Advanced Course in Human Factor, Deception and Counterintelligence in Intelligence
Human sources, behaviour and countermeasures
* 50% reduction reserved for: Employees of public bodies; Members of law enforcement agencies and the armed forces; Practitioners in the investigative, intelligence, and private security sectors; Cybersecurity and information security professionals; Lawyers, trainee lawyers, and legal professionals; Members of the National Register of Intelligence Analysts.
Faculty
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Antonello VITALE
Gen. C.d'A. - Former Chief of Staff AISE
Overview
The Advanced Course in Human Factor, Deception and Counterintelligence in Intelligence stems from the conviction that protecting people, information, and organisations means understanding the human factor: the most vulnerable and, at the same time, the most valuable link in any security system.
The programme adopts an avowedly defensive and analytical orientation: where the subject addresses operational tradecraft, such as the recruitment and handling of sources, it does so in order to teach how to recognise and understand it, not how to apply it.
Across six modules, students are guided through the study of what human intelligence really is, the reading of behaviour, and the recognition of deception and manipulation.
Particular attention is devoted to how to identify a recruitment approach while it is under way and to building effective countermeasures at both the personal and organisational levels.
The approach is rigorous, grounded in scientific foundations and in the clear distinction between evidence-based analysis and the pseudoscience of behaviour.
At the same time, the intellectual curiosity required to engage with a complex and sensitive subject is fostered.
Studying the human factor in intelligence means examining the vulnerabilities of the individual and of organisations, the dynamics of trust, and the limits of prevention.
It is in this spirit that a training programme is offered, designed for those who wish to understand human intelligence in its analytical, behavioural, and defensive dimensions.
The Advanced Course in Human Factor, Deception and Counterintelligence in Intelligence is structured into Six Modules:
1. The human factor in intelligence
What intelligence is under the NATO definition, the ecosystem of services and the relationship with the decision-maker, the cycle and the collection disciplines, the place of HUMINT, the cognitive limits of analysis, and the human factor as a target of deception, disinformation and cognitive warfare.
2. Reading people: the science and its limits
Interpretation of verbal and non-verbal communication and the fundamental distinction between analysis based on scientific evidence and the pseudoscience of body language.
3. Recognising deception and manipulation
Application of a structured framework for detecting deception, mapping of motivations (MICE), and recognition of elicitation techniques when they are used against us.
4. Recognising when you are a target
Identification of the stages of a source-development approach as it unfolds, recognition of warning signs, and personal and organisational defensive countermeasures.
5. Information and digital security
Patterns of the insider threat, defensive operations, and information security principles: the level most directly connected to modern cybersecurity.
6. Case studies: how the mechanism fails
Analysis of real historical cases (Ames and Hanssen, the Cambridge Five, the Russian illegals network, business intelligence failures) in order to understand how recruitment, source handling, and counterintelligence really work, and how they are uncovered.
The Course Management reserves the right to make such changes to the programme as may prove necessary for teaching and/or organisational reasons.
At the end of the Course, UNINTESS issues to enrolled participants assessed as suitable, following the passing of the prescribed assessment examination, a Diploma formally certifying the attainment of a high level of knowledge of the topics covered in the programme.
- Assessment: a single final test in multiple-choice form, passed with the minimum score of 18/30.
- Admission requirements: a degree (former system, specialist, or three-year), a secondary school diploma, or an equivalent foreign qualification; particular circumstances are assessed by the Course Management.
- Timing: the examination may be taken after completing all the lessons and the end-of-module self-assessments, and within the 12th month from enrolment.
- CFU: the Diploma does not entail the award of University Credits (CFU) by UNINTESS.
Enrolment Always Open
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