intelligence assets
Covert information gatherers
Intelligence assets are resources used by spy agencies and military organizations to gather secret information.
The term covers human sources (informants, agents, defectors), technical systems (satellites, wiretaps), and access points (compromised officials, infiltrated networks).
The CIA cultivated intelligence assets throughout the Soviet bloc.
An asset's value depends on the quality and reliability of information it provides.
- spiesSecret intelligence gatherers
- tradecraftEspionage methods and skills
- agentsThose who act for others
- field agentsDeployed intelligence personnel
- informantsPeople providing secret intelligence
sources · operatives · deep cover · sleeper agents · HUMINT · SIGINT · dead drop · data · counterintelligence · black ops · clandestine networks · defector · reconnaissance · classified information · need to know · honeytraps · espionage · contacts
intelligence assetsanalysts
Those who dissect data
case officers · bureaucrats · administrators · policy makers · support staff
intelligence assetsdouble agents
Spies betraying their employers
moles · defectors · traitors · turncoats · enemy combatants
intelligence assetsfabricators
Creators of falsehoods
dangles · provocateurs · dead weight · security risks · dry holes
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