Good intelligence depends in large measure on clear, concise writing. (CIA)
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This is a collection of awesome resources on Intelligence Writing such as manuals/guides, standards, books, and articles. There are both official and community resources. The collection is aimed to those looking to improve their intelligence writing skills (including myself).
- Style Manual & Writers Guide for Intelligence Publications
- Analytic Thinking and Presentation for Intelligence Producers
- Thinking and Writing: Cognitive Science and Intelligence Analysis
- CIA - IC Writing Style
Articles & News related to CIA's Style Manual & Writers Guide
- Writing Tips from the CIA's Ruthless Style Manual
- The CIA style guide goes online: now you can learn to write like a spy
- The CIA Released Their Style Guide, and It's Absolutely Fascinating
- Mission Grammatical: CIA Has 185-Page Writing Style Book
- The CIA and the Power of Words
- 11 Grammar Lessons From a Leaked CIA Style Book
- DIA's Style Manual for Intelligence Production (governmentattic.org)
- DIA's Style Manual for Intelligence Production (dia.mil)
- ICD 203 - Analytic Standards
- ICD 206 - Sourcing Requirements for Disseminated Analytic Products
- ICD 208 - Maximizing the Utility of Analytic Products
- USAICoE Writing Program Resources
- Enhancing Your Intelligence Writing Writing Guide for USAICoE and U.S. Army Writing
- How to Write an Intelligence Product in the Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF) Format
- Intelligence Report Writing
- How You Can Write Like An Intelligence Analyst (Zachery Tyson Brown)
- Intelligence Analysis Tradecraft 101: Writing Effective Intelligence (Thomas Carey)
- My Fool Proof Process to Writing a Killer Intelligence Brief and Tips to Deliver Intelligence Assessments Better (Intelligence 101)
- The Three Skills Every Successful Intelligence Analyst Needs To Master: Tips on how to Write, Brief and Analyse (Intelligence 101)
- The Ultimate Guide to Writing Intelligence Reports - Complete with Templates & Examples (Intelligence 101)
- Intelligence Writing (Pennsylvania State University)
- Writing a Brief (Pennsylvania State University)
- How Intelligence Analysts Can Improve Critical Thinking and Writing Skills (American Military University)
- Top 10 Cybersecurity Writing Mistakes (Lenny Zeltser)
- How You Can Write Better Threat Reports (Lenny Zeltser)
- Writing a report: the BLUF framework in Intelligence Analysis (Giuliano Bifolchi - SpecialEurasia)
- Structuring Cyber Threat Intelligence Assessments: Musings and Recommendations (Robert M. Lee)
- A Quick Start Guide to Writing Intelligence Analysis (Meaghan Gruppo)
- 6 Intelligence Writing Tips (GadIntel - Angie Gad)
- Write Like a Spy: Using U.S. Intelligence Guidelines to Reinforce the Lessons of Predictive Legal Writing (Joe Fore)
- Intelligence Analysis Reports: A How-to Writing Guide (Sandra Webb)
- How To Write Like An Intelligence Analyst (Thea Gioe)
- Threat Intel for Everyone: Writing Like A Journalist To Produce Clear, Concise Reports (Selena Larson - 33min)
- Hack the Reader: Writing Effective Threat Reports with Lenny Zeltser (Lenny Zeltser - 37min)
- Pen-To-Paper and The Finished Report: The Key To Generating Threat Intelligence (Christian Paredes - 33min)
- Writing Meaningful Threat Intel Reports in MISP (MISP - 2h30min)
- Writing Open Source Intelligence Reports (Mossé Cyber Security Institute - 3min)
- Dissemination of Intelligence (Steve Barry - 28min)
- Writing With Clarity: Simple Steps to Become a Faster, More Effective Communicator (Darren Pauli - AusCERT - 39min)
- How to Keep Finished Intelligence Fresh (Recorded Future)
- How to Create Meaningful Intelligence Reports (Daniel Barnes & Mary Clawson)
- Communicating with Intelligence: Writing and Briefing for National Security (James S. Major)
- Communicating with IntelligenceL Writing and Briefing in the Intelligence and National Security Communities (James S. Major)
- Writing Classified and Unclassified Papers for National Security (James S. Major)
- Thinking and Writing: Cognitive Science and Intelligence Analysis (Robert Sinclair)
- Threat Intelligence Writing (Threat Intelligence Academy)
- Reporting for Analysts (I-Intelligence)
- Analytic Writing, Reporting, Briefs, and Dissemination (Treadstone71)
- Introduction to Analytic Tradecraft Writing (FedLearn)
- Writing to the Analytic Tradecraft Standards I (FedLearn)
- Writing to the Analytic Tradecraft Standards II (FedLearn)
- Critical Thinking and Writing for Intelligence Analysts (ISR University)
- INTSTDS 5703 - Thinking and Writing: a Practicum for Intelligence Analysis (Ohio State University)
- Critical Thinking and Analytic Writing for the Intelligence Community (Rutgers-New Brunswick University)
- HSEC 462: Intelligence Analysis: Research Methods & Writing: Home (Campbell University)
- Style Guides by Government Agencies (U.S. General Services Administration)
- The Elements of Style - Strunk & White (William Strunk, Jr.)
- Psychology of Intelligence Analysis (Richard J. Heuer, Jr.)
- Writing Threat Intelligence and Context Providers (MSTICPy - MISP)
There are little public resources about this specific topic. Please feel free to contribute on this project, either by sending a PR or shooting me an email at [email protected] with suggestions of additional resources.
I currently work as a Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst but I'm not an expert on intelligence writing. I created this collection as part of my learning process of this essential topic and as a way to share and learn with the intelligence/cybersecurity community.