Human Intelligence Collection Essay

Since 1947, when the Central Intelligence Agency was created, the United States has had an organization that has the sole purpose of conducting covert operations, collecting information, and providing that same information to the respective personnel. Although, this, by some, has been considered conflictual as the CIA is handling those three actions. It is considered that this may be a conflict of interest in a means of, the same people that are collecting information, creating a bias opinion, are conducting the covert action being carried out. This could create a bias work environment. Due to the professionalism and 60 years of success to show for it, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Clandestine Service (NCS) conducting

Traditionally, much of the intelligence gathering activities were based on military activities since the main threat to security was in the form of military invasions. Intelligence agencies developed new ways of gathering intelligence such as wiretapping, thermal imaging and search without warrants in order to take care of the new threats to national security. This signified a change from the traditional nature of intelligence to focus on foreign threats to terrorism to the modernized approach that considers domestic collaborators of terrorism. Scrutiny of domestic elements terrorism also introduced new roles of various government agencies that had to introduce counter-terrorism in their operational strategies. For instance, various intelligence agencies linked with the immigration department in order protect against entry of terrorists among other

I will then analyze the 3rd recommendation of the paper “Liberty and Security”, which demands that “surveillance must not be directed at illicit or illegitimate ends, such as the theft of trade secrets or obtaining commercial gain for domestic industries,” and argue that even if this motive may not be the main reason why foreign surveillance is conducted, it can be an unintended but useful – or rather unfair – consequence of easy collection of foreign intelligence, especially when considering the difference in technological capabilities between countries in the world. Finally, I am going to argue that, for the socio-economic benefit of globalization and international trade, it should be made equally harder for US intelligence agencies to collect information on non-US persons as it is to collect US-persons’ private information. Otherwise, this double standard can have – or maybe already has – negative consequences on trust between nations.

The article also addresses the difference between covert action and traditional military activities. Several historical instances of U.S. involvement in unconventional warfare (UW) touch upon this subject. ATP 3-05.1 Unconventional Warfare states “UW often inhabits the gray area of political engagement where it blends into warfare. It is crucial that Soldiers planning and executing UW pay careful attention to legal considerations and respect for authorities” This is a point of contention with the Title 10 and Title 50 debate as the word “covert”, and

The United States has involved itself in several missions shrouded in secrecy throughout the nation’s short history. Operations, like the Iran-Contra Affair, and the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) role in Afghanistan are just two examples of these types of secret government missions, which have become public knowledge. Both operations occurred under the helm of President Reagan, who outlined a clear agenda, promising to fight the spread of the Soviet social influence of communism. Moreover, other similarities are observed between the two covert missions, like providing armaments, equipment, and training to foreign rebel forces to assist in combating communist influences (National Security Archive 2006, Johnson 2011). Moreover, various government agencies were used in the operations for distinct purposes. The comparison of the Iran-Contra Affair and the CIA’s role in the Afghanistan war, aid in revealing a picture of how covert operations were used in the 1980s, in combat communism, while achieving other presidential agenda items, like securing American hostages (PBS n.d.).

Intelligence was only gathered on foreign military forces up until J Edgar Hoover’s FBI was tasked with watching radical groups who may have something to do with national security as we know it today; only the FBI’s role in IC ended with the outbreak of WWII (Moore

CIA is undercover agency that is independent source of foreign intelligence information. However it is one of the most publicized agencies in the country since the information about

Intelligence is the knowledge that provides security for our country; experience comes from our analysts and ability is derived from our freedoms. Over many decades all of this has been accomplished without the use of advanced technology, mainly through highly trained operatives who have infiltrated and obtained information from both foreign and homeland enemies. The current advancements have provided options that ensure the safety and efficiency of intelligence operations, surveillance being a

One of the biggest challenges for the Intelligence Community (IC) is the balance between gathering actionable intelligence using a variety of intelligence gathering methods with violating the civil liberties of United States citizens. As we discussed last week oversight of the IC by our congressional leaders is at the forefront of ensuring civil liberties and funding for programs are not being abused. The American citizens depend on the congress and the IC to ensure civil liberties are adhered to during all intelligence gathering. The problem is security of information and at times having to reach the tipping point of civil liberties to ensure the public stay safe can cause concern.

Production of intelligence has change drastically since the Cold War. During the Cold War, the main intelligence gathering methods were mainly organized on the collection side, using SIGINT, IMINT, and HUMINT. Today we face a new enemy, where we must change our typical intelligence gathering methods. As we changed our methods,

The United States has had a long and complicated journey with intelligence. Throughout its early history, the United States had a sporadic relationship with the intelligence community, only utilizing intelligence during wartime. After World War II, it became clear that the United States needed to enhance its intelligence gathering systems in order to prevent another disaster of this magnitude. Reacting to this pressure, policymakers soon drafted and passed the National Intelligence Act of 1947, creating the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the United States’ first peacetime intelligence agency. Though not always entirely authorized to do so, the CIA has carried out many covert operations with varying levels of success. Despite the fact that some of these operations have been a success, covert operations have largely been a detriment to the United States; covert operations hurt the United States’ public image, rarely fix the original problem entirely, and were not meant, by those who drafter the National Intelligence Act of 1947, to be carried out by the CIA.

The term “Covert Action” brings with it a connotation of shadowy figures wrapped in secrecy and intrigue. It also brings with it a substantial amount of moral questions as to “what is right.” The use of covert action has been widely publicized since the early seventies, but trying to find out the truth to these events has been difficult to say the least. What is even more difficult, is historically recording these events into categories of successes or failures. These operations are difficult to dissect because of their secrecy and although events have been recorded, some facts simply aren’t apparent. This paper will seek to identify the complex issues associated with covert operations.

Data can be collected through human sources, satellites, wiretapping, signals, and internet traffic. However, intelligence organizations must be in compliance with the law to ensure that they are not illegally collecting information (Chesney, 2012). Collection occurs because a threat is likely to occur or agencies are trying to find out what information our foreign adversaries possess about the nation’s assets. Intelligence collection occurs in both domestic and foreign territories. Intelligence agencies collect information about foreign adversaries in order to exploit their weaknesses or vulnerabilities (Gentry, 2008). Furthermore, government agencies and political leaders want to discover which of the nation’s assets are seen as vulnerable to the enemy (Gentry, 2008).

Intelligence is one of the first lines of defense used by the United States to protect the Country against both foreign and domestic threats (Johnson, 2010). There are many ways and methods of intelligence collections employed by the intelligence community such as “spies, eavesdropping, technical sources, and openly available materials” etc (Clark, 2013). Method used also depends on many factors such as available resources, time, agency involved, and intelligence collection source. U.S Intelligence agencies use different collection and analytical method that suit their collection function, structure and pro¬cess. For example, DNI/OSC relies on open source (OSINT), CIA uses human intelligence (HUMINT) tactic, DIA uses measurements and signatures intelligence (MASINT), NSA employs signals intelligence (SIGINT), and NGA utilizes imagery intelligence (IMINT) techniques for their intelligence collections (Clark, 2013).

Counterintelligence (CI) involves actions aimed at protecting the United States against foreign intelligence operations and espionage from penetration and disruption by hostile nations or their intelligence services (Lowenthal, 2014). Three main components of Counterintelligence include collection, defensive and offensive. The collection is the ability to gather intelligence information about rivalry capabilities against own nation; defensive part of CI involves measures to prevent and thwart other nations ' attempts to penetrate into own nation 's intelligence system; while an offensive aspect deal with running double agents to penetrate, manipulate, exploit, and control targeted adversaries. CI is said to be the most essential aspect of the intelligence disciplines, in the sense that it helps in collecting vast quantities of secret information and produce an excellent analysis of intelligence, although, ineffective counterintelligence measures may diminish confidence in the final results (Van Cleave, 2013).