Blog
Why Recent Graduates Struggle to Become Analysts (and How Proficiency1 Can Help)
I can sum up the idea behind the creation of Proficiency1, an online training community for national intelligence and risk assessment professionals, in one vignette from my career. While interviewing candidates for analyst positions at the CIA, a grad student asked me...
Overcoming the Biggest Customer Challenge Analysts Face
I remember when I started my analytic career being unpleasantly surprised to find policymakers were not the eager consumers of my products that I assumed they’d be. I was writing on interesting topics and providing what I thought were valuable insights, yet most of my...
An Insider’s Look at Life as a CIA Analyst
As a 22-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency’s analytic corps I’ve talked to hundreds of people interested in knowing more about a career as an Agency analyst. Thanks to Hollywood’s usually warped view of what analysts do, the necessary veil of secrecy that...
Proficiency1’s Initial Offerings
Here at Proficiency1 we’re busy building up our catalogue of offerings to serve the needs of national security and risk intelligence professionals, and we already have three of my courses as part of our soft launch that you can check out now. They’ll give you a sense...
Welcome to Proficiency1, Online Training for National Security and Risk Intelligence Professionals
Hi, I’m Chris Savos, the Director of Proficiency1, a new online training community for professionals looking to build exceptional careers in national security and risk intelligence. We’re combining my 27 years of experience working in and around the Intelligence...
E38 Academy Is now Proficiency1
As we mentioned in our last post on E38's old website, we stood down from launching E38 Academy last year while negotiating its purchase by an established training company. We’re now able and happy to announce that E38 is moving forward as Proficiency1, a division of...
Keeping Your Writing Concise
Anyone whose professional responsibilities include writing, from analytic reports to memos and even emails, could benefit by seeing what they write as reading assignments they give to their busy customers. In such cases, wordiness is a cardinal sin, as that customer’s...
Everyone Gets Writer’s Block!
If you’ve never had trouble starting, making progress on, or finishing a writing project, then this blog post isn’t for you. Also, please introduce yourself and tell us your secret, because I’ve never met anyone who could say this. For most of us, especially those of...
Are You *Really* Ready for a Great Career?
Most of us go to college and grad school with the general assumption that we will graduate ready to launch our careers. But what does “ready” really mean? The definition could include things necessary for a particular profession, like knowing the law or having a...
Will We Need Analysts in the Age of Artificial Intelligence?
Last year I attended the Association of International Risk Intelligence Professional’s (AIRIP) Fall Conference on the future of public- and private-sector intelligence, where the future” part dealt primarily with the tools available to analysts today and with the...