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Intelligence (information gathering)
 
 
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Intelligence (abbreviated int. or intel.) is not information
Information

Information as a Conveyed concept has a diversity of meanings, from everyday usage to technical settings. Generally speaking, the concept of information is closely related to notions of constraint, communication, control system, data, form, instruction, knowledge, Meaning , stimulation, pattern, perception, and knowledge representation....
, but the product of evaluated information, valued for its currency and relevance rather than its detail or accuracy —in contrast with "data
DATA

Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa is a multinational Non-governmental organization founded in January 2002 in London by U2's Bono along with Robert Sargent Shriver III and activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign....
" which typically refers to precise
Precision

Precision has the following meanings:Concepts* Accuracy and precision, measurement deviation from true value and its scatter* arithmetic precision, the number of digits from which a value is expressed...
 or particular information, or "fact
Fact

A fact is something said to be true or supposed to have happened, example: Kiira is mean, FACT. An idea becomes a fact after competent people have tested a hypothesis through the scientific method....
," which typically refers to verified
Veracity

Veracity may refer to:* Veracity , a dystopian fiction novel* Veracity , an ethical principle* Veracity a Los Angeles based rock band* Veracity - backup software...
 information. Sometimes called "active data" or "active intelligence", these typically regard the current plans, decisions, and actions of people, as these may have urgency or may otherwise be considered "valuable" from the point of view of the intelligence-gathering organization.






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Encyclopedia


Intelligence (abbreviated int. or intel.) is not information
Information

Information as a Conveyed concept has a diversity of meanings, from everyday usage to technical settings. Generally speaking, the concept of information is closely related to notions of constraint, communication, control system, data, form, instruction, knowledge, Meaning , stimulation, pattern, perception, and knowledge representation....
, but the product of evaluated information, valued for its currency and relevance rather than its detail or accuracy —in contrast with "data
DATA

Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa is a multinational Non-governmental organization founded in January 2002 in London by U2's Bono along with Robert Sargent Shriver III and activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign....
" which typically refers to precise
Precision

Precision has the following meanings:Concepts* Accuracy and precision, measurement deviation from true value and its scatter* arithmetic precision, the number of digits from which a value is expressed...
 or particular information, or "fact
Fact

A fact is something said to be true or supposed to have happened, example: Kiira is mean, FACT. An idea becomes a fact after competent people have tested a hypothesis through the scientific method....
," which typically refers to verified
Veracity

Veracity may refer to:* Veracity , a dystopian fiction novel* Veracity , an ethical principle* Veracity a Los Angeles based rock band* Veracity - backup software...
 information. Sometimes called "active data" or "active intelligence", these typically regard the current plans, decisions, and actions of people, as these may have urgency or may otherwise be considered "valuable" from the point of view of the intelligence-gathering organization. Active intelligence is treated as a constantly mutable component, or variable
Variable

A variable is a symbol that stands for a value that may vary; the term usually occurs in opposition to constant, which is a symbol for a non-varying value, i.e....
, within a larger equation of understanding the secret, covert, or otherwise private
Privacy

Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively....
 "intelligence" of an opponent, or competitor, to answer questions or obtain advance warning of events and movements deemed to be important or otherwise relevant.

As used by intelligence agencies and related services, "intelligence" refers integrally to both active data as well as the process and the result of gathering and analyzing such information, as these together form a cohesive network
Social network

A social network is a social structure made of nodes that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as values, visions, ideas, financial exchange, friendship, sexual network, kinship, dislike, conflict or trade....
 (cf. "hive mind
Mind

Mind refers to the aspects of intellect and consciousness manifested as combinations of thought, perception, memory, emotion, free will and imagination, including all of the brain's conscious and unconscious cognitive processes....
"). In a sense, this usage of "intelligence" at the national level may be somewhat associated with the concept of social intelligence
Social intelligence

Social intelligence according to the original definition of Edward Thorndike, is "the ability to understand and manage men and women, boys and girls, to act wisely in human relations" ....
 —albeit one which is tied to localized or nationalist
Nationalism

Nationalism refers to an ideology, a feeling, a form of culture, or a social movement that focuses on the nation. While there is significant debate over the historical origins of nations, nearly all Expert accept that nationalism, at least as an ideology and social movement, is a Modernity phenomenon originating in Europe....
 tradition
Tradition

The word tradition comes from the Latin traditionem, acc. of traditio which means "handing over, passing on", and is used in a number of ways in the English language:...
, politics
Politics

Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behaviour within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporation, academia, and religion institutions....
, law
LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
, and the enforcement thereof.

This article deals with the general role and history of intelligence. For a more detailed look at the process, there is a hierarchy of articles, partially posted, beginning with intelligence cycle management
Intelligence cycle management

Within the context of government, military and business affairs, Intelligence is intended to help decision-makers at every level to make informed decisions....
.

Process

Information collected can be difficult to obtain or altogether secret
Secrecy

Secrecy or furtiveness is the practice of sharing information among a group of people, which can be as small as one person, while hiding it from all others....
 material gained through ("closed sources") See list of intelligence gathering disciplines
List of intelligence gathering disciplines

Intelligence Gathering Disciplines...
, or it can be widely available but systematically researched through Open Source Intelligence
Open source intelligence

Open Source Intelligence is an information processing discipline that involves finding, selecting, and acquiring information from publicly available sources and analyzing it to produce actionable Intelligence ....
 (OSINT). Traditionally, intelligence involves all-source collection, storage and indexing of data, usually in multiple languages, in the expectation that some small portion will later prove important. Intelligence gathering disciplines, or, more narrowly, and the sources and methods used to obtain them are often highly classified
Classified

Classified may refer to:*Classified information, sensitive information to which access is restricted by law or regulation to particular classes of people....
 and sometimes compartmentalized, and intelligence officers need top level security clearance
Security clearance

For use by the United Nations, see Security Clearance A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information, e.g., state secrets....
.

  • Government
    Government

    Government is the body within any organization that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws, regulations, or rules. Typically, the government refers to a civil government -- local, provincial, or national -- but commercial, academic, religious, or other formal organizations are also administered by governing bodies....
     intelligence is usually assigned to intelligence agencies
    Intelligence agency

    An intelligence agency is a Government Government agency that is devoted to the information gathering for purposes of national security and Defense ....
    , often with large, secret budgets. These use a variety of techniques to obtain information, ranging from secret agent
    Secret Agent

    Secret Agent is a 1936 in film United Kingdom film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on a Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham....
    s (HUMINT
    HUMINT

    HUMINT, a Syllabic abbreviation#Types of abbreviations of the words HUMan INTelligence, refers to Intelligence by means of interpersonal contact, as opposed to the List of intelligence gathering disciplines such as SIGINT, IMINT and MASINT....
    ) to electronic intercepts (COMINT, IMINT
    IMINT

    IMINT, short for IMagery INTelligence, is an list of intelligence gathering disciplines which collects information via satellite and aerial photography....
    , SIGINT
    SIGINT

    Signals intelligence is list of intelligence gathering disciplines by interception of signals, whether between people or between machines , or mixtures of the two....
    , and ELINT) to specialized technical methods (MASINT).


Depending on the national policy, some intelligence agencies engage in clandestine and covert activities beyond espionage such as political subversion, sabotage
Sabotage

Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening an enemy, oppressor or employer through subversion, obstruction, disruption, and/or destruction....
 and assassination
Assassination

Assassination is the targeted killing of a public figure. Assassinations may be prompted by ideology, politics, or military reasons. Additionally, assassins may be motivated by contract killing, revenge, or celebrity or may be mental disorder....
. Other agencies strictly limit themselves to analysis, or collection and analysis; some governments have other organizations for covert action.

  • Military intelligence
    Military intelligence

    Military intelligence , is a military service that uses List of intelligence gathering disciplines which informs the commanders' decision making process by providing intelligence analysis of Intelligence from a wide range of sources including forecast environmental changes , and opposing force intentions....
     is an element of warfare which covers all aspects of gathering, analyzing, and making use of information, including information about the natural environment (Shulsky and Schmitt, 2002), over enemy forces and the ground. It involves spying, look-outs, high-tech surveillance equipment, and also secret agents.
  • Business intelligence
    Business intelligence

    Business intelligence refers to skills, technologies, applications and practices used to help a business acquire a better understanding of its commercial context....
     denotes the public or secret information that an organization obtains about its competitors and markets. See also data warehousing.


Intelligence as used here, when done properly, serves a function for organizations similar to that which intelligence (trait) serves for individual humans and animals. Intelligence collection is often controversial and seen as a threat to privacy
Privacy

Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively....
. Intelligence is essential for government policy formation and operations; it is a policy matter for individual governments whether While usually associated with war
War

...
fare, intelligence can also be used to preserve peace
Peace

Peace is a term that most commonly refers to an absence of aggression, violence or hostility, but which also represents a larger concept wherein there are healthy or newly-healed interpersonal relationship or international relations, safety in matters of social or economic welfare, the acknowledgment of equality and fairness in political re...
.

The process of taking known information about situations and entities of strategic, operational, or tactical importance, characterizing the known, and, with appropriate statements of probability, the future actions in those situations and by those entities is called intelligence analysis
Intelligence analysis

Intelligence Analysis is the process of taking known information about situations and entities of strategic, operational, or tactical importance, characterizing the known, and, with appropriate statements of probability, the future actions in those situations and by those entities....
. The descriptions are drawn from what may only be available in the form of deliberately deceptive information; the analyst must correlate the similarities among deceptions and extract a common truth. Although its practice is found in its purest form inside intelligence agencies
Intelligence agency

An intelligence agency is a Government Government agency that is devoted to the information gathering for purposes of national security and Defense ....
, such as the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the Federal government of the United States. It is the successor of the Office of Strategic Services formed during World War II to coordinate espionage activities between the branches of the US military services....
 (CIA) in the United States or the Secret Intelligence Service
Secret Intelligence Service

The Secret Intelligence Service , colloquially known as MI6 is the United Kingdom's external intelligence agency, part of the country's United Kingdom intelligence community....
 (SIS, MI6) in the UK, its methods are also applicable in fields such as business intelligence
Business intelligence

Business intelligence refers to skills, technologies, applications and practices used to help a business acquire a better understanding of its commercial context....
 or competitive intelligence
Competitive intelligence

A broad definition of Competitive Intelligence is the action of gathering, analyzing, and applying information about products, domain constituents, customers, and competitors for the short term and long term planning needs of an organization....
.

Intelligence analysis is a way of reducing the ambiguity of highly ambiguous situations, with the ambiguity often very deliberately created by highly intelligent people with mindsets very different from the analyst's. Many analysts prefer the middle-of-the-road explanation, rejecting high or low probability explanations. Analysts may use their own standard of proportionality as to the risk acceptance of the opponent, rejecting that the opponent may take an extreme risk to achieve what the analyst regards as a minor gain. Above all, the analyst must avoid the special cognitive traps for intelligence analysis
Cognitive traps for intelligence analysis

Intelligence analysis is fraught with a host of general List of cognitive biases that appear in many disciplines, but also to a set of cognitive traps common to intelligence analysis....
 projecting what she or he wants the opponent to think, and using available information to justify that conclusion.

Well-known national intelligence organizations


Australia
Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
  • Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
    Australian Security Intelligence Organisation

    The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is the domestic counter-intelligence and security agency of Australia which is responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, politically-motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, terrorism and acts of foreign interference....
     (ASIO)
  • Australian Secret Intelligence Service
    Australian Secret Intelligence Service

    The Australian Secret Intelligence Service is the government of Australia intelligence agency responsible for collecting foreign intelligence, undertaking counter-intelligence activities and cooperation with other intelligence agencies overseas....
     (ASIS)


Brazil
Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
  • Agência Brasileira de Inteligência (ABIN - Portuguese for Brazilian Intelligence Agency)


Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
  • Canadian Security Intelligence Service
    Canadian Security Intelligence Service

    The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is the primary intelligence agency of the Canadian government. It is responsible for collecting, analyzing and reporting Intelligence on threats to Canada's national security, and conducting operations, covert operation and overt, within Canada and abroad....
     (CSIS)


China
People's Republic of China

The People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the List of countries by population in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately a fifth of the world's population....
  • Ministry of State Security (MSS)


Denmark
Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries....
  • Politiets Efterretningstjeneste
    Politiets Efterretningstjeneste

    Politiets Efterretningstjeneste is the national security intelligence agency of Denmark. The agency focus solely upon domestic security while foreign intelligence operations is handled by Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste ? an intelligence branch under the Danish military....
     (PET)
  • Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste
    Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste

    The Danish Defence Intelligence Service , is a Denmark intelligence agency, responsible for Denmark?s foreign intelligence, as well as being the Danish military intelligence service....
     (FE)


France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
  • Direction Centrale du Renseignement Intérieur
    Direction centrale du renseignement intérieur

    The Direction centrale du renseignement int?rieur is a France Intelligence agency which reports directly to the Minister of the Interior . It became officially operational on July 1, 2008, through the merging of the Direction centrale des renseignements g?n?raux and the Direction de la surveillance du territoire of the French Nat...
     (DCRI) (Central Directorate for Domestic Intelligence)
  • Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure
    Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure

    The Directorate-General for External Security is France?s foreign intelligence agency. It was formed on April 2, 1982 to replace the former Service de Documentation Ext?rieure et de Contre-Espionnage ....
     (DGSE) (General Directorate of External Security)


Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
  • Bundesnachrichtendienst
    Bundesnachrichtendienst

    The Bundesnachrichtendienst is the foreign intelligence agency of the Germany government, under the control of the German Chancellery. Its headquarters are in Pullach near Munich, and Berlin ....
     (BND)
  • Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz
    Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz

    The Bundesamt f?r Verfassungsschutz is the Germany's domestic intelligence agency. Its main function is the surveillance of anti-constitutional activities in Germany....
  • Militärischer Abschirmdienst
    Militärischer Abschirmdienst

    The Milit?rischer Abschirmdienst or more officially Amt f?r den Milit?rischen Abschirmdienst , is one of the three federal List of intelligence agencies of Germany in Germany, responsible for military counterintelligence....
     (MAD)


India
India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
  • Research and Analysis Wing
    Research and Analysis Wing

    Research and Analysis Wing is India's foreign relations of India intelligence agency. Formed in September 1968 after the Sino-Indian War and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, its primary function is Intelligence , counter-terrorism and covert operations....
     (RAW)
  • Intelligence Bureau
    Intelligence Bureau

    Intelligence Bureau can refer to:*Intelligence Bureau , the domestic intelligence organization of India*Intelligence Bureau , the domestic intelligence organization of Pakistan...
     (IB)


Indonesia
Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
  • Badan Intelijen Negara (BIN)


Iran
Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and formerly known internationally as Persian Empire until 1935, is a country in Central Eurasia, located on the northeastern shore of the Persian Gulf and the southern shore of the Caspian Sea....
  • Ministry of Intelligence (Iran) (SAVAMA)


Israel
Israel

Israel officially the State of Israel , is a country in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area....
  • Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks
    Mossad

    The Mossad is the national intelligence agency of Israel. "Mossad" is the Hebrew word for institute or institution. Membership in the Mossad is very prestigious in Israeli society, and the organization is considered to rank among the most effective intelligence agencies in the world....
     (Mossad)


Korea, Republic of
  • National Intelligence Service
    National Intelligence Service (South Korea)

    The National Intelligence Service is the chief intelligence agency of South Korea. The agency was officially established in 1961 as the Korea Central Intelligence Agency , during the rule of President Park Chung-hee's military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, which displaced the Second Republic of South Korea....
     (NIS)


Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
  • Intelligence Bureau (Pakistan)
  • Inter-Services Intelligence
    Inter-Services Intelligence

    The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence is the largest intelligence service in Pakistan. It is one of the three main branches of Pakistan's intelligence agencies....
  • Military Intelligence of Pakistan
    Military Intelligence of Pakistan

    Military Intelligence is part of the Pakistan Army and reports to the Commander-in-Chief.See also * Inter-Services Intelligence...


Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
  • Foreign Intelligence Service
    Foreign Intelligence Service (Russia)

    The Foreign Intelligence Service Unlike the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, the SVR is responsible for intelligence and espionage activities outside the Russian Federation....
     - Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki (SVR) - successor to the Soviet foreign intelligence element known as KGB First Chief Directorate (FCD)
  • Federal Security Service - Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti (FSB) - successor to the Soviet domestic intelligence element known as KGB Second Chief Directorate (SCD)
  • Chief Intelligence Directorate of the Russian Federation Armed Forces General Staff - Glavnoye Razvedyvatelnoye Upravleniye (GRU) - military intelligence organ
  • Federal Agency of Government Communications and Information
    FAPSI

    FAPSI or Federal Agency of Government Communications and Information is a Russian government agency, which is responsible for signal intelligence and security of governmental communications....
     - Federalnoye Agentstvo Pravitelstvennoy Svyazi i Informatsiyi (FAPSI) - signals intelligence organ
  • Federal Protective Service
    Federal Protective Service (Russia)

    In the Russian Federation, the Federal Protective Service is a federal government agency concerned with the tasks related to the protection of several, mandated by the relevant law, high-ranking state officials, including the President of Russia, as well as certain federal properties....
     - Federalnaya Sluzhba Okhrany (FSO) - provides physical security for Russian officials


Spain
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
  • Centro Nacional de Inteligencia
    Centro Nacional de Inteligencia

    The National Intelligence Center is the Spain official intelligence agency. Its headquarters are located in the A-6 motorway near Madrid. The CNI is the successor of the Centro Superior de Informaci?n de la Defensa, Higher Centre for Defense Intelligence....
     (CNI)


Turkey
Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
  • National Intelligence Organization
    National Intelligence Organization

    The National Intelligence Organization is the governmental intelligence organization of Turkey. It was established in 1965 to replace the National Security Service ....
     (MIT)


United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
  • Secret Intelligence Service
    Secret Intelligence Service

    The Secret Intelligence Service , colloquially known as MI6 is the United Kingdom's external intelligence agency, part of the country's United Kingdom intelligence community....
     (colloquially MI6 in popular culture)
  • Security Service
    MI5

    The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of the intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service , Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence Staff ....
     (colloquially MI5 in popular culture)
  • Government Communications Headquarters
    Government Communications Headquarters

    The Government Communications Headquarters is a United Kingdom intelligence agency responsible for providing signals intelligence and information assurance to the Her Majesty's Government and British Armed Forces as required, under the guidance of the Joint Intelligence Committee ....
     (GCHQ)
  • Defence Intelligence Staff
    Defence Intelligence Staff

    The Defence Intelligence Staff is an element of the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence and is primarily responsible for providing intelligence assessments and advice to support military operations and to guide MOD decisions on defence policy and procurement....
     (DIS)


United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
  • Air Force
    United States Air Force

    The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare branch of the Military of the United States and one of the uniformed services of the United States....
    , Air Intelligence Agency (AIA)
  • Army
    United States Army

    The United States Army is the branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for Army operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S....
    , Intelligence
  • Central Intelligence Agency
    Central Intelligence Agency

    The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the Federal government of the United States. It is the successor of the Office of Strategic Services formed during World War II to coordinate espionage activities between the branches of the US military services....
     (CIA)
  • Coast Guard
    United States Coast Guard

    The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the Military of the United States and one of seven Uniformed services of the United States. In addition to being a military branch at all times, it is unique among the armed forces in that it is also a Admiralty law agency and a Federal government of the United States regulatory agency....
    , Intelligence
  • Defense Intelligence Agency
    Defense Intelligence Agency

    The Defense Intelligence Agency, or DIA, is a major producer and manager of military intelligence for the United States Department of Defense, employing over 11,000 military and civilian employees worldwide....
     (DIA)
  • Department of Energy
    United States Department of Energy

    The United States Department of Energy is a United States Cabinet-level department of the United States government of the United States responsible for Energy policy of the United States and nuclear safety....
    , Office of Intelligence
  • Department of Homeland Security, Office of Intelligence and Analysis
  • Department of State, Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR)
  • Department of the Treasury
    Department of the Treasury

    Several countries have a Department of the Treasury. These departments include:* Department of the Treasury * United States Department of the Treasury...
    , Office of Intelligence and Analysis
  • Director of National Intelligence
  • Drug Enforcement Administration
    Drug Enforcement Administration

    The Drug Enforcement Administration is a United States Department of Justice law enforcement agency tasked with combating War on Drugs Not only is the DEA the lead agency for domestic enforcement of the drug policy of the United States , it also has sole responsibility for coordinating and pursuing U.S....
    , Office of National Security Intelligence
  • Federal Bureau of Investigation
    Federal Bureau of Investigation

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation is the primary unit in the United States United States Department of Justice, serving as both a Law enforcement agency body and a domestic intelligence agency....
     (FBI)
  • Marine Corps
    United States Marine Corps

    The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing Military power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to rapidly deliver Marine Air-Ground Task Force....
    , Intelligence
  • National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
    National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

    The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is an List of United States federal agencies of the United States Government with the primary mission of collection, analysis, and distribution of geospatial intelligence in support of national security....
     (NGA)
  • National Security Agency
    National Security Agency

    The National Security Agency/Central Security Service is a Cryptology Intelligence agency of the Federal government of the United States, administered as part of the United States Department of Defense....
     (NSA)
  • National Reconnaissance Office
    National Reconnaissance Office

    The National Reconnaissance Office , located in Chantilly, Virginia, is one of the U.S. intelligence community in the U.S. It designs, builds and operates the reconnaissance satellites of the United States government....
     (NRO)
  • Navy
    United States Navy

    The United States Navy is the navy of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy currently has approximately 331,682 personnel on active duty as of 31 December 2008 and 124,000 in the United States Navy Reserve....
    , Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI)


Major publicly accessible intelligence sources

  • , select "Intelligence" section.
  • ; Defence, Law Enforcement, Political and General Intelligence
  • Bloomberg
    Bloomberg Terminal

    The Bloomberg Terminal is a computer system that enables financial professionals to access the Bloomberg Professional service through which users can monitor and analyze real-time financial market data movements and place trades....
  • CIA World Fact Book
  • credit rating agencies
    Credit rating agency

    A credit rating agency is a company that assigns credit ratings for issuers of certain types of debt obligations as well as the debt instruments themselves....
  • Dow Jones
  • Internet
    Internet

    The Internet is a global network of interconnected computers, enabling users to share information along multiple channels. Typically, a computer that connects to the Internet can access information from a vast array of available server and other computers by moving information from them to the computer's local memory....
     search engine
    Search engine

    A search engine is an information retrieval designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits....
    s such as Google
    Google

    Google Inc. is an United States public company, earning revenue from AdWords related to its Google search, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Apps, Orkut, and YouTube services as well as selling advertising-free versions of the Google Search Appliance....
  • LexisNexis
    LexisNexis

    LexisNexis is a popular searchable archive of content from newspapers, magazines, legal documents and other printed sources. LexisNexis claims to be the "world?s largest collection of public records, unpublished opinions, forms, legal, news, and business information" while offering their products to a wide range of professionals in the lega...
  • newspaper
    Newspaper

    A newspaper is a publication containing news, information and advertising, usually printed on low-cost paper called newsprint. General-interest newspapers often feature articles on Politics, crime, business, art/entertainment, society and sports....
    s of record, such as the New York Times
  • private investigator
    Private investigator

    A private investigator or private detective is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigations. Private investigators often work for lawyers in civil cases....
    s
  • public libraries


See also

  • List of intelligence gathering disciplines
    List of intelligence gathering disciplines

    Intelligence Gathering Disciplines...
  • Compartmentalization
    Compartmentalization

    Compartmentalization or compartmentalisation may refer to:* Compartmentalization * Compartmentalization * Compartmentalization * Compartmentalization ...
  • Counter-intelligence
    Counter-intelligence

    Intelligence cycle management, and, by extension, the overall defenses of nations, are vulnerable to attack. It is the role of intelligence cycle security to protect the process embodied in the intelligence cycle, and that which it defends....
  • Meteorological intelligence
    Meteorological intelligence

    Meteorological intelligence is information measured, gathered, compiled, exploited, analyzed and disseminated by Meteorology, Climatology and Hydrology to characterize the current state and/or predict the future state of the Atmosphere at a given location and time....
  • Military intelligence
    Military intelligence

    Military intelligence , is a military service that uses List of intelligence gathering disciplines which informs the commanders' decision making process by providing intelligence analysis of Intelligence from a wide range of sources including forecast environmental changes , and opposing force intentions....
  • Public intelligence
  • Espionage
    Espionage

    Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secrecy or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information....
  • Intellipedia
    Intellipedia

    Intellipedia is an online system for collaborative data sharing used by the United States intelligence community . It was established as a pilot project in late 2005 and formally announced in April 2006 and consists of three wikis running on Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System, SIPRNet, and Intelink#Intelink-U .28Intelink-...
    , a classified wiki that runs the secret network that links the U.S. intelligence community.


Surveys

  • Andrew, Christopher. For the President's Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush (1996)
  • Black, Ian and Morris, Benny Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services
    Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services

    Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services is a 1991 book written by Ian Black and Benny Morris about the history of the Israeli intelligence services from the period of the Yishuv to the end of the 1980s....
     (1991)
  • essays by scholars
  • Kahn, David The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet (1996), 1200 pages
  • Lerner, K. Lee and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, eds. Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence and Security (2003), 1100 pages. 850 articles, strongest on technology
  • O'Toole, George. Honorable Treachery: A History of U.S. Intelligence, Espionage, Covert Action from the American Revolution to the CIA (1991)
  • Owen, David. Hidden Secrets: A Complete History of Espionage and the Technology Used to Support It (2002), popular
  • Richelson, Jeffery T. The U.S. Intelligence Community (4th ed. 1999)
  • Shulsky, Abram N. and Schmitt, Gary J. "Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of Intelligence" (3rd ed. 2002), 285 pages
  • West, Nigel. MI6: British Secret Intelligence Service Operations 1909–1945 (1983)
  • West, Nigel. Secret War: The Story of SOE, Britain's Wartime Sabotage Organization (1992)
  • Wohlstetter, Roberta. Pearl Harbor: Warning and Decision (1962)


World War I

  • Beesly, Patrick. Room 40. (1982). Covers the breaking of German codes by RN intelligence, including the Turkish bribe, Zimmermann telegram, and failure at Jutland.
  • May, Ernest (ed.) Knowing One's Enemies: Intelligence Assessment before the Two World Wars (1984)
  • Tuchman, Barbara W. The Zimmermann Telegram (1966)


World War II: 1931–1945

  • Babington-Smith, Constance. Air Spy: The Story of Photo Intelligence in World War II (1957)
  • Beesly, Patrick. Very Special Intelligence: The Story of the Admiralty's Operational Intelligence Centre—1939–1945 (1977)
  • Hinsley, F. H. British Intelligence in the Second World War (1996) abridged version of multivolume official history.
  • Jones, R. V. The Wizard War: British Scientific Intelligence 1939–1945 (1978)
  • Kahn, David. Hitler's Spies: German Military Intelligence in World War II (1978)
  • Kahn, David. Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boat Codes, 1939–1943 (1991)
  • Kitson, Simon. The Hunt for Nazi Spies: Fighting Espionage in Vichy France, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, (2008). ISBN 978-0-226-43893-1.
  • Lewin, Ronald. The American Magic: Codes, Ciphers and the Defeat of Japan (1982)
  • May, Ernest (ed.) Knowing One's Enemies: Intelligence Assessment before the Two World Wars (1984)
  • Smith, Richard Harris. OSS: The Secret History of America's First Central Intelligence Agency (2005)
  • Stanley, Roy M. World War II Photo Intelligence (1981)
  • Wark, Wesley. The Ultimate Enemy: British Intelligence and Nazi Germany, 1933–1939 (1985)
  • Wark, Wesley K."Cryptographic Innocence: The Origins of Signals Intelligence in Canada in the Second World War", Journal of Contemporary History 22 (1987)


Cold War Era: 1945–1991

  • Aldrich, Richard J. The Hidden Hand: Britain, America and Cold War Secret Intelligence (2002).
  • Ambrose, Stephen E. Ike's Spies: Eisenhower and the Intelligence Establishment (1981).
  • Andrew, Christopher, and Oleg Gordievsky. KGB: The Inside Story of Its Foreign Operations from Lenin to Gorbachev (1990).
  • Bogle, Lori, ed. Cold War Espionage and Spying (2001), essays by scholars
  • Dorril, Stephen. MI6: Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service (2000).
  • Dziak, John J. Chekisty: A History of the KGB (1988)
  • Ostrovsky, Viktor
    Victor Ostrovsky

    Victor John Ostrovsky is an author and former case officer for the Israeli Mossad . He authored two non-fiction books about his service with the Mossad: By Way of Deception , and The Other Side of Deception several years later....
     By Way of Deception
    By Way of Deception

    By way of deception: The making and unmaking of a Mossad Officer is a book written by Victor Ostrovsky and Claire Hoy about Ostrovsky's career as a katsa in the Israeli Mossad....
     (1990)
  • Persico, Joseph. Casey: The Lives and Secrets of William J. Casey-From the OSS to the CIA (1991)
  • Prados, John. Presidents' Secret Wars: CIA and Pentagon Covert Operations Since World War II (1996)
  • , by an Australian scholar; contains excellent historiographical introduction
  • Weinstein, Allen, and Alexander Vassiliev. The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America—The Stalin Era (1999).


External links

  • ISRIA, HTML, , February 5, 2006.
  • ISRIA, PDF, , December 31, 2005.