Military intelligence allows you to collect information about an enemy.
Military intelligence is the work carried out by certain specific units of the armed forces to collect information about an enemy (current or potential). These data allow the planning of eventual military operations.
It should be noted that intelligence is a notion linked to the ability to know how to choose the best options to solve a problem. The etymological origin combines two Latin words: intus ( "between" ) and legere ( "to choose" ).
Military , for its part, is related to what belongs to or is related to the military or war . The notion is used in contrast to civil and is linked to the members, institutions and facilities that are part of the armed forces.
What is military intelligence
Military intelligence is associated with espionage to collect information about the weapons, equipment, bases, communications and technological capacity of another country or group. It is important, of course, to use the data collected correctly, since this information must be used appropriately so that it makes sense within the military strategy .
The set of military intelligence tasks includes the use of technological capabilities and technical resources (such as radars or satellites), but also human capacity functions such as the organization of clandestine operations, disinformation tactics and counter-intelligence.
Military intelligence contributes to the planning of possible military operations.
Plan stages
In addition to all of the above, it is important to know that any military intelligence plan or action requires that very specific steps be followed. Specifically, these would be the following: direction and planning , data collection through various types of media (technical, human, interrogations, public information...), processing, analysis, production and dissemination.
In this sense, it should be noted that the most important human resources when collecting the data needed are the liaison officers, the infiltrators or moles, the operations agents, the collaborator or informant, and those known as targets and blacks.
The whites are the agents who are identified by the fact that they are on the outside, while the blacks are the agents who are inside, that is, they are infiltrated into organizations.
Military intelligence in Spain and the United States
It is important to establish that many countries in the world have their own military intelligence mechanisms. This would be the case, for example, of Spain , which has SIFAS , the Functional Military Intelligence System of the Armed Forces , whose clear objective is to be able to cover all the needs that the nation has when it comes to making the necessary decisions. in matters of Defense.
Specifically, this organization is made up of three specifically delimited areas: the strategic echelon, where the Intelligence Center of the Armed Forces (CIFAS) is located; the operational echelon, which has divisions and intelligence sections; and the tactical echelon, made up of intelligence units and national intelligence cells ( SPNIC ).
In some cases, military intelligence is used to carry out tasks within the State itself, which is known as internal intelligence . In the United States , for example, the FBI carries out investigations on members of the government to use this information in various areas.