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An intelligence agency is a governmental
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....
 agency
Government agency

A government agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency....
 that is devoted to the information gathering (known in the context as "intelligence
Intelligence (information gathering)

Intelligence is not information, but the product of evaluated information, valued for its currency and relevance rather than its detail or accuracy —in contrast with "data" which typically refers to precision or particular information, or "fact," which typically refers to veracity information....
") for purposes of national security
National security

The late political scientist Hans Morgenthau, author of Politics Among Nations, defines national security as the integrity of the national territory and its institutions....
 and defense
Defense (military)

Defence has several uses in the sphere of military application.Personal defence implies measures taken by individual soldiers in protecting themselves whether by use of protective materials such as armour, or field construction of trenches or a bunker, or by using weapons that prevent the enemy approaching them to initiate close combat....
.






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Encyclopedia


Secret Intelligence Service Building Vauxhall Cross Vauxhall London 24042004
An intelligence agency is a governmental
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....
 agency
Government agency

A government agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency....
 that is devoted to the information gathering (known in the context as "intelligence
Intelligence (information gathering)

Intelligence is not information, but the product of evaluated information, valued for its currency and relevance rather than its detail or accuracy —in contrast with "data" which typically refers to precision or particular information, or "fact," which typically refers to veracity information....
") for purposes of national security
National security

The late political scientist Hans Morgenthau, author of Politics Among Nations, defines national security as the integrity of the national territory and its institutions....
 and defense
Defense (military)

Defence has several uses in the sphere of military application.Personal defence implies measures taken by individual soldiers in protecting themselves whether by use of protective materials such as armour, or field construction of trenches or a bunker, or by using weapons that prevent the enemy approaching them to initiate close combat....
. Means of information gathering may include 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....
, communication interception
SIGINT

Signals intelligence is list of intelligence gathering disciplines by interception of signals, whether between people or between machines , or mixtures of the two....
, cryptanalysis
Cryptanalysis

Cryptanalysis is the study of methods for obtaining the meaning of encrypted information, without access to the secret information which is normally required to do so....
, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public sources. The assembly and propagation of this information is known as 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....
.

Intelligence agencies can provide the following services for their national governments.

  • provide analysis in areas relevant to national security
    National security

    The late political scientist Hans Morgenthau, author of Politics Among Nations, defines national security as the integrity of the national territory and its institutions....
    ;
  • give early warning of impending crises;
  • serve national and international crisis management
    Crisis management

    A crisis is a major, unpredictable event that threatens to harm an organization and its stakeholders. Although crisis events are unpredictable, they are not unexpected ....
     by helping to discern the intentions of current or potential opponents;
  • inform national defense planning
    Military plan

    A military operation plan is a formal plan for military armed forces, their military organisations and military unit to conduct Military_operations#Military_operations, as drawn up by commanders within the combat operations process in achieving objectives before or during a war....
     and military operations;
  • protect secrets, both of their own sources and activities, and those of other state agencies; and
  • may act covertly to influence the outcome of events in favor of national interests


Intelligence agencies are also involved in defensive activities such as counter-espionage or counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism

Counter-terrorism refers to the practices, Military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, military, police departments and corporations adopt in response to terrorism, both real and imputed....
.

Some agencies are accused of being involved in 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....
, arms sales, coups d'état
Coup d'état

A coup d??tat , often simply called a coup, is the sudden unconstitutional overthrow of a government by a part of the state establishment – usually the military – to replace the branch of the stricken government, either with another civil government or with a military government....
, and the placement of misinformation (propaganda
Propaganda

Propaganda is the dissemination of information aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people. As opposed to Objectivity providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience....
) as well as other covert operations, in order to support their own or their governments' interests.

See also

  • Intelligence (information gathering)
    Intelligence (information gathering)

    Intelligence is not information, but the product of evaluated information, valued for its currency and relevance rather than its detail or accuracy —in contrast with "data" which typically refers to precision or particular information, or "fact," which typically refers to veracity information....
  • List of intelligence agencies
    List of intelligence agencies

    The following is a partial list of current intelligence agency....
  • List of intelligence gathering disciplines
    List of intelligence gathering disciplines

    Intelligence Gathering Disciplines...
    • 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....
       or human intelligence
    • GEOINT
      GEOINT

      GEOINT stands for GEOspatial INTelligence, which is an list of intelligence gathering disciplines comprising the exploitation and analysis of geospatial information to describe, assess, and visually depict physical features and geographically referenced activities on the Earth....
       or geospatial intelligence
    • IMINT
      IMINT

      IMINT, short for IMagery INTelligence, is an list of intelligence gathering disciplines which collects information via satellite and aerial photography....
       or imagery intelligence
    • MASINT or measures and signatures intelligence
    • OSINT or open source intelligence
    • 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....
       or signals intelligence
      • COMINT or communications intelligence
      • ELINT or electronics intelligence
  • List of primary and secondary sources on the Cold War
  • Mukhabarat
    Mukhabarat

    Mukhabarat is the Arabic language term for intelligence, as in intelligence agency. In the West, the term is sometimes used negatively, connotating repression, often by means of secret police or state terror, in Arab countries....
  • Secret police
    Secret police

    Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy to maintain national security against internal threats to the state.Secret police forces are typically associated with totalitarianism regimes, as they are often used to maintain the political power of the state rather than uphold the rule of law....
  • Secret service
    Secret service

    Because of both the secrecy of secret services and the controversial nature of the issues involved, there is some difficulty in separating the definitions of secret service, secret police, intelligence agency etc....
  • Security agency
    Security agency

    A security agency is an organization which conducts intelligence activities for the internal security of a nation, state or organization. They are the domestic cousins of foreign Intelligence agency....
  • United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
    United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court

    The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is a United States federal courts authorized under . It was established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ....


Further reading

books
  • Encyclopedia of espionage, intelligence, and security, hrg. von K. Lee Lerner und Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, 3 Bände, Detroit [u.a.] : Gale [u.a.], 2004
  • Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, Cloak and Dollar: A History of American Secret Intelligence, Yale University Press, 2002
  • Richard C. S. Trahair, Encyclopedia of Cold War espionage, spies, and secret operations, Westport, Conn. [u.a.] : Greenwood Press, 2004
  • Amy B. Zegart, Flawed by design : the evolution of the CIA, JCS, and NSC, Stanford, Calif. : Stanford Univ. Press, 1999


journals
  • The journal of intelligence history


External links