ABSTRACT
Human intelligence (HUMINT) plays a critical role in monitoring terrorist groups and their facilities. HUMINT, along with communications intelligence and intelligence from liaison arrangements, offers the best chance of gathering such data. HUMINT is generally classified into two basic categories: clandestine and overt. The Intelligence Community wants to know the intentions and plans of foreign governments, both hostile and friendly, with respect to foreign, defense, and economic policy. The intelligence officers of the Central Intelligence Agency's Directorate of Operations compose the core of United States (US) HUMINT. Drug Enforcement Administration investigation officers may also provide HUMINT, the vast majority of which, as expected, relates to narcotics trafficking. Normally, agents are foreign nationals recruited by US intelligence officers to collect information in their home countries or in a third nation, or they are individuals who volunteer their services. Defectors and emigres also sometimes serve as valuable intelligence sources.
