HUMINT

HUMINT (an abbreviation of Human Intelligence) is intelligence information got from personal contacts. It is a term used in the spy community of the NATO countries.

Sources

Sources may be neutral, friendly, or hostile. They may or may not know they are giving information.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] Examples of HUMINT sources are:

Advisors or foreign internal defence personnel working with the host nation forces or populations;
Diplomatic reporting by accredited diplomats (e.g. military attachés);
Espionage: secret reporting, using agents, couriers, cutouts;
Military attachés: getting information is their job;
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs);
Prisoners of war (POWs) or other detainees;
Refugees;
Routine patrolling (by military police, etc);
Talking to travellers (e.g. the CIA Domestic Contact Service).

References

↑ Benedict, Ruth 1989. The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: patterns of Japanese culture. Mariner Books. ISBN 0-395-50075-3. Very widely used source for interpreting Japanese culture.
↑ Compos, Don The interrogation of suspects under arrest. (pdf), Studies in Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency. [1] Archived 2020-10-17 at the Wayback Machine
↑ Walton, Douglas 2003. The interrogation as a type of dialogue. Journal of Pragmatics 35: 1771. [2]
↑ Skerker, Michael 2010. An ethics of interrogation. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press.

[1] Benedict, Ruth 1989. The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: patterns of Japanese culture. Mariner Books. ISBN 0-395-50075-3. Very widely used source for interpreting Japanese culture.

[2] Compos, Don The interrogation of suspects under arrest. (pdf), Studies in Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency. [1] Archived 2020-10-17 at the Wayback Machine

[3] Walton, Douglas 2003. The interrogation as a type of dialogue. Journal of Pragmatics 35: 1771. [2]

[4] Skerker, Michael 2010. An ethics of interrogation. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press.

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