9781422284056

Aerial photograph showing a missile assembly facility in Cuba in 1962, taken by the CIA just before the Cuban Missile Crisis. Today, intelligence agencies mainly use satellite technology to produce imagery of virtually infinite levels of detail. They are highly trained in interpreting information and putting it into context to work out its significance. By constantly collecting and interpreting information in the public domain—for example, newspaper and television news—intelligence agents can tie public information to more secret state or government information. Intelligence agencies look for the inside story and will work undercover to obtain it. In many ways, their work resembles the work of news gatherers, with the exception that they do not seek to sensationalize or sell their information. Intelligence agencies are agents of their government and are strictly monitored and controlled by government committees.

11

What Intelligence Agencies Do