Intelligence Analysis 101 is the foundation course of the Intelligence Series. It covers the complete pipeline from structured OSINT collection through to finished intelligence products — built specifically for Australian practitioners working in government, law enforcement, defence, and private-sector intelligence roles.

No prior intelligence training required.

What You Will Learn

  • Conduct structured OSINT collection across surface web, deep web, social media, corporate registers, geospatial, and specialist digital sources
  • Build structured Person of Interest and Organisation of Interest profiles using a disciplined collection methodology
  • Evaluate every source using the 4×4 / Admiralty framework — and detect when information has been deliberately shaped to mislead
  • Construct link charts and apply social network analysis to map relationships between individuals and entities from open source data
  • Apply Structured Analytic Techniques — Key Assumptions Check, ACH, Scenarios and Indicators — to move from raw findings to assessed conclusions
  • Detect disinformation, fabricated content, and Coordinated Inauthentic Behaviour
  • Conduct OSINT in specialist domains: dark web, geospatial intelligence, and cryptocurrency tracing
  • Write finished intelligence products with professional estimative language, key judgements, and calibrated confidence levels
  • Operate within the Australian legal and ethical framework for OSINT

Course Structure

Day 1 — Foundations Intelligence cycle, OSINT principles, cognitive bias (Heuer), and the Australian Intelligence Community.

Day 2 — Collection OSINT source types, Google Dorking and search tradecraft, operational security, source evaluation, and network and link analysis.

Day 3 — Structured Analytic Techniques Key Assumptions Check, hypothesis generation, ACH, deception detection, and chronologies.

Day 4 — Advanced and Capstone Dark web, GEOSINT, cryptocurrency OSINT, writing intelligence products, and the capstone assessment — Operation Saltmarsh.

Available Formats

Self-PacedSelf-Paced Online
Duration16 hours — work at your own pace16 hours of on-demand video
DeliveryFully self-directedPre-recorded video lectures
AssessmentCapstone intelligence assessmentCapstone intelligence assessment
ToolsFree and open source onlyFree and open source only
PrerequisitesNoneNone

Who This Course Is For

Cyber security professionals, investigators, and practitioners working in Australian government, law enforcement, defence, or private-sector intelligence — who want to turn open source information into finished intelligence, rigorously and legally.