. In this first activity for your final paper, however, you will be selecting your topic only. You have a range of specific intelligence topics to choose from, as long as your topic centers on either of the following: U.S. Intelligence Community, the intelligence process, intelligence oversight and accountability, or ethical issues with the gathering and use of intelligence.
Activity Instructions
Pick a topic that interests you and concerns either members of the U.S. Intelligence Community, the intelligence process, intelligence oversight and accountability, or ethical issues with the gathering and use of intelligence. You will need to first read chapters 1-2 in our text, review the Principles of Intelligence Topic Ideas and perhaps skim chapters 3-4, 10, and/or 13 as you do some preliminary research and reading to find your topic. Contact your professor and peers in the Question and Answer (Q&A) Forum if you have any questions or require assistance on selecting a topic. Whatever specific topic you choose, ensure you narrow the topic down and be specific on your topic. Principles of Intelligence Topic Ideas can help steer you in the right direction. Keep in mind you cannot write on the intelligence community as a whole because it’s too big. If you want to write on defense agencies involved within the intelligence community, then that is possible, though it should be narrowed down even more. A few topic ideas are as follow:
– The Intelligence Process: Collection and Processing and Exploitation
– U.S. Intelligence Community: Department of Defense Roles and Capabilities
– U.S. Intelligence Congressional Oversight Committee
– Importance of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (IRTPA) 2004.
– Importance of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, 1978
Writing and Submission Requirements
Type or submit your choice for approval by your professor. Follow feedback and comments of this activity for the final decision.
Tips for Success
The key to proper topic choice is to start with broad interests and ask questions of how you can narrow the topic down. In order to do this, it is recommended you look at your topic of interest from a macro aspect and then narrow it down to a micro aspect, asking questions like: How can we narrow this down? What are the specifics of this topic? Or, why is this topic really important to me? Finally, the key aspect here is communication with the professor of the class. The professor (the senior-level expert) will help you develop the topic for this final paper. The point of this activity is not just to select a topic, but also to learn how to narrow a broad topic of interests down. It’s also about how to communicate with a senior-level expert and achieve the final goal of selecting a topic that meets what you want and what the senior-level expert has in mind.