intelligence collection

FORUM PROMPT (three questions):

• What drives or targets intelligence collection?
• Describe the various collection strategies that are commonly used?
• Does this complexity apply to all organizations engaged in intelligence collection?

YOU ARE EXPECTED TO ENGAGE IN INDEPENDENT RESEARCH AND LOCATE SOURCES COVERING THE TOPICS OF INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION STRATEGIES AND APPROACHES.

To get your mind churning on this topic I will offer a few additional thoughts to help provoke your thinking. In the DoD’s Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, reconnaissance describes a “mission.” Surveillance is described as an activity. What terms are used to describe approaches to actual collection? What collection strategies are used, and do they vary by organization or collection type? What describes the idea that we might target information for collection to answer specific questions?

Or what describes the idea of how we elect to use persistent 24/7 observation of areas looking for changes in key indicators? Or what describes the idea that we choose to gather ALL communications on all RF frequencies in a certain area in the hope that we can later sift and sort and filter for something that might be important–though we have no idea of what might actually be important? What describes the idea that collectors should not only collect on priorities, but should be expansively collecting on things that are not problems in the anticipation that we can provide true early warning to users and analysts of trends that have not yet happened (or become apparent to analysts)? These questions are here to inspire you to think about the three forum prompt questions.

Assessing HUMINT Sources. After reading “How the U.S. Fell Under the Spell of “Curveball” by Bob Drogin and John Goetz post your thoughts on who you think is to blame for the Curveball debacle. After reading “Confrontation or Collaboration? Congress and the Intelligence Community,” what do you think Congress’ role in overseeing the U.S. Intelligence Community should be? Be sure your response addresses Congress’ role in overseeing intelligence activities, Intelligence Oversight violations, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).