From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Agency dealing with secret intelligence
The
George Bush Center for Intelligence , headquarters of the
Central Intelligence Agency , in
Langley , United States
The
Ministry of State Security in
Beijing , China
The
SIS Building , headquarters of
MI6 , in
London , United Kingdom
The headquarters of the
Foreign Intelligence Service in
Moscow , Russia
The headquarters of the
Directorate-General for External Security in
Paris , France
An intelligence agency is a
government agency responsible for the collection,
analysis , and exploitation of information in support of
law enforcement ,
national security ,
military ,
public safety , and
foreign policy objectives.
[1]
Means of information gathering are both overt and covert and may include
espionage ,
communication interception ,
cryptanalysis , cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public sources. The assembly and propagation of this information is known as
intelligence analysis or
intelligence assessment .
Objectives
Intelligence agencies can provide the following services for their national governments.
Give early warning of impending crisis;
Serve national and international
crisis management by helping to discern the intentions of current or potential opponents;
Inform national defense planning and
military operations , known as
military intelligence ;
Protect sensitive information secrets, both of their own sources and activities, and those of other state agencies;
Covertly influence the outcome of events in favor of
national interests , or influence
international security ; and
Defense against the efforts of other national intelligence agencies, known as
counterintelligence .
There is a distinction between "security intelligence" and "foreign intelligence". Security intelligence pertains to domestic threats, including
terrorism and espionage. Foreign intelligence involves information collection relating to the political, or economic activities of foreign states.
Some agencies have been involved in
assassination ,
arms trafficking ,
coups d'état , and the placement of misinformation
propaganda and other
covert and
clandestine operations to support their own or their governments' interests.
See also
Further reading
Books
Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, and Security , hrg. von K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, 3 Bände, Detroit [u.a.]: Gale [u.a.], 2004
Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, Cloak and Dollar: A History of American Secret Intelligence , Yale University Press, 2002
Richard C. S. Trahair, Encyclopedia of Cold War Espionage, Spies, and Secret Operations , Westport, Conn. [u.a.] : Greenwood Press, 2004
Amy B. Zegart, Flawed by Design: The Evolution of the CIA, JCS, and NSC , Stanford, Calif.: Stanford Univ. Press, 1999
Journals
The Journal of Intelligence History
Reports
N/A
References
External links
Analysis Devices and communications
Tradecraft and techniques Operations