Where was this book fifteen years ago !!!!! This is a must read for our new analysts before they get corrupted by the "system". That includes law enforcement and the intelligence community. In your examples you are giving the reader how to ask the right questions. Without those questions you're not collecting the data required to come up with a more in-depth analysis. Each chapter gives the reader at least one takeaway. Even someone with my 40 years in the intelligence and analysis profession (LE and IC) either validates my own convictions or makes me rethink possibilities. Thanks for the writing awareness of do's and don'ts. It reminds me of the letters I wrote my mom when I was in Vietnam and she would send them back to me with the proper grammar, sentence structure and spelling. Of course my mom was a proof reader for a large New York law firm. Edward Feingold, CCA-CICA Senior Intelligence Analyst A Handbook for Intelligence and Crime Analysis provides readers with critical skills in assessing the veracity and utility of intelligence as well as constructing meaningful end-user products. Through a comprehensive analysis of effective writing tactics, David Cariens guides readers in developing skills critical to public safety agencies. .It also fits a critical need given the dramatic expansion of intelligence data, and analysts. William V. Pelfry Chair, Homeland Security/Emergency Preparedness Department Virginia Commonwealth University. David Cariens, a career CIA analyst with five decades of experience as a practitioner and trainer, has written a clear, concise, and practical guide to intelligence and crime analysis writing. This step-by-step handbook covers the spectrum of analytical writing: from conceptualization, assumptions, key judgments, deception and opportunity analysis, to the timely and critical issue of politicization. It belongs in the reference library of every intelligence and crime analyst. - Robert C. Fahlman, O.O.M., Director General, Criminal Intelligence, Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Ret'd.) President, R & D Fahlman Consulting, Inc.