quality-of-information-check

List the key judgments with their stated confidence, inventory every source with origin, access, motive and an Admiralty grade, then build a source-to-judgment matrix. Collapse re-reporting chains before counting independent supports, and finish with a source summary statement and revised confidence per judgment.

It is a diagnostic technique from the CIA Tradecraft Primer (2009) that evaluates the completeness and soundness of sources behind an analytic line. ODNI ICD 206 later standardized its output as source descriptors and a source summary statement.

Trace each 'according to' chain back to its origin and collapse items sharing the same originator, document, or incentive structure. Three outlets repeating one press release count as a single independent source, not corroboration.

Use this check when auditing an entire evidence base behind multiple judgments before a product ships. For grading one source's reliability use an Admiralty rating, and for corroborating one claim across independent sources use triangulation.

It should cover four elements: strengths and weaknesses of the source base, the sources most important to key judgments, what is meaningfully corroborative or conflicting, and any subject-matter expertise relied on. This Skill treats all four as mandatory output fields.