Contemporary security threats are constantly shifting; terrorists and criminals establish new groups and coordinate their attacks globally, as technological advances allow them to communicate secretly and hide their operations.
To succeed, security organizations must establish a process of constant learning and improvement that ensures their personnel utilizes the latest and most effective intelligence collection and analysis procedures and operational concepts.
MER Group’s team includes intelligence experts from a wide range of security forces that have worked with some of the world’s most dangerous and sophisticated organizations. The MER approach to intelligence stresses collaboration, speed and responsiveness – all of which are essential for exploiting time-sensitive opportunities as they arise.
MER Academy’s offerings in the field of intelligence builds on the institutional knowledge of MER Group, whose team includes intelligence experts from a wide range of security forces, including Unit 8200 of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
The MER Academy courses emphasize intelligence work as a key to any effective deployment and bring clients up to date on relevant technologies and operational procedures for collection and analysis of intelligence to deter and prevent crime and terror, respond to attacks, and investigate crimes.
All MER Academy courses are based on the KSA (Knowledge, Skills and Awareness) methodology. Instructors utilize various teaching methods – such as video presentations, role play and situational exercises – to make the trainee’s experience more interesting and multi-faceted, thus ensuring optimal results.
MER Academy – Intelligence Catalog
MER Academy tailors the following training courses to specific needs of each client.
Basic Intelligence for National Intelligence Agencies: The course offers a review of intelligence basics for national intelligence officers. This includes prioritization of crimes, analysis of crime statistics, socio-economic analysis of high crime areas and origins, analysing criminals modus operandi, defining sites that require heightened surveillance and frequency of the crime in those sites, locating and recruiting human sources, collecting background intelligence, and implementation of a need to know basis confidentiality policy.
Analysts: The course is designed for trainees who graduated from the basic intelligence course and demonstrated their ability to work as analysts, as well as for members of the intelligence desk. It rovides trainees with the ability to evaluate information received from various sources, including HumINT, SigINT (land and mobile lines and satellites channels), WebINT (emails), military VisINT, and OSINT; and to integrate and cross-check intelligence with other existing information, to pinpoint missing information, to generate new data collections, and to support field operations.
Image Analysis (IMINT): CCTV and video surveillance provide a powerful means of crime prevention, an effective investigation tool and support for other security and intelligence systems. The ImINT (image intelligence) course allows trainees to harness this great power to deliver real-world security benefits. The course equips trainees with knowledge, techniques, operational tools, protocols and procedures based on MER’s rich experience in intelligence and security operations.
Web Intelligence (WebINT) Foundations: This introductory course aims to acquaint trainees with a range of tools to correctly assess the outputs (qualitative and quantitative) that can be derived from open intelligence as well as the inputs that must be invested in order to produce the required information from an open intelligence system.
Human Sources (HumINT) Handling: This course covers a range of subject in basic and advanced use of informers. This includes recruitment, definitions of tasks and missions, collecting information from sources, interrogating sources, protecting sources and their families, using state-of-the-art technologies for covert surveillance, freezing a source, and terminating use of sources.
The Art of Interrogation: This course is designed for trainees who graduated from the basic intelligence course and demonstrated ability to work as interrogators. The course trains them to become interrogators, giving them a full set of tools for their work. Training subjects include preliminary research and planning the interrogation, confrontations, witness interrogations, different types of research, forensic evidence, psychological aspects and pressures, body language, personality types, legal aspects and powers of the investigative body, use of polygraph and other means of lie detection.
Covert Surveillance: Comprehensive course for agents working under cover. Training includes different surveillance positions and their required characteristics, observation equipment and technique, surveillance by foot, vehicle trailing and tracking, covert photography, and eavesdropping.
