intelligence field
{{Distinguish|Intelligence (information)|Espionage|Intelligence community}}
{{Intelligence}}The Intelligence field is the top-level field which involves the systematic espionage, analysis, and dissemination of intelligence to support policymaking and key stakeholder decision-making,{{Cite web |title=INTELLIGENCE (FIELD 02) |url=https://www.marines.com/resources/intelligence---occupational-field-02.html |access-date=May 20, 2025 |website=marines.com}} primarily in matters related to national security, military affairs, law enforcement, and international relations. Collectively, that process of intelligence is usually called the intelligence cycle. The intelligence field can encompass a range of subfields including; espionage, surveillance, data analysis, and counterintelligence, all aimed at understanding threats, opportunities, and the intentions and power projection of foreign entities. While the act of espionage is illegal throughout the world, espionage is only a single subfield of the intelligence field. There are many subfields of intelligence that are not illegal everywhere, such as Open-source intelligence (OSINT).
Intelligence work can be conducted by government intelligence agencies, police forces, and military intelligence units. This work can also be engaged by private organizations, including; private intelligence agencies, multinational corporations, private investigators, drug cartels, narcotic cartels, terrorist groups, and others. Individuals employed by these organizations can either be fully employed officers of intelligence agencies called intelligence officers, or single and mission-specific solitary contracting agents who are commonly known as "secret agents." Confusingly, the term "spy" has no definition at most intelligence agencies, but is codified in many state judicial systems as an illegal operator.
The intelligence cycle
{{Main|intelligence cycle}}
The intelligence cycle is an idealized model of how intelligence is processed in civilian and military intelligence agencies, private intelligence agencies, and law enforcement organizations. It is a closed path consisting of repeating nodes, which (if followed) will result in finished intelligence. The stages of the intelligence cycle include the issuance of requirements by decision makers, collection, processing, analysis, and publication (i.e., dissemination) of intelligence."[https://web.archive.org/web/20200508151219/https://www.cia.gov/kids-page/6-12th-grade/who-we-are-what-we-do/the-intelligence-cycle.html The Intelligence Cycle]" (HTML). Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). 23 March 2013. Archived from [https://web.archive.org/web/20070612224843/https://www.cia.gov/kids-page/6-12th-grade/who-we-are-what-we-do/the-intelligence-cycle.html the original] (HTML) on 08 May 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2021. The circuit is completed when decision makers provide feedback and revised requirements. The intelligence cycle is also called intelligence process by the specific government in question.{{cite web |date=22 June 2007 |title=Joint Publication 2-0, Joint Intelligence |url=http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/new_pubs/jp2_0.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160613010839/http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/new_pubs/jp2_0.pdf |archive-date=13 June 2016 |accessdate=February 22, 2013 |work=Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) |publisher=Department of Defense |pages=GL–11}} Non-English speaking states might have other terms for this process based in their localized semiology, such as Turkey, which calls their nearly-identical process the "intelligence wheel."
Subfields
= Espionage =
{{Main|espionage}}
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an espionage agent or spy.{{cite web |title=Espionage |url=https://www.mi5.gov.uk/espionage |publisher=MI5}} A person who commits espionage as a fully employed officer of a government is called an intelligence officer.{{Cite web |title=Language of Espionage |url=https://www.spymuseum.org/education-programs/spy-resources/language-of-espionage/ |access-date=2025-05-21 |website=International Spy Museum |language=en}} Any individual or spy ring (a cooperating group of spies), in the service of a government, company, criminal organization, or independent operation, can commit espionage. The practice is clandestine, as it is by definition unwelcome. In some circumstances, it may be a legal tool of law enforcement and in others, it may be illegal and punishable by law.
= Counterintelligence =
{{Main|Counterintelligence}}
Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service.{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=William |title=Thwarting Enemies at Home and Abroad: How to be a Counterintelligence Officer |publisher=Georgetown University Press |year=2009 |location=Washington DC |pages=2}} It includes gathering information and conducting activities to prevent espionage, sabotage, assassinations or other intelligence activities conducted by, for, or on behalf of foreign powers, organizations or persons.
Many countries will have multiple organizations focusing on a different aspect of counterintelligence, such as domestic, international, and counter-terrorism. Some states will formalize it as part of the police structure, such as the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Others will establish independent bodies, such as the United Kingdom's MI5, others have both intelligence and counterintelligence grouped under the same agency, like the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
= Military intelligence =
{{Main|Military intelligence}}
Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist military commanders and leaders in their decisions.{{cite book |last1=Pedersen |first1=Torben |title=Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-387-23473-1 |pages=268–269 |chapter=HTTPS, Secure HTTPS |doi=10.1007/0-387-23483-7_189}} This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a range of sources, directed towards the commanders' mission requirements or responding to questions as part of operational or campaign planning. To provide an analysis, the commander's information requirements are first identified, which are then incorporated into intelligence collection, analysis, and dissemination.