CALIBREXOSINT ACADEMY
← All programmes COURSE 05 · EXPERT

Expert Tradecraft & Research Leadership

Work in adversarial information environments, design defensible research and lead the analysts who carry it out.

  • 6 modules
  • 18 lessons & labs
  • 5 hours of study
  • 85% to pass
  • Certificate OSINT Research & Analysis Specialist

The final level of the Calibrex pathway is for analysts who already investigate competently and now face two harder tasks: working on cases where some of the evidence was manufactured to deceive them, and leading research that must survive hostile scrutiny. You will learn to read coordinated inauthentic networks, planted documents and manipulated media; to design studies that another analyst could repeat; to build quality control, peer review and red teaming into a team’s workflow; and to lead people well, including meeting your duty of care to those who view distressing material.

Every module ends in a hands-on lab built on realistic fictional casework. The course closes with an adversarial practical case, and a capstone expert brief marked by a human reviewer.

You will be able to

  • Assess online networks for coordination, inauthenticity and attribution as separate judgements, using converging indicators and baselines
  • Detect planted documents, recycled and edited media and synthetic content, and explain the limits of automated detection
  • Design scoped, sampled and documented research that another analyst could reproduce and a critic could not easily dismiss
  • Run proportionate quality control, peer review, devil’s advocacy and red teaming that measurably reduce bias and error
  • Lead an analytical team: task with intent, set and enforce standards, manage review capacity, and meet your duty of care
  • Reconcile conflicting authoritative sources and write an expert brief that a decision-maker can act on

Syllabus

MODULE 1

Adversarial Information Environments

Coordinated inauthentic behaviour, deception and denial, and manipulated media: how to work when part of the evidence was made to fool you.

  1. LESSON 1.1Coordinated inauthentic behaviour: read the network, not the postSeparate coordination from inauthenticity from attribution, and judge a network on converging behavioural indicators rather than on what it says.12 min
  2. LESSON 1.2Deception, denial and manipulated mediaRecognise planted documents, laundered narratives and synthetic or recycled media, and know exactly what detection can and cannot tell you.12 min
  3. LAB 1.3Lab: Unpicking the #RiverlinkScam surgeWork through a hashtag surge, a viral video and a leaked tender note to separate coordinated fakery from a genuine story underneath.14 min
MODULE 2

Designing Research Methodology

Turn a contested question into a scoped, sampled, documented study that another analyst could repeat and a critic could not easily dismiss.

  1. LESSON 2.1Scoping: from tasking to a researchable questionConvert a decision-maker’s question into operational definitions, a unit of analysis, explicit boundaries and hypotheses fixed before you collect.12 min
  2. LESSON 2.2Sampling, reproducibility and documentationKnow what your sample can and cannot represent, and keep records so complete that another analyst could repeat the study.13 min
  3. LAB 2.3Lab: Repairing a flawed research planReview a junior analyst’s draft plan for a sextortion-network study and rebuild its question, definitions, sample and log.13 min
MODULE 3

Quality Control & Bias Mitigation

Recognise the biases that catch experienced analysts, and build quality-control routines that catch errors before a decision-maker does.

  1. LESSON 3.1The expert’s biases, and how adversaries use themIdentify the cognitive biases that grow with experience, see how deception exploits them, and apply targeted debiasing techniques.12 min
  2. LESSON 3.2Quality-control systems: four-eyes, checklists and devil’s advocacyDesign proportionate quality control: independent verification of key facts, risk-tiered review, quality gates, devil’s advocacy and a corrections discipline.12 min
  3. LAB 3.3Lab: QC review of a draft attribution findingAct as the four-eyes checker on a high-risk draft, re-verify its load-bearing facts against the exhibits, and decide whether it can be released.14 min
MODULE 4

Peer Review & Red Teaming

Give and receive rigorous peer review, and use red teaming, pre-mortems and alternative analysis to break your own conclusions before an adversary does.

  1. LESSON 4.1Peer review that improves analysisCommission, conduct and respond to peer review so that it tests method, evidence and logic rather than style.11 min
  2. LESSON 4.2Red teaming and alternative analysisUse red teams, pre-mortems, Team A/Team B and high-impact, low-probability analysis to expose deception and blind spots.12 min
  3. LAB 4.3Lab: Red-teaming a deepfake attributionRun a deception red team and a pre-mortem on a team’s finding about a viral political video, and decide what must change before release.14 min
MODULE 5

Leading Analytical Teams

Task analysts clearly, set and hold quality standards, manage workload and review capacity, and meet your duty of care to people exposed to harmful material.

  1. LESSON 5.1Tasking, standards and workloadWrite tasking that carries intent, decompose work into owned workstreams, set enforceable standards and manage the review bottleneck.12 min
  2. LESSON 5.2Duty of care and secondary traumaRecognise the effects of repeated exposure to distressing material, apply organisational and individual safeguards, and protect researchers from harassment.12 min
  3. LAB 5.3Lab: Leading a surge team through a breaking incidentTask a five-person team on a fast-moving disaster, protect review quality and look after people exposed to graphic material.14 min
MODULE 6

Capstone Preparation

Bring the course together: plan an adversarial case from tasking to collection, reconcile conflicting authorities, and write an expert brief that a decision-maker can act on.

  1. LESSON 6.1Planning an adversarial case and reconciling authoritiesBuild a collection plan that expects deception, and resolve conflicts between authoritative sources by scope, method and timing rather than by rank.12 min
  2. LESSON 6.2Writing the expert briefStructure a brief around the decision, separate likelihood from confidence, cite exhibits for every finding, and state limitations and ethics plainly.12 min
  3. LAB 6.3Lab: Dry run on a counterfeit-medicine alertRun a compact adversarial case end to end: grade the exhibits, reconcile two authorities, and choose the bottom line for a hospital buyer.15 min
CALIBREX OSINT ACADEMY

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