SHTF Intelligence Course - Overview

I drove back home last night after an intensive two day course; I was wiped out after the training, so I haven't put things together as far as organized and detailed posts. I also have to consider what is standard intel knowledge and what is proprietary for the course.

The biggest thing I wanted to share right now was that the course was worth every cent of the $300 I paid.

The training seminar was provided by Forward Observer magazine

Sam Culper gave two goals for students of the course:

• To be able to set up an intelligence capability for our communities in SHTF cases
• To be able to train others to use these techniques

There were a decent number of students, but it was still a small enough group that everyone's questions were able to be answered fully. Something that I like is that as long as there is room in the class, once you have taken it it you can (re)attend the same class in the future for free as long as there is space.

The course is in-depth, yet still a good introduction to the concept of the intelligence cycle, as well as an introduction to OSINT, how to set up an ACE (Analysis and Control Element) center, how to do an ACH (Analysis of Competing Hypotheses), training collectors to use SALUTE reporting, and how to do an Area Study. We ran several practical exercises to see these concepts in action.

Sam was not the only instructor, and some of the expertise that was drawn on included Special Forces training and experience, executive protection experience, and combat intelligence experience from both Iraq and Afghanistan. All the instructors were friendly, knowledgeable, and detailed in answering our questions.

My classmates all expressed concern about the direction this country is headed. Veterans were over represented, and there was a substantial amount of LE experience taking the course as well. I fit in with this friendly group, which was also diverse across race and we even had female representation in the class!

My goals for the course were to get some face-to-face instruction, and some hands on experience; this course met my goals perfectly. Although I have studied intelligence on my own for 30 years, I have never used it's techniques. This kind of training allows me to pick the brains of folks who do have that experience, to get questions answered that can't be answered across Google and the like.

Although I may have had the greatest "book learning" prior to the course, all the students were happy with the advances in knowledge they received. Intelligence is a highly complicated subject, even in it's basics, and there was a lot to go over.

A last note: I stress critical thinking in my writing. Intelligence techniques can be excellent tools to add to critical thinking skillsets...and yet during one practical exercise, I allowed one of my own biases to influence my analysis. Being able to do these things in practice can expose your tendencies and problem areas!

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