The Intelligence Community is made up of 18 elements that each focus on a different aspect of our common mission.
Learn more about the 18 organizations that make up the IC and what they do.
Policymakers—including the president, presidential advisors, the National Security Council, and other major departments and agencies—determine what issues need to be addressed and set intelligence priorities. The IC’s issue coordinators interact with these officials to identify core concerns and information requirements.
Those needs, in turn, guide our collection strategies and allow us to produce appropriate intelligence products. We begin with an awareness of what has previously been collected to inform plans for new intelligence gathering and analysis. Some issues, like terrorism, cybercrime, and weapons proliferation, are ongoing subjects of interest.
The IC uses many methods to collect information, including face-to-face meetings with human sources, technical and physical surveillance, satellite surveillance, interviews, searches, and liaison relationships. Information can be gathered through open, covert, and electronic means.All collection methods must be lawful and are subject to oversight by Congress and others. Information collected must be relevant, timely, and useful. At this stage, the information is often referred to as raw intelligence, because it hasn’t been thoroughly examined and evaluated yet.
There are six basic types of intelligence collection.
Imagery and geospatial data produced through an integration of imagery, imagery intelligence, and geographic information.
Information collected from human sources, the oldest method for collecting information.
Representations of objects reproduced electronically or by optical means on film, electronic display devices, or other media.
Scientific and technical intelligence information used to locate, identify, or describe distinctive characteristics of specific targets.
Publicly available information appearing in print or electronic form, including radio, television, newspapers, journals, the Internet, commercial databases, videos, graphics, and drawings.
The interception of signals, whether between people, between machines, or a combination of both.
The collection stage of the intelligence cycle can yield large amounts of data that requires organization and refinement. Substantial resources are devoted to synthesizing this data into a form that intelligence analysts can use.
Techniques include:
Analysts examine and evaluate all the information collected, add context as needed, and integrate it into complete products. They produce finished intelligence that includes assessments of events and judgments about the implications of the information for the United States.
Often times they include alternative scenarios in their assessments and, when appropriate, warn about possible developments abroad that could provide threats to or opportunities for U.S. security and policy interests. Based on their in-depth subject-matter knowledge, analysts are adept at spotting intelligence gaps and use those as the basis for requirements for additional collection.
Finished intelligence is delivered to policymakers, military leaders, and other senior government leaders who then make decisions based on the information. Finished intelligence can lead to requests for additional information, thus triggering the intelligence cycle again.
The President’s Daily Brief is one example of intelligence dissemination. Many other policymakers and senior cabinet official also receive daily or near-daily intelligence briefings.
Although this is listed as a discrete step in the intelligence cycle, evaluation of our products and approaches to producing them is ongoing throughout the cycle. We are continuously evaluating our products for relevance, bias, accuracy, and timeliness, as well as our process to ensure it is efficient and thorough.
Feedback from customers is an important part of evaluation, as it helps us adjust and refine our activities and outputs to better meet customers’ evolving information needs.
The Intelligence Community is subject to oversight by several groups, who ensure we conduct our activities within the law and in the best interests of the country. We also partner with local and international groups to share information and with the private sector to develop new technology.
Intelligence oversight is a way to ensure that the IC works with the law and balances collecting essential information and protecting individuals’ interests and privacy. Groups inside and outside of the IC conduct oversight. The IC regularly briefs the groups listed below on its activities and, where appropriate, coordinates with them in advance of taking action.
The Intelligence Community partners with numerous external groups to achieve its mission. The Office of Partner Engagement (PE) , within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, focuses on helping the IC to integrate, coordinate, and collaborate with its many domestic, international, military, and private sector partners. Click on a partner category to learn more.