Assessing Competencies and Proficiency of Army Intelligence Analysts Across the Career Life Cycle

"U.S. Army military intelligence (MI) analysts work in increasingly complex and dynamic operational environments requiring intangible competencies, such as critical thinking (CT) and adaptability. This report describes the development and implementation of a process to assess key analytic competencies and proficiency of the Army's analysts in the 35F military occupational specialty and the design of a protocol for ongoing evaluation. The study included subject-matter expert interviews and document review to identify key analytic tasks for 35F analysts; a review of research regarding competencies associated with intelligence analysis and measures of those competencies; and a field study assessing competencies, life-cycle factors, training proficiency among junior analysts, and job proficiency among junior and midgrade analysts. Analysis of training proficiency results shows that analysts with greater general mental ability had higher grade-point averages and better odds of graduating from initial skill training than other analysts had. Results comparing junior and midgrade analysts indicate that both groups have few opportunities to perform MI tasks on the job. Both groups were similar in most competencies, but midgrade analysts demonstrated higher CT skills than junior analysts did. Differences between junior and midgrade analysts in job proficiency were mixed; junior analysts performed better on some criteria and midgrade analysts performed better on others. However, job proficiency scores were relatively low across groups, and few competencies predicted job proficiency; these findings could be a result of skill decay or low motivation of study participants"--Publisher's description.