacy and defense policies. Â Following Adda Bozeman : “Strategic intelligence should facilitate the steady pursuit of long range policy objectives even as it also provides guidance in the choice of tactically adroit ad hoc responses to particular occurrences in foreign affairs” (Strategic Intelligence and Statecraft, Brassey’s Inc, April 1998)

This course is specifically devoted to intelligence toward strategic decision, especially through historical study cases : Cuban missiles crisis and the first Gulf War and formal tools such as decision tree. Moreover it will address hard choice like interrogation policy and contemporary issue such as the use of drone.

It focuses on three issues: 1/ on paradigms of strategic decision, intelligence in the decision-making process, 2/ on concepts of strategic intelligence, operational issues such as intelligence collection, tools for analysis and 3/ some specific contemporary issues regarding covert action, intelligence failure and more generally the political challenges States are facing in intelligence activities.

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Requirements and evaluation:

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8 classes 3-hours sessions, taught in English.

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Every week, the seminar will start with an oral presentations of the concepts and study cases by the instructor. It will be followed by a collective discussion on the weekly assigned readings.

An individual preparation to comment the readings is essential. Every week one student may be asked, on a random basis, to give a short oral summary or commentary of a document.

The instructor will finally synthesize the discussion in coherence with the concepts introduced.

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More precisely, each student must choose one text among the reading list. He will performed a writen presentation of the text, following the structure

An academic text presentation followed the structure :

-Â Â Â Short bio of the authour

-Â Â Â Theme and thesis

-Â Â Â Summary of the text following its outline

-Â Â Â Critics by the student

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The main evaluation rest on one simulation games of strategic decision described below. Students will demonstrate their understanding of decision making and foreign policy tradeoff through a role play meeting on national security issues. Their assessment will be both individual and collective. They will also participate to a “great debate” on issues about strategic intelligence.

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In addition, at the end of the term, each student must return a research paper on the last session (4 pages, double space, police 12, charts and maps in the annex, APA references) on a topic within the subjects list of the Syllabus or freely chosen but approved by the instructor before the third class. This written exercise gives students the opportunity to focus on a particular topic and develop their personal reflection. The essays should not be merely descriptive. They should aim at critical and nuanced analysis of a complex question, using historical or contemporary and political examples to back up the points the student makes.

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Achievements expected by the end of the module:

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– to assess the competing international relation paradigms of strategic decision;

– to assess specific case studies of intelligence to support