An intelligence gathering network is a system through which information about a particular entity is collected for the benefit of another through the use of more than one, inter-related source. Such information may be gathered by a

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

government intelligence An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives. Means of informa ...

, or commercial intelligence network.

Intelligence assessment Intelligence assessment, or simply intel, is the development of behavior forecasts or recommended courses of action to the leadership of an organisation, based on wide ranges of available overt and covert information (intelligence). Assessments d ...

employs

intelligence analysis Intelligence analysis is the application of individual and collective cognitive methods to weigh data and test hypotheses within a secret socio-cultural context. The descriptions are drawn from what may only be available in the form of deliberate ...

to refine information. Foreign

embassies A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

subscribe to the newspapers and keep tabs on the news channels of their host countries — the information doesn't have to be classified to be considered useful intelligence; indeed, so-called OSINT, or

open-source intelligence Open-source intelligence (OSINT) is the collection and analysis of data gathered from open sources (covert and publicly available sources) to produce actionable intelligence. OSINT is primarily used in national security, law enforcement, and busi ...

, is increasing in both quantity and utility with the ascendancy of digital media. Researchers may also be employed to dig through archives and check facts. An important form of intelligence is so-called " signals intelligence", which attempts to intercept electronic communications and other signals sent between parties working for a hostile, or potentially hostile, entity, or between neutral or even friendly parties but ''discussing'' that entity. In established intelligence agencies, such networks usually follow a

linear Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...

rather than distributed structure. An agent handler directs the activities of a number of persons and sources in order to obtain the necessary facts about the target of the intelligence gathering operation. The two main

HUMINT Human intelligence (abbreviated HUMINT and pronounced as ''hyoo-mint'') is intelligence gathered by means of interpersonal contact, as opposed to the more technical intelligence gathering disciplines such as signals intelligence (SIGINT), imager ...

agent types used are ''infiltration'' and ''penetration'' agents. An infiltration agent is someone who enters the target of the operation from the outside, but on a suitable pretext so that they are not suspected of espionage. A penetration agent would already be in place in the target area, and is recruited by the handler, often by means of the MICE principle. The information so gathered is processed by one or more analysts and turned into an intelligence product. Information is conveyed between nodes of the network by a variety of secure/clandestine means, be they physical or electronic.

History

Turkey

At the turn of the twentieth century, the last Sultan, Abdul Hamid II, demanded daily intelligence reports called ''djournals'' (from the word "journal). After decades, he had saved millions of them in "a whole building to itself in the War Office, where a Government Commission is now," Francis McCullagh wrote in 1910, "wading slowly through this amazing accumulation."

References

* * * Espionage Open-source intelligence {{espionage-stub