About us

The Intelligence Analysis profession provides understanding, insight and foresight to operational and policy decision makers through the rigorous examination and articulation of all-source intelligence assessment.

Professional intelligence analysts play a key role in the intelligence community as they are able to put together diverse pieces of information and place them in a context which is useful for decision makers.

Intelligence analysis professionals work to convert intelligence and other information into assessment for a range of customers across government. Intelligence assessment adds a layer of judgement to intelligence analysis, adding the ‘so what?’ to support and inform the customer’s decision-making. This often means drawing conclusions from incomplete information whilst highlighting the gaps in our knowledge and communicating this uncertainty effectively.

The Professional Head of Intelligence Assessment (PHIA) leads the development of the profession through analytical tradecraft, professional standards, professional development opportunities and building and sustaining a cross-government community. The Intelligence Assessment Academy leads on developing and delivering learning for Intelligence Analysts across government.

Our Members

Intelligence Analysts work throughout the Civil Service and are based in every region of the UK.

Most Intelligence Analysts work in one of the following:

The Intelligence Analysis page on the Civil Service Careers website provides further insight into the profession.

For those new to the intelligence analysis profession, an introduction to intelligence analysis is available on the Civil Service Learning professions page. To access the learning platform you need to be a civil servant and register for an account on the website.

Our Governance

PHIA is based at the Cabinet Office and leads on the development of the UK intelligence analysis community’s analytical capability providing training, standards and products. Our profession’s common analytical skills are detailed in the Professional Development Framework (PDF). All members of the Intelligence Analysis Profession conducting all-source assessment are subject to PHIA standards - the most important of these are the PHIA Common Analytical Standards (which can be found on page 26 of the PDF).

The Professional Head of Intelligence Assessment chairs the Intelligence Analysis Profession Board, whose membership comprises the heads of intelligence assessments bodies.

Managing your Career

The Professional Development Framework (PDF) is designed to guide intelligence analysts in their development and careers. The PDF describes the skills required of an analyst to conduct effective all-source assessment, irrespective of department or subject matter. This framework is relevant to anyone in an assessment role, from junior grades all the way through to senior civil servants.

Analysts should use the framework to self-evaluate and agree with their line managers their proficiency level under each skill. This framework also supports annual objective setting, end of year performance reporting, and identifying continual professional development opportunities.

The PDF covers the ‘Technical’ element of the Civil Service Success Profiles recruitment framework. Recruiting managers and line managers of analysts in assessment roles should use this framework to define the technical skills and proficiency levels required for roles in their assessment teams. Using it in recruitment gives line managers a consistent set of skills to test against when seeking to fill an intelligence assessment role.

Further insight on roles available in Intelligence Analysis can be found on the Civil Service Careers website.

Profession Vacancies

Civil service intelligence analysis vacancies are advertised on the Civil Service Jobs website.

Corporate information

Jobs and contracts

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