First the requirements, …show more content…
This is also the part of intelligence where budgets and resources are taken into consideration. The IC collects information openly and secretly or overtly and covertly. For example, they could read foreign newspapers and magazine articles, listen to a radio (foreign or local), and watching broadcasts on TV from foreign countries. These are examples of overt sources. The covert side of collecting information can be listening devices planted inside buildings at chest level to obtain as many conversations as possible. They also could install hidden cameras to get still photography of exactly what is happening with whatever enemy they are trying to seek. There is also satellite imagery used to obtain such things as air activity from airplanes at a foreign military base. This can all be done by looking at a picture taken from a satellite in space. However, there are cases where there can be a mass amount of information and it is difficult for the analysts to figure out exactly what …show more content…
The Intelligence Community has to remember at this point to still focus on the initial requirements. “Processing and exploitation are the key steps converting technically collected information into intelligence (Lowenthal, 2015, p. 78). Analysts are trained at this point to assess what is happening, why it is happening and how it will affect the U.S. They must break down all of the information that has been collected based on target areas established by what the requirements said about region and location. Analysts look at key words and eliminate anything that is not from the specific area to dwindle down on unnecessary information. “Much more intelligence is collected than can ever be processed and exploited.” (Lowental. 2015, p. 78). For example, in order to make sense of this information, they could look at financial statements from a specific area (these analysts might even sit at a specific desk like North Korea or the Philippians.) The overall goal is to become an expert and answer the questions the policy makers set all going back to the requirements. There is no room to have an imbalance and