Grammar—Lowenthal Flashcards
Definition of Intel
The process by which specific types of information important to national security are requested, collected, analyzed, and provided to policy makers; the products of that process; the safeguarding of these processes and this information by counterintelligence activities; and the carrying out of operations as requested by lawful authorities.
Mirror Imaging
Assuming that other states or individuals will act just the way a particular country or person does.
Politicized Intel
Intelligence officers’s analyses reflecting their preference for a certain policy.
National Intel
A nationally-based intel system.
Competitive Analysis
Having analysts from several different backgrounds and perspectives work on one issue to counter narrow views.
Groupthink
Making decisions in a group in a way that discourages creativity.
National technical means
A variety of satellites and other collectors.
Monitoring
Keeping track of activities.
Verification
The ability to determine whether treaty obligations are being kept.
Render
Deliver/transport (terrorists, in this context)
IRTPA
The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act
NIP
National Intelligence Program
MIP
Military Intelligence Program
Principals Committee
The senior coordinating body of the NSC.
Deputies Committee
Made up of the deputies of the PC and works on issues before PC covers them.
USDI
United States Director of Intelligence
Supplementals
Appropriations above the amount approved by Congress in the regular budget process.
Requirements
- Defining policy issues/areas that intelligence is expected to make a contribution to;
- Deciding which of these issues has priority.
Collection
Gathering information (not intelligence)
Processing and exploitation
The process by which information becomes intelligence.
Analysis and production
The process by which analysts turn intelligence into reports that correspond with the need of policy-makers.
Consumption & feedback
The process by which policymakers are briefed on intel reports and have a dialogue with the intel producers.
Priority creep
The problem where issues cannot be properly dealt with until they become a high priority, and then must compete with attention for other high-priority issues.
Ad hocs
A new issue that arises and is pressured into becoming high-priority.
Tyranny of the ad hocs
The problem that arises when ad hocs control policy/intelligence discussions.
Footnote wars
The process by which a separate point of view is supported regardless of the importance of the issue.
Dissemination
Moving the intelligence from the producers to the consumers.
Analyst agility/fungibility
The need for analysts with multiple areas of expertise so they can be shifted during times of crisis.
Analytic stovepipes
The process where raw intel data is presented without proper context.
Clientism
The flaw that occurs when analysts become so caught up in their subjects that they lose the ability to view issues with proper criticality.
Opportunity analysis
Policymakers wanting to act and make progress, rather than just react to issues.
Current & Long-term intel
Current: reports and anlayses on issues that may not extend more than a week or two into the future.
Long-term: reports and analyses that extend longer.
Estimates & assessments
The participation of more than one analyst on an intel product before it is sent to the client.
Global coverage
The requirement to cover any and all issues.
Layering
The use of judgments in one analysis as the basis for judgments in another analysis without also carrying over the uncertainties that may be involved.
NSC
National Security Council
HSC
Homeland Security Council
wheat versus chaff
sweeping up a great deal of information within which may be the intelligence being sought.
noise versus signals
the signals one wishes to receive are often embedded in a great deal of surrounding noise.
spies
collection platforms
swarm ball
the tendency of all collectors or collection agencies to collect on an issue that is deemed to be important, whether their information or imput is important or not.
Sources and methods
the details of collection capabilities
Five eyes
United States, Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand
LEO
Low earth orbit: orbit from 200-1000 miles
MEO
Medium Earth Orbit: 1000-22,000 miles
GEO
Geosynchronous orbits: 22,000 miles
Sun-synchronous orbit
orbit moving in harmony with the Earth’s rotation so as to always remain where there is daylight
HEO
Highly Elliptical orbit: orbit that comes close to the Earth over the Southern Hemisphere and is much farther away from the earth over the northern hemisphere. More time is spent over the northern hemisphere, which is beneficial because most targets are in the northern hemisphere
Espionage
HUMINT
Denial
using knowledge about the collection capabilities of an opponent to avoid collection
Deception
Lying about collection capabilities
Resolution
quality of image
denied targets
target areas to which one does not have ready access
ASAT
Anti-satellite
debris field
scattered remains from an aerial crash
self-reveal
make themselves available
negation search
looking at past imagery to determine when an activity commenced
automatic change extraction
computers comparing images in a negation search
shutter control
US control over commercial satellites operated by US companies
FMV
Full motion video: long duration, close-in video collected by UAVs
ABI/ pattern of life
activity based intelligence: intelligence collection based on observed behaviors likely to indicate that an activity of interest is taking place in that location
content analysis
Reading messages and analyzing what they mean
indication and warning
tracking communications
traffic analysis
analyzing volume and pattern of communications
encrypt
to code
cryptographers
codebreakers
steganopraphy
“concealed writing”: the message itself is hidden
key-word search
collected data are fed into computers that filter out specific words or phrases
risk versus take
need to consider the value of the intelligence that is going to be collected against the rest of discovery
USGs
Unattended Ground Sensors: small acoustic and seismic sensors used to detect motion
agent acquisition cycle
the process of managing spies
asset validation system
gaining an asset’s confidence and assessing their weaknesses
pitch
recruiting an agent
source
agent
developmental
a potential source who is being brought along to assess his/her value
sub sources
sources of the source
official cover
Intelligence officers who hold another government job
Nonofficial cover
cover that avoids any overt connection between the officer and his/her government
sleepers
agents that spend long periods of time integrating themselves into the target country
walk-ins
HUMINT sources that volunteer
Dangles
an “agent” used as a means of entrapment
foreign liaison
the usage of HUMINT capabilities of allied nations
denied areas
closed societies
echo/circular reporting
the effect of a single media story being picked up and repeated by other media sources until the story gains exaggerated importance
social media
sharing of information, views, and ideas via virtual communities
information operations
conflict in cyberspace
backdoor encryption
government access to commercial security keys
cyber OPE
Cyber operation preparation of the environment
BDA
battle damage assessment
CNE
computer network exploitation
CNA
computer network attack
attribution
determined responsibility (for CNE/CNA)
chatter
patterns of intelligence: communications and movements of known or suspected terrorists
link analysis
establishing connections between various people to get a sense of their broader social networks
JTTFs
Joint Terrorism Task Forces: fusion centers created to help federal/local liason
industrial espionage
HUMINT undertaken by businesses
ECHELON
searches through collected SIGINT (key word searching)
RMA
revolution in military affairs
Bioterror
outbreaks of sudden diseases artificially created as terrorist attacks
counterintelligence
information gathered and activities conducted to identify, deceive, exploit, disrupt, or protect against espionage
Counterespionage
countering penetrations of one’s service
asset validation
confirming the bonds fides of HUMINT sources
disinformation
putting out false information to support penetrations
optional tradecraft
the skills learned from experience in a trade, often used to refer to the skills spies use to avoid being detected
oversight
supervising intelligence collection
PFIAB
President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board: carries out more objective oversight than NSC
PIAB
President’s Intelligence Advisory Board: can respond to problems or can initiate activities… often former senior intelligence officials
global findings
broad presidential findings
executive orders
legal declarations/ requirements made by the president
PIOB
President’s Intelligence Oversight Board: a subset of the PIAB
PCLOB
Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board: ensures that concerns about privacy and civil liberties are considered when counterterror policies are employed
authoriziation
congressional approval of specific programs and activities
appropriation
allocating specific dollar amounts to authorized programs
hollow budget authority
an authorized plan that has no significant funds
appropriated but not authorized
when appropriators vote money for programs or activities that have not been authorized
no-year appropriations
money that does not have to be spent by the end of the fiscal year
supplemental appropriations
make avi
supplemental appropriations
bills that make available to agencies funds per and above the amount originally planned
Gang of 4
House and Senate leadership
Gang of 8
House and Senate leadership plus the chairs and ranking members of the intelligence committtees
special access programs
programs the Government Accountability Office was given access to
