Frame
Define the intelligence question, decision relevance, scope, and the distinction the assessment must resolve.
AAD turns structured holdings into reviewed intelligence products. It is designed to keep collection, assessment, approval, and publication distinct—and to refuse claims the evidence does not carry.
AAD does not collect independently or create the evidence used to clear its own products. Analysts author judgments against structured holdings, record assumptions and alternatives, and route products through defined review gates.
Define the intelligence question, decision relevance, scope, and the distinction the assessment must resolve.
State key judgments with confidence, reasoning type, assumptions, and explicit alternatives.
Evaluate source structure and independence without treating corroboration as proof of factual truth.
Preserve competing hypotheses and identify the evidence most likely to discriminate between them.
Release only after the applicable evidence, review, and approval conditions are satisfied.
A bounded assessment of a defined adversary question, with key judgments, evidence grades, assumptions, and alternatives.
A consolidated actor, organization, event, relationship, and hypothesis record supporting deeper review.
A prioritized statement of what is unknown and what additional collection would change the assessment.
A durable record of substantive changes, why they were made, and how the resulting judgment differs.
A current division package examines U.S. legal designations, cell-level hierarchy, transnational command, and the decision consequences of centralized versus franchise models.