AURORA

American University Repository for Open-Source Research and Analysis (AURORA) is American University’s open-source intelligence analysis hub, where students go beyond studying national security to practice it. Faculty-led and student-run, AURORA trains members to build substantive expertise across regional and functional areas, apply the analytic and open-source collection tradecraft of the U.S. Intelligence Community, and understand how the IC operates from the inside.

Every AURORA member receives training on open-source intelligence collection and analysis, particularly ICD 203—the U.S. Intelligence Community’s analytic tradecraft standards—and produces analysis applying that rigorous training. With your contribution, you are helping support the next generation of intelligence analysts and security professionals.

We launched AURORA this year, and your support will shape what it is becoming, an initiative that sets the standard for training the next generation of open-source intelligence professionals and analysts. Students are rigorously trained and prepared for intelligence work in the government, contractor, and private sectors, which is what sets AURORA apart. Analysts don't just study OSINT; they specialize, working across six regional divisions (Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Eurasia, the Near East, South and Central Asia, and the Western Hemisphere) and functional teams covering defense and strategic threats as well as politics and economics, to produce cutting edge analysis in preparation for careers across government, the private sector, and beyond.

Based in Washington, D.C., at the center of U.S. national security, AURORA connects members with mentorship and training from leading practitioners across government and the private sector, preparing them to take on the toughest national security challenges.

Your contribution directly benefits AURORA students through improved training, tools, and hands-on experience. The result: a better-trained security and intelligence next generation of professionals in both the public and private sectors, graduates already equipped with the analytic, technical, and collection skills that will allow them to contribute to their field from day one.