Intelligence: HUMINT Definition
Human intelligence gathering is performed either by interviewing a subject with knowlege of the target area, via the "tailing" of a subject of investigation, or by using a combination of "black" techniques to gain confessions or involuntary disclosure of information. For example, the KGB considered (in the cold war days) the following as standard practice and even have defined the "MICE" acronym to help Soviet agents remember the "tricks of the trade" :
- M =
- Money...buy the agent (usually an agent can be bought for a ridicously low price).
- I =
- Ideology...turn dislike of his own country's system, or use a passion for socialism or communism.
- C =
- Compromise/Cohersion...trick the target into a compromising situation or use the person's past as a means of blackmail.
- E =
- Ego...appeal to the target who feels they deserve better treatment than they are getting, and/or
make them feel more important in their own eyes.
Note: that many intelligence types, at least in public, refer to the HUMINT task
in terms of phrases like "Having feet on the ground" or "Having a source on the
ground". This refers to the need for hard HUMINT data to backup or supplant
TECHINT.
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Last Content Updated: 11/15/95
