Intelligence Collection Process & Potential Problems that may Interfere

The Intelligence Collection Process and Potential Problems that may Interfere
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Intelligence is essential for effective decision-making in any sector. Trends indicate that the first step in developing intelligence is assessing the customer’s requirements. The stage is fundamental because it defines the nature of the required data and determines the appropriate collection method. Customers may not often possess the know-how to communicate their needs effectively. Thus, skilled personnel should contextualize the customer’s need and determine a scope that thoroughly addresses the need. The range subsequently defines the relevant sources from which the required evidence can be obtained. The procedure is succeeded by the determination of a convenient collection method. The intelligence collection process entails registering and organizing the customer’s requirements, defining the scope and selection of sources, and adopting convenient collection methods.
Intelligence collection is a necessary process majorly initiated on a need basis. As a result, the customer’s requirements are central to the process. Most subsequent steps may be rendered useless if the generated output does not suit the customer’s applications. However, the expression of the needs is not exclusively left to the customer. The customer may only have a minimal conception of the intelligence application in some events. Skilled personnel should be assigned to guide the customer to express the actual needs effectively. According to Krizan, analytic skills are necessary for evaluating if the customer has efficiently described the intelligence need. The request must be organized to represent the customer’s needs and practically meaningful to the intelligence team. The significance and distinction of the customer requirement registration are more clearly exhibited in large organizations’ operations where a department can be singularly assigned for the procedure. Krizan notes that governments often effectively employ collection requirement officers to represent intelligence needs. The specialists may be consigned as warranted by the nature of the intelligence issue. As a result, the procedure can be impeded by impaired communication between the customer and the collectors. Communication in this context presumes a mutual understanding of the expressed concepts. Ultimately, all the suggested approaches are only successful when the customers and the collectors are in sync. When the customer’s requirements have been accurately captured, the specialists in the intelligence team should define an appropriate scope for the exhaustive exploration of the target evidence. A readily discernable barrier to the procedure is the inadequate skills for its execution.
The target evidence can only be efficiently explored through relevant sources. Intelligence sources are categorized as people, objects, emanations, and records. Each of the categories serves specific scopes and is utilized for distinct purposes. People generate Human Intelligence (HUMINT), which is admittedly one of the oldest forms of intelligence. However, its attributes have increased in its evolution. HUMINT includes subject matter pro...