DHS designing training for intel officers

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- The chief intelligence officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security says his office has developed training products for analysts there.

U.S. intelligence veteran Charles Allen told a conference in Texas last week that over the past year his office “developed and implemented the first-ever Basic Intelligence Threat and Analysis Course, known as BITAC.”

The six-week course is designed for entry-level Department of Homeland Security intelligence analysts, providing them with an introduction to the department’s intelligence operations and the structure and activities of the other U.S. intelligence agencies.

“The course defines the (department’s) intelligence mission and teaches intelligence-related skills, competencies, and concepts,” Allen said, and is taught at the unclassified level “to ensure maximum participation.”

He said his office had also designed “learning roadmaps” for department intelligence staff. He said the roadmaps were “the first in a series for DHS intelligence professionals that outline general knowledge areas, skill sets, training opportunities, and success measures for entry, mid- and senior-level intelligence analysts.”

The roadmaps “will be used by individuals as a professional development tool to outline paths and articulate general areas that apply across the (department) … at every level of the DHS intelligence professional’s career development.”