The Intelligence Cycle is the process of developing raw information into
finished intelligence for policymakers to use in decisionmaking and action.
There are five steps which constitute the Intelligence Cycle.
1. Planning and Direction
This is management of the entire effort, from identifying the need for
data to delivering an intelligence product to a consumer. It is the beginning
and the end of the cycle--the beginning because it involves drawing up
specific collection requirements and the end because finished intelligence,
which supports policy decisions, generates new requirements.
The whole process depends on guidance from public officials. Policymakers--the
President, his aides, the National Security Council, and other major departments
and agencies of government--initiate requests for intelligence.
2. Collection
...is the gathering of the raw information needed to produce finished
intelligence. There are many sources of information including open sources
such as foreign broadcasts, newspapers, periodicals, and books. Open source
reporting is integral to CIA's analytical capabilities. There are also
secret sources of information. CIA's operations officers collect such
information from agents abroad and from defectors who provide information
obtainable in no other way.
Finally, technical collection--electronics and satellite photography--plays
an indispensable role in modern intelligence, such as monitoring arms
control agreements and providing direct support to military forces.
3. Processing
...involves converting the vast amount of information collected to a
form usable by analysts through decryption, language translations, and
data reduction.
4. All Source Analysis and Production
...is the conversion of basic information into finished intelligence.
It includes integrating, evaluating, and analyzing all available data--which
is often fragmentary and even contradictory--and preparing intelligence
products. Analysts, who are subject-matter specialists, consider the information's
reliability, validity, and relevance. They integrate data into a coherent
whole, put the evaluated information in context, and produce finished
intelligence that includes assessments of events and judgments about the
implications of the information for the United States.
The CIA devotes the bulk of its resources to providing strategic intelligence
to policymakers. It performs this important function by monitoring events,
warning decisionmakers about threats to the United States, and forecasting
developments. The subjects involved may concern different regions, problems,
or personalities in various contexts--political, geographic, economic,
military, scientific, or biographic. Current events, capabilities, and
future trends are examined.
The CIA produces numerous written reports, which may be brief--one page
or less--or lengthy studies. They may involve current intelligence, which
is of immediate importance, or long-range assessments. The Agency presents
some finished intelligence in oral briefings. The CIA also participates
in the drafting and production of National Intelligence Estimates, which
reflect the collective judgments of the Intelligence Community.
5. Dissemination