LEARNING GUIDE VI

THE INTELLIGENCE CYCLE

INTRODUCTION
For Information to serve its purpose, it must undergo a thorough evaluation and
verification.
Before it becomes authentic and ready for dissemination to the ultimate recipient, it
has to be tested and validated in accordance with the standard phases and protocols
of the intelligence cycle. Information whose truthfulness and accuracy is
unknown/untested will result to failure of operation and compromise
Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this learning guide, the students will be able explain the various phases
and cycle of intelligence.
A. INFORMATION
Generally, information are raw data or unevaluated material of every description
derived from observation, communication, reports, rumors, imagination, and other
sources from which intelligence is produced; Any knowledge, data, news, opinions, or
the like transmitted from a personal study, investigation, research, analysis and
observation.
B. INTELLIGENCE INFORMATION
Intelligence information refers to any information gathered or received which is of
intelligence interest.
C. END PRODUCTS (Knowledge)
These are results after evaluation, analysis, interpretation, and of raw materials.
D. KNOWLEDGE (synonymous to intelligence)
a. Information in mind; general awareness or possession of information, facts,
ideas, truths or principles.
b. Specific information: clear awareness or explicit information, for example, of
a situation or fact.
c. All that can be known: all the information, facts, truths, and principles learned
throughout time.
E. ACTIVITY
Activities are the product of that knowledge after collection, processing, dissemination
and use; examples are raid operation, arrest, search and seizure.
F. ORGANIZATION
Organization refers to the intelligent personnel or the intelligence unit (the unit itself).
G. SOURCES
Sources refers to where/whom/which the information was obtained. This can be from:
an informant; a syndicate; an intelligence broker; double agent; and/or another police
agency that has the needed information on file.
General Classification of Sources of Information:
1. OPEN SOURCES - The information may be obtained from news files,
libraries, magazines, books, or non-classified files in certain public or
private offices. 99% of the information collected is coming from open
sources. This can be from: Enemy activity; Prisoners of War (POW);
Civilians; Captured Documents; Map; Weather Forecast; Studies;
researches; reports; etc; Agencies; Informants and Informers.
2. CLOSE SOURCE - They can be located inside a building, safe or
vaults. 1% of all information is from close sources. This can be from:
Surveillance; Casing; Elicitation; Surreptitious entry; Employment
of technical means (bugging and tapping); Tactical interrogation;
Observation and description.
General Categories of Sources of Information (PPeT)
1. Places
2. People
3. Things
Other Sources of Information
Routine patrol; Criminal investigation; Use of informants; Interrogations; Search
and seizures; Cordon and scratch; Checkpoints; Police public relation activities;
coordination with law enforcement agencies; Inmates of various jails, military
stockades and other penal colonies; and Statistics.
H. INTELLIGENCE CYCLE
It is the continuous process which ultimately coordinates and integrates all efforts of
the collecting agencies or units. The intelligence cycle is the process through which
intelligence is obtained, produced, and made available to users.
 A. MISSION
Mission is the focal point of the intelligence operation; a particular task given to a
person or group to carry out; or one which should be accomplished.

B. PHASES OF THE INTELLIGENCE CYCLE

PHASE 1: DIRECTING COLLECTION EFFORT

In this phase, the Intel Staff Officer or Unit commander determines the required or
important information relevant to mission. Then these requirements will be distributed
to the different collection agencies by direction or by request.
1. Determination of the Intelligence Requirements.

Categories of Intelligence requirements in relation to use;

a. Executive - Intelligence is required by executive, governmental and military
commanders. The executive requirements are the basis for decision and
national policy making.
b. Contributory - Intelligence is required to complete the staff process: make
staff plans and estimates that contribute to the decision and policy making.
c. Operational - Additional intelligence required in planning and carrying
out effectively the decision or policy announced. Decision and policy
requires implementation.
 d. Collateral - Higher or adjacent echelons of the government or military
establishment may require information.

Categories of Intelligence Requirements by Type:

a. Basic - General reference material to be used in planning regarding
the enemies or potential enemies, are of the operations, capabilities-
static comprehensive.
b. Current - Temporary in nature and narrower in scope. Information
required to cope-up with the current objectives.
c. Estimative Intelligence - Determines the future courses of action;
required by the executive to plan future military operations and policies.
2. Determination of the essential elements of information (EEI)
EEI are the items of intelligence or information of the characteristic of the area
of operation and the enemy, which the commander feels needed before he can
reasonably arrive at a decision.
These are evaluation based on the existing situation, current domestic and
foreign situations, national objectives, etc. In here, there is no set formula but
judgemental and experience are necessary.

3. Establishment of priorities (P.I.R’s)

Establishment of priorities is necessary to decide which items of information are
more important- a system of priority is needed; critical importance and lesser
importance; EEI – highest priority intelligence requirements essentials to
planning.

PHASE 2: COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

In this phase, the collecting agency determines what specific information is to be
collected, by whom and from whom. After the collecting activity is carried out, the
information is then submitted for processing.
Collection Agency - Any person, unit, or activity that collects and/or process
information by research, surveillance, or the exploitation of the source of information.
1. Criteria of Collecting Agencies/Units:
a. Capability - An agency must be physically capable of providing the desired
information in a timely manner.
b. Balance - Within the time limits imposed by other considerations, the
collection workload must be balance from among the collecting agencies.
Balance is a minor consideration when compared with the importance of other
factors.
c. Multiplicity - Evaluation of information requires that it must be compared
with the information received from other sources and agencies. Subject to the
consideration of suitability and capability more than one agency is used to
obtain each of required information.
 d. Suitability - The collection task assigned to a unit must be a compatible with
its primary mission. Only the agencies best suited to furnish the information are
used.
2. Two basic Collection Strategies:
a. Resource integration-one agent
b. Agent Mixed Redundancy - 3 or more agents assessing for the same
assignment
3. Collecting Agencies:
a. Government agencies/offices- variety of information
b. Intelligence units or intelligence agencies
c. organization
4. Who is Tasked to Collect Information
a. Intelligence officers/agents-regular members
b. Civilian agents – informers and informants
c. Assets – establishment of institutions which assist in providing information.
5. Methods of Collection
a. Covert – secret
b. Overt – open
6. Trade Craft and Some Instrument Used in the Collection
a. Photography
b. Surveillance*
c. Elicitation*
d. Interview
e. Interrogation
f. Personal Security Investigation
g. Sound Equipment
h. Use of an Artist
i. Surreptitious Entry
j. Communication
 7. Collection Planning
Collection planning refers to the continuous process which ultimately coordinates and
integrates the efforts of all collecting Agencies/Units.

STEPS IN COMPRISING A COLLECTION PLAN

a. Planning and supervision of collection efforts/activities
b. Determination of Intelligence priorities
c. Selection of Collecting Agencies
d. Supervision of the collection activities (a.k.a. directories)

FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED IN COLLECTION PLANNING

a. Personality – it involves suspect, social status, and etc.
b. Organization – Group committing the crime: Kuratong Baleleng, Pentagon
14K gang, Bamboo Union gang, and etc.
c. Resources/Equipment – Equipment used in committing the crime i.e.
firearms, etc.
d. Activity – Involves the modus operandi of the group, crime activities, time of
attack, victims, place of attack, etc.
PHASE 3: PROCESSING THE COLLECTED INFORMATION
It is in this phase of Intelligence cycle in which information becomes intelligence
information. The processing phase of intelligence activity is the most expensive and
time-consuming activity. The conversion of data into a usable product, acceptable
vast majority, will still require the greatest expenditure of money. Data processing
involves the following:
1. Recording - It is the reduction of information into writing or some other form of
graphical representation and the arranging of this information into groups of related
items.
2. Evaluation - It is the determination of the pertinence of the information to the
operation reliability of the source or of the agency the accuracy of the information; or
examination of raw information to determine intelligence value.

Things to be Considered During Evaluation:

1. Pertinence (usefulness)
a. Does it hold some value to current operation?
b. Is it needed immediately?
c. Who need it?
2. Reliability (dependable)
a. Judging the source of information
 b. The source of information and the agency from which it was collected
or both evaluated for reliability. The principal basis for judging the
source or an agency is previous experience. Other criteria include
knowledge, training, experience and past performance of troop units
or the collector of information.

3. Accuracy (truth of information) - Accuracy refers to the probable truth of

the information. Judgment of accuracy is based on the answers of the following
questions;
a. Is it possible for the reported fact or event to have taken place?
b. Is the report is consistent within itself?
c. Is the report confirmed or corroborated by information from different
sources or agencies?
d. Does the report agree or disagree in any way with other available
information?
e. Does the report agree with information from other sources, or
agencies and which one is more likely to be true?

EVALUATION GUIDE
RELIABILITY OF ACCURACY OF SOURCES OF INFORMATION
INFORMATION INFORMATION
(CUFNUR) (CPPDIT)
A – Completely reliable 1 – Confirmed by other T – Direct observation by
B – Usually reliable 2 – Probably true the commander and chief of a
C – Fairly reliable 3 – Possibly true unit
D – Not usually reliable 4 – Doubtfully true U – Reports by penetration
E – Unreliable 5 – Improbable agent
F – Reliability cannot 6 – Truth cannot be V – Report by PNP/AFP troops
be judged judged involved in encounter
W – Interrogation of captured
enemy agent/foreigner
X – Observation of government
and civilian employee or official
Y – Observation by a member
of the populace
Z - Documentary

3. Interpretation - is the process of establishing the meaning and significance of

information. It involves the following:
a. Analysis – refers to the determination of significance of information relative
to the information and intelligence already known and drawing deductions about
probable meaning of the evaluated information. It is done by shifting and
isolating those elements that have significance in the light of the mission or
national objective.
 b. Integration – is the combination of the elements stated in the assessment
with other known information or intelligence to form a logical feature or
hypothesis for enemy activities or the information of the operational area and
characteristics of the omission of the command.
c. Deduction – refers to the formulations of conclusions from the theory
developed, tested and considered valid; determination of effort and meaning of
the information.
PHASE 4: DISSEMINATION AND USE
This is the timely conveyance of intelligence information in an appropriate form and by
any suitable means to those who need. The primary purpose of timely dissemination
is to unable the commander to make decisions with confidence; a secondary purpose
is to provide knowledge, in light of which new information may be processed.

Two Principles Preclude the Release of Intelligence Information:

1. First, there must be the “need to know” on the part of the recipient.
“Need to know” is not necessarily determined by a person’s position in the
organizational hierarchy. Need to know is usually akin to the task performed.

2. Secondly, a potential recipient should be “cleared” by responsible authority as

being eligible to receive the intelligence data.

N.B.: Confidential sources are the lifeline of the intelligence effort. They must be
protected at almost any price. Therefore, it is apparent that the “need to know” and
proper clearance of the receiver are surpassed by the consideration, “Will the use of
data destroy or endanger the source of information?”
It is the final phase of the cycle. Processed information is disseminated to the agency,
unit or command to effect or implement the mission.

Methods of Dissemination:

1. Fragmentary orders from top to bottom of the command;

2. Memorandum, circulars, special orders, etc.;
3. Operations order, oral or written;
4. Conference – staff members;
5. Other report and intelligence documents
6. Personal contact – It can be done by the use of telephone, personal visits, and
debriefings;
7. Messages – This can be made by use of radio, utilization of messengers or
couriers, or by rapid means of signal communication.

Criteria of Dissemination
1. Timeliness -Timeliness states that the information must be disseminated on
time
2. Propriety - The message must be clear, concise and complete as well as in
the proper form for the receiver to readily understand its contents. It must be
disseminated to the correct user, presented in a form that leads itself to immediate
 use and distributed by the most effective means appropriate to both time and
security requirements.

Users of Intelligence:

1. National leaders and military commanders - Formulation and

implementation of national policies.
2. Advisors and staff - Preparations of plans and estimates.
3. Friendly nations and other branches of armed forces
4. Processor - Basis for evaluation and interpretation.

Forms/Ways in Disseminating Information

1. Spot Reports
These are reports used by all echelons to transmit intelligence or information of
immediate value. Since the information or intelligence may have immediate and
significant impact on current planning and operations, speed of transmission of
spot report is essential. The spot report is afforded the most expeditious
transmission consistent with security requisite. No format is prescribed for the
spot report; the spot report should be as much as practicable answer the
question, when, where, who, what, why and how (5 W’s and 1 H).

2. Intelligence Summary
This is the brief summary of information of intelligence interest covering a period
of time designated by the commander. The length of the period will vary
depending on the desires of the commander.

3. Analysis of the Area of Operation

Area of operation is the detailed comprehensive study with emphasis on
people, weather, enemy and terrain (PWET).

4. Intelligence Estimates
This is the logical and orderly examination of the intelligence factors affecting
the accomplishment of the mission. It provides the commander with an analysis
of the area of operations, enemy capacities that can influence his mission. It
provides the commander with the basis for planning operations and for
disseminating intelligence to his staff.
 Assessment for Learning Guide No. VI

Direction: Analyse the question carefully and answer only what is being asked. Write
your answers on a separate piece of paper.
For computer generated, the same should be printed in an A-4 bond paper, Font style
is “Arial”, and the Font size is 11.
1. The President wanted to know the latest target of operation of the Abu Sayyaf Group
in Western Mindanao. The concern was construed by the president directly to the
Chief of Staff of the AFP and the Chief of the PNP with stern advice that only the three
of them should know first-hand information relevant to it. If you are the officer directly
handpicked by the Chief PNP and the Chief of Staff of the AFP to undertake the
mission, what will you do if your immediate superior in the Intelligence Group, will
require you to submit the report to him instead, after the mission? Expound your
answer.
2. What are the different phases of the Intelligence Cycle? Explain each.
3. How will you classify the different sources of information? Explain each source.
4. What considerations are needed during the evaluation of an information or
document?
5. After evaluation of information/documents was made and the reliability of which was
confirmed, the next step is dissemination. How is dissemination done?