Signals intelligence (often contracted to SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of signals, whether between people ("communications intelligence"—COMINT), whether involving electronic signals not directly used in communication ("electronic intelligence"—ELINT), or combinations of the two. As sensitive information is often encrypted, signals intelligence often involves the use of cryptanalysis. Also, traffic analysis—the study of who is signaling whom and in what quantity—can often produce valuable information, even when the messages themselves cannot be decrypted.
As a means of collecting intelligence, signals intelligence is a subset of intelligence collection management, which, in turn, is a subset of intelligence cycle management.
Read more about Signals Intelligence: History, More Technical Definitions of SIGINT and Its Branches, COMINT, Electronic Signals Intelligence, SIGINT Versus MASINT, Defensive Signals Intelligence
Famous quotes containing the words signals and/or intelligence:
“The term preschooler signals another change in our expectations of children. While toddler refers to physical development, preschooler refers to a social and intellectual activity: going to school. That shift in emphasis is tremendously important, for it is at this age that we think of children as social creatures who can begin to solve problems.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“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)