IIS Mercyhurst






Mission

Along with its primary mission of delivering an education in intelligence analysis at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, MCIIS strives for the following:

  • Promote the development of academic programs designed to generate qualified intelligence analysts.
  • Provide a series of conventional and distance-learning intelligence-related courses to meet identified educational/training needs.
  • Offer a post-graduate certificate program for current analysts, employing distance learning where appropriate.
  • Identify and train adjunct faculty/trainers to provide a high standard of both classroom and distance learning.
  • Develop a series of model intelligence products, tactical through strategic.

Research and evaluate new and innovative techniques and tools applicable to the various stages of the intelligence process.

  • Develop liaison with intelligence-related educational entities and centers of excellence in national security, law enforcement and the private sector to identify "best practices" and establish common ground for partnerships and exchange of information and personnel.
  • Identify the short-term and long-term training/education and product needs of intelligence analysts and their managers.

Description

The Institute for Intelligence Studies comprises Mercyhurst University's Department of Intelligence Studies and an on-campus think tank, the Center for Intelligence Research, Analysis, and Training (CIRAT), where students and faculty work on contracts for public and private sector organizations.

The institute has five core competencies:

  1. education of undergraduate, graduate, and distance-learning students;
  2. research in the field of intelligence analysis;
  3. custom analysis for particular decisionmakers in the public and private sector;
  4. training intelligence professionals and other individuals and­­­­­ organizations interested in intelligence analysis and communication; and
  5. consulting both for comparable programs in intelligence education and training and for intelligence working units in the public and private sectors.