Format
Students will "travel back in time" to October 1962 just as the Crisis is emerging. As All Source Analysts at the CIA, students are responsible for reviewing Cuban national reports indicating a Soviet offensive nuclear build-up on the island. They will determine if the reports are valid and recommend a course of action to President Kennedy.
In part 2, after recommending a U-2 spy plane overflight to obtain reconnaissance photos, students then analyze those photos to determine the extent of the offensive build-up.
Finally, in part 3, students triangulate all sources of intelligence, including a little known Soviet source, to provide President Kennedy with a final analysis. The program concludes dramatically when students examine the possible courses of action had the intelligence not been available, analyzed, and disseminated appropriately. They discover the value that different sources of intelligence have and compare this case to modern and current scenarios.
Objectives
Students will be able to:
1. Analyze declassified CIA documents and make decisions based upon their content.
2. Explain the pros and cons of different types of intelligence sources (human intelligence versus imagery intelligence sources).
3. Describe the role intelligence collection and analysis efforts played in affecting President Kennedy’s decision-making process.