Intelligence (information gathering)
Intelligence (abbreviated
int. or
intel.) is
information valued for its currency and relevance rather than its detail or accuracy —in contrast with
"data" which typically refers to
precise or particular information, or
"fact," which typically refers to
verified 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, within a larger equasion of understanding the
secret,
covert, or otherwise
private "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 (cf. "hive
mind"). In a sense, this usage of "intelligence" at the national level may be somewhat associated with the concept of
social intelligence —albeit one which is tied to localized or
nationalist tradition,
politics,
law, and the
enforcement therof.
Information collected can be difficult to obtain or altogether
secret material gained through
espionage ("closed sources"), or it can be banal and widely available, such as
newspaper articles or
Internet postings ("open sources"). 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 findings or "product" and the sources and methods used to obtain them (
tradecraft) are often highly
classified and sometimes compartmentalized, and intelligence officers need top level
security clearance.
*
Government intelligence is usually assigned to clandestine
intelligence agencies, often with large, secret budgets. These use a variety of techniques to obtain information, ranging from
secret agents (
HUMINT) to communications intercepts (
COMINT) to
spy satellites (
IMINT). See
surveillance and
list of intelligence gathering disciplines. Intelligence agencies often engage in clandestine activities beyond espionage such as political subversion,
sabotage and
assassination.
*
Military intelligence is an element of warfare which covers all aspects of gathering, analyzing, and making use of information over enemy forces and the ground. It involves spying, look-outs, high-tech surveillance equipment, and also secret agents.
*
Business intelligence 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. While usually associated with
warfare, intelligence can also be used to preserve
peace.
Canada*
Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS)
Germany*
Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND)
India*
Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)
*
Intelligence Bureau (IB)
Israel*
Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks (Mossad)
Pakistan*
Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan*
Inter-Services Intelligence*
Military Intelligence of PakistanRussia*
Federalnaya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti (
FSB, successor of
KGB)
*
Glavnoye Razvedyvatelnoye Upravlenie (
GRU)
United Kingdom *
MI6*
MI5United States*
Air Force, Air Intelligence Agency (AIA)
*
Army, Intelligence
*
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
*
Coast Guard, Intelligence
*
Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
*
Department of Energy, 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, Office of Intelligence and Analysis
*
Director of National Intelligence*
Drug Enforcement Administration, Office of National Security Intelligence
*
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
*
Marine Corps, Intelligence
*
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
*
National Security Agency (NSA)
*
National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
*
Navy, Office of Naval Intelligence
*
Open Sources Center, select "Intelligence" section.
*
Bloomberg*
CIA World Fact Book*
credit rating agencies*
Dow Jones*
Internet search engines such as
Google*
LexisNexis*
newspapers of record, such as the
New York Times*
private investigators
*
public libraries*
WikipediaSurveys
* Andrew, Christopher.
For the President's Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush (1996)
* Black, Ian.
Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services (1992)
*
Bungert, Heike et al eds. Secret Intelligence in the Twentieth Century (2003) 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. A Century of Spies: Intelligence in the Twentieth Century (1997)* Richelson, Jeffery T.
The U.S. Intelligence Community (4th ed. 1999)
* 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)
* 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)
* 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 Vasili Mitrokhin. The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB (1999)* 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)
*
Koehler, John O. Stasi: The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police (1999)* 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)
*
Rositzke, Harry. The CIA's Secret Operations: Espionage, Counterespionage, and Covert Action (1988)*
Trahair, Richard C. S. Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies and Secret Operations (2004), by an Australian scholar; contains excellent historiographical introduction
* Weinstein, Allen, and Alexander Vassiliev.
The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in Americaâ€"The Stalin Era (1999).
*
Counter-intelligence*
Espionage*
Compartmentalisation*
ISRIA, HTML,
The Relations between the CIA and the Executive Power since 2001, February 5, 2006.
*
ISRIA, PDF,
The Role of Open Sources in Intelligence, December 31, 2005.
*
Read Congressonal Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Intelligence issues*
The Literature of Intelligence: A Bibliography of Materials, with Essays, Reviews, and Comments by J. Ransom Clark, Emeritus Professor of Political Science, Muskingum College
