Sources of Intelligence
Intelligence officers make use of a variety of sources of information, including
- Open source intelligence (OSINT): Derived from publicly available sources such as the Internet, library materials, newspapers, etc.
- Communications intelligence (COMINT): Eavesdropping and interception of communications (e.g., by wiretapping) including signals intelligence (SIGINT) and electronic intelligence (ELINT).
- Imagery intelligence (IMINT): Derived from numerous collection assets, such as reconnaissance satellites (e.g., the Key Hole series) or aircraft (e.g., Lockheed U-2).
- Human intelligence (HUMINT): Derived from covert human intelligence sources (agents or moles) from a variety of agencies (e.g., the United States Intelligence Community) and activities.
- Measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT): Derived from collection assets that collect and evaluate technical profiles and specific characteristics of certain targeted entities (e.g., E-8 Joint STARS).
- Technical intelligence (TECHINT): Based on scientific and technical characteristics of weapons systems, technological devices and other entities.
- Financial intelligence (FININT): The gathering of information about the financial affairs of entities of interest.
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—Harriot K. Hunt (1805–1875)
“My profession brought me in contact with various minds. Earnest, serious discussion on the condition of woman enlivened my business room; failures of banks, no dividends from railroads, defalcations of all kinds, public and private, widows and orphans and unmarried women beggared by the dishonesty, or the mismanagement of men, were fruitful sources of conversation; confidence in man as a protector was evidently losing ground, and women were beginning to see that they must protect themselves.”
—Harriot K. Hunt (1805–1875)
“It is not, truly speaking, the labour that is divided; but the men: divided into mere segments of men—broken into small fragments and crumbs of life, so that all the little piece of intelligence that is left in a man is not enough to make a pin, or a nail, but exhausts itself in making the point of a pin or the head of a nail.”
—John Ruskin (1819–1900)