Espionage: A Writer's Guide Part III
Who Does the Spying?
The Various Fields and Disciplines
But who does the collecting?
There are several different disciplines and techniques that are used to collect the raw information that goes to analysts. All of those except Human Intelligence (HUMINT) are some type of technical collection, and some of those technical areas are incredibly complex and ingenious. Here is a very short and dirty description of each broad discipline. Each of those disciplines uses a wide variety of techniques and tools to accomplish its missions.
Human Intelligence (HUMINT):
This is the intelligence field we are here to talk about in this lovely pamphlet, which is the only reason I mention it first. Well, that and the fact it’s the discipline with which everyone is familiar and it is what most folks traditionally would associate with "espionage." Imagine dark and damp nights, trench coats, corny pass codes (“the duck quacks at midnight”) and everything else you’ve ever read in a Graham Greene novel or seen in a James Bond film. (Now ignore about three-fourths of that.) Human Intelligence agents go out and personally shake the trees and kick the bushes looking for information in the form of a) direct encounters with potential sources of information (thru what is known as “elicitation”), b) indirect encounters with persons close to the source of information (“human source operations”), and/or c) interrogation of detained persons.
Signals Intelligence (SIGINT):
In a nutshell, Signals Intelligence consists merely of diverse types of electronic eavesdropping. These range from the direct monitoring of phone calls and intercepting of radio communications and Morse signals—frequently referred to as Communications Intelligence (COMINT)—to a number of different subfields that deal with tracking foreign electronic signatures. It includes Electronic Intelligence (ELINT): tracking electronic signatures, such as radar or sonar. And it includes tracking and identifying Foreign Instrumentation Signals Intelligence (FISINT): control and telemetry signals for such things as adversary weapons systems.
In more technologically-gifted countries, Signals Intelligence is the most robust discipline, outstripping other intelligence efforts in dollars spent and employees hired. SIGINT is also the most sensitive and highly classified enterprise in most intelligence communities. The very existence of cutting edge programs fielded by national governments often is highly classified.
If you write history or historical fiction, information is widely available on historical SIGINT programs dating back more than one-hundred years, and most current SIGINT proponent organizations (the U.S. National Security Agency and U.K. GCHQ, for example) have presences on the Internet. Such research is not daunting.
For those of you writing speculative fiction, your ability to contrive novel SIGINT platforms (as well as IMINT and MASINT) is bounded only by your own imagination and by your willingness to flirt with the outer edges of what is physically and scientifically possible.
Image Intelligence (IMINT) and Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT):
At its simplest, Imagery Intelligence entails the use of high-resolution visual images to help guide analysts in determining a wide variety of things, including the location and disposition of adversary assets on the ground and even at sea. Imagery also can be derived from visual photography, radar sensors, and electro-optics. (Tip: in older parlance, the term Aerial Reconnaissance has often been used instead of Imagery Intelligence, though the two are not precisely the same.)
Geospatial Intelligence takes Imagery Intelligence a level further by providing detailed and layered representations of geographic sites on Earth. Using complex information and computer-enhanced mapping systems, GEOINT enables the analysis and visual representation of security-related activities of virtually any location on the planet. (Imagine layered electronic maps, a souped-up variety of something like Google Earth, to which military intelligence, maneuver, and weapon targeting systems can be linked and coordinated.)
Like SIGINT, Imageries Intelligence is discipline nearly as old as mechanical imagery systems. There is plenty out there to research in libraries and online. And organizations such as the the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) in the United States have websites that provide information on the organization and its history.
Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT):
Measurement and Signature Intelligence is technically derived intelligence data that is not IMINT or SIGINT (although MASINT methods sometimes overlap with both). The name MASINT encompasses all manner of physical sciences. The information collected by this veritable legion of scientific methods results in intelligence that locates, identifies, or describes distinctive characteristics of targets. Examples of this are tools and methods that engage in measuring the seismic footprint of large explosives or gauging the chemical composition of air and water samples. The limits of MASINT are broad.
Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT):
This is publicly available information appearing in print or electronic form including radio, television, newspapers, journals, the Internet, commercial databases, and videos, graphics, and drawings. Virtually any and all intelligence agencies have some sort of OSINT capacity, some of which are available to government agencies on non-classified internet platforms. Even the smallest collection station abroad gets copies of the local newspapers to help guide them in their collection efforts.
These are just the basics, enough to get a fledgling writer off to a start. In the next posting, we'll talk a little bit more about the Intelligence Cycle and how all of these disciplines might be used in concert to collect information and to inform policy makers.
Until next time!
The Various Fields and Disciplines
But who does the collecting?
There are several different disciplines and techniques that are used to collect the raw information that goes to analysts. All of those except Human Intelligence (HUMINT) are some type of technical collection, and some of those technical areas are incredibly complex and ingenious. Here is a very short and dirty description of each broad discipline. Each of those disciplines uses a wide variety of techniques and tools to accomplish its missions.
Human Intelligence (HUMINT):
This is the intelligence field we are here to talk about in this lovely pamphlet, which is the only reason I mention it first. Well, that and the fact it’s the discipline with which everyone is familiar and it is what most folks traditionally would associate with "espionage." Imagine dark and damp nights, trench coats, corny pass codes (“the duck quacks at midnight”) and everything else you’ve ever read in a Graham Greene novel or seen in a James Bond film. (Now ignore about three-fourths of that.) Human Intelligence agents go out and personally shake the trees and kick the bushes looking for information in the form of a) direct encounters with potential sources of information (thru what is known as “elicitation”), b) indirect encounters with persons close to the source of information (“human source operations”), and/or c) interrogation of detained persons.
Signals Intelligence (SIGINT):
In a nutshell, Signals Intelligence consists merely of diverse types of electronic eavesdropping. These range from the direct monitoring of phone calls and intercepting of radio communications and Morse signals—frequently referred to as Communications Intelligence (COMINT)—to a number of different subfields that deal with tracking foreign electronic signatures. It includes Electronic Intelligence (ELINT): tracking electronic signatures, such as radar or sonar. And it includes tracking and identifying Foreign Instrumentation Signals Intelligence (FISINT): control and telemetry signals for such things as adversary weapons systems.
In more technologically-gifted countries, Signals Intelligence is the most robust discipline, outstripping other intelligence efforts in dollars spent and employees hired. SIGINT is also the most sensitive and highly classified enterprise in most intelligence communities. The very existence of cutting edge programs fielded by national governments often is highly classified.
If you write history or historical fiction, information is widely available on historical SIGINT programs dating back more than one-hundred years, and most current SIGINT proponent organizations (the U.S. National Security Agency and U.K. GCHQ, for example) have presences on the Internet. Such research is not daunting.
For those of you writing speculative fiction, your ability to contrive novel SIGINT platforms (as well as IMINT and MASINT) is bounded only by your own imagination and by your willingness to flirt with the outer edges of what is physically and scientifically possible.
Image Intelligence (IMINT) and Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT):
At its simplest, Imagery Intelligence entails the use of high-resolution visual images to help guide analysts in determining a wide variety of things, including the location and disposition of adversary assets on the ground and even at sea. Imagery also can be derived from visual photography, radar sensors, and electro-optics. (Tip: in older parlance, the term Aerial Reconnaissance has often been used instead of Imagery Intelligence, though the two are not precisely the same.)
Geospatial Intelligence takes Imagery Intelligence a level further by providing detailed and layered representations of geographic sites on Earth. Using complex information and computer-enhanced mapping systems, GEOINT enables the analysis and visual representation of security-related activities of virtually any location on the planet. (Imagine layered electronic maps, a souped-up variety of something like Google Earth, to which military intelligence, maneuver, and weapon targeting systems can be linked and coordinated.)
Like SIGINT, Imageries Intelligence is discipline nearly as old as mechanical imagery systems. There is plenty out there to research in libraries and online. And organizations such as the the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) in the United States have websites that provide information on the organization and its history.
Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT):
Measurement and Signature Intelligence is technically derived intelligence data that is not IMINT or SIGINT (although MASINT methods sometimes overlap with both). The name MASINT encompasses all manner of physical sciences. The information collected by this veritable legion of scientific methods results in intelligence that locates, identifies, or describes distinctive characteristics of targets. Examples of this are tools and methods that engage in measuring the seismic footprint of large explosives or gauging the chemical composition of air and water samples. The limits of MASINT are broad.
Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT):
This is publicly available information appearing in print or electronic form including radio, television, newspapers, journals, the Internet, commercial databases, and videos, graphics, and drawings. Virtually any and all intelligence agencies have some sort of OSINT capacity, some of which are available to government agencies on non-classified internet platforms. Even the smallest collection station abroad gets copies of the local newspapers to help guide them in their collection efforts.
These are just the basics, enough to get a fledgling writer off to a start. In the next posting, we'll talk a little bit more about the Intelligence Cycle and how all of these disciplines might be used in concert to collect information and to inform policy makers.
Until next time!
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