Dr. Levine worked in the U.S. Intelligence Community for over 33 years, most of those years at the CIA. As a military analyst he published studies on Soviet, Warsaw Pact, and successor states’ national security policies, threat assessments, strategic intelligence, and military planning for conventional and nuclear operations. Later he researched and analyzed influences on, and the character of, South Asian national security policies. He was the senior military analyst covering regional reactions to the September 11, 2001 attacks, and the violence and wars that followed. In the last years of his career he ran the internal analytic quality evaluation program for the Directorate of Analysis.
He completed several in-depth, independent studies during his career, in addition to dozens of studies on specific regional accounts. These included the first book-length classified study of NATO command post exercises (through the Department of the Air Force, working at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe), and book-length classified studies on the economics and safety of South Asia’s nuclear power program (working at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory).
Dr. Levine was the Director of Central Intelligence Representative to the National War College, where he taught courses as a professor of national security and strategy. He was the director of military analytic training at the Sherman Kent School for Intelligence Analysis, and taught a variety of courses there. Dr. Levine also taught as adjunct faculty for Pepperdine University (microeconomics) and Mercyhurst College (intelligence analysis). He holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy Analysis from the Rand Graduate Institute, an M.A. in War Studies from King’s College, University of London, and a B.A. in history from the University of Texas at El Paso.
“Principles of Intelligence Analysis,” Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 65, No. 4, December 2021, pp. 1 – 7. https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/studies-in-intelligence/volume-65-no-4-december-2021/voice-of-experience-principles-of-intelligence-analysis/
[co-authored with Roger George], “Why Germany Won’t Go Nuclear,” The National Interest, December 5, 2022, https://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-germany-won’t-go-nuclear-205966
“Probability or confidence, a distinction without a difference?,” Intelligence and National Security, 20 Nov 2023, DOI: 10.1080/02684527.2023.2276582
[co-edited with Roger Z. George] The CIA Intelligence Analyst: Views from the Inside (Georgetown University Press, forthcoming, 2024).
A key function of national security analysis is to dissect and explain foreign militaries—to lay bare for senior authorities the perceptions, intentions, and capabilities of potential opponents and allies. This course examines how to conduct such analysis and prepares participants to perform assessments. It explores what senior decision makers need to know, potential sources of information, and the analytic tools to parse and understand a complex and partially hidden world. It uses a variety of materials including in-depth case studies, exercises, and discussions to develop the necessary knowledge and skills.