Intelligence, Human

Kinds of Activities

Commonly, HUMINT services are related to espionage, which consists of infiltrating operatives or making contact with individuals in foreign countries or within organizations with the intention of extracting information. HUMINT operations also encompass efforts of frontline troops to uncover the enemy’s activities—for instance, gun emplacements, troop movements, and the placement of roads and other infrastructure. Social and diplomatic activities are also fundamental aspects of HUMINT, as are prisoners’ interrogations and debriefings of friendly troops.

Human Intelligence: Historical Background

HUMINT activities stretch all the way back to the ancient world. The Chinese, Indians, Mediterranean societies, and Native Americans used basic human observation to forestall enemy actions and help friendly forces gain military, political, and economic advantage. Skills such as common sense, knowledge of languages, and psychological understanding of the enemy were vital to infiltration activities and successful covert operations. In the 20th century, the British, Germans, Soviets, and Americans extensively used HUMINT activities to obtain critical information during both World War II and the early years of the Cold War era. New technologies developed in the 1950s, however, reduced the influence of HUMINT inside intelligence services, as the ability to collect data through aerial and satellite reconnaissance led many to claim that HUMINT activities were obsolete. During the Vietnam War, HUMINT again gained ground in the intelligence services, with a particular focus on prisoner interrogation to determine enemy activities and data collection in front of and behind enemy lines. These activities were widely undertaken by long-range patrol scout teams made up of Special Forces or Green Beret units. However, in subsequent years, HUMINT was again superseded by technology-driven intelligence activities like electronic intelligence and signals intelligence.

[Page 674]From Collapse to Victory in the Use of HUMINT

U.S. intelligence services were broadly criticized for their poor performance with regard to the attacks of September 11, 2001. Many critics pointed out that U.S. intelligence services, including those of the military, focused too narrowly on indirect and technological intelligence-gathering services at the expense of human methods that had demonstrated their effectiveness in the past. Likewise, incomplete information about Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction and Saddam Hussein’s ties with al Qaeda suggested American intelligence services’ inadequate use of HUMINT. These mistakes generated the momentum to revive HUMINT activities, which have subsequently proven very useful in the Global War on Terrorism.

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