Intelligence analyst/officer : Job description

Intelligence analysts work primarily for the public sector, including the armed forces and police. They also have significant roles in the UK’s three intelligence and security agencies, where intelligence analysts work in the acquisition, evaluation, analysis and assessment of secret intelligence.

Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)  describes them as intelligence analysts, the Security Service (MI5)  calls them intelligence officers and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)  uses the phrase operational officers (further subdivided by MI6 into case officers, targeting officers and reports officers).

Intelligence sources include signals intelligence (SIGINT) and human intelligence (HUMINT) although many different sources and analytical techniques are used. Intelligence analysts work to protect UK national security and economic well-being as well as to detect and prevent serious organised crime (such as drug trafficking).

Working to government requirements and priorities, intelligence analysts may be involved in providing support to military operations, detecting and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear), counter-espionage and counter-terrorism.

Typical work activities

The occupation of an intelligence analyst covers a diverse range of activities, dependent on the organisation's remit and individual's role within a team. Each role calls for its own precise mix of skills and abilities. They may differ greatly in the police, for example, compared to the intelligence and security agencies.

Typical work activities may, however, include:

• building up intelligence pictures, identifying potential agents and targets;
• collating and validating intelligence, evaluating the reliability of sources and credibility of information;
• developing relationships with customers to understand their intelligence requirements;
• delivering information in formal reports or as presentations and desk-level briefings to customers in government, who include the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), the Home Office, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) amongst others;
• developing expertise in a specific area;
• liaising and collaborating with colleagues in the UK’s three intelligence and security agencies to get further information which may help to piece together the whole picture. This may take weeks, months or years.

Colleagues may include librarians (open source/public domain information specialists), cryptanalysts and mathematicians (codes and ciphers) as well as linguists.