Center for Information Research Analysis And Training



The Center for Information Research Analysis And Training (CIRAT) is a nonprofit arm of Mercyhurst College. CIRAT's mission is to develop contracts, grants and partnerships that enhance the intelligence-related skills of Research and Information Analysis Program (RIAP) and Applied Intelligence students at the Mercyhurst College Institute for Intelligence Studies (MCIIS), while utilizing the experience of its staff and faculty and the capabilities of its knowledge management laboratory.

Since its inception, CIRAT has become an academic leader in the tailoring of timely open source information intelligence products; thereby, securing contracts with the Department of Defense, Central Intelligence Agency, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the former U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Regional Information Sharing System and several major international corporations. Because it is a clearinghouse for computer software related to the intelligence process, CIRAT has the capability to not only collect and organize information, but also to manipulate it to identify trends and patterns crucial to the analytical process. The center currently offers researchers with fluency in Russian, Polish, Hindi, Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Serbo-Croatian and Spanish.

CIRAT also provides tailored intelligence-related training to public and private sector clients. It recently completed a contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to provide advanced analytical training to 20 senior intelligence research specialists. It currently has contracts to develop domestic terrorism training case studies with the Central Intelligence Agency University and the University of Arkansas (DOJ contract) spanning the period 1980-2002.

CIRAT In The News

 * "Center for Information Research, Analysis & Training", "Open Source Publishing Inc"
 * "Center for Information Research, Analysis & Training", "Open Source Publishing Inc" "Interview with Robert Heibel"], "Open Source Publishing Inc"
 * "CIRAT Recruited for New Terrorism Study", "Monday Morning", 03 November 2003
 * "CIRAT: Workstudy Fighting Terrorism", "The Merciad", 12 November 2003
 * "FBI Analysts Trade Field For Classroom", "Monday Morning", 30 January 2006