Types of Intelligence by Fields

Hello again! I am with you with the 4th article of the Basic Intelligence series. In my previous article, Fundamental Principles of Intelligence, with you in my article, confidentiality, speed, accuracy, etc. We covered the principles of intelligence. Today, I have prepared a nice blog post on Intelligence by Field. Without further ado, let’s get to the topic. Have a good read so far.

Intelligence by Fields

Intelligence according to their fields, as can be understood from the title; refers to the classification of intelligence types according to their fields. Although it doesn’t make sense by definition, the types of intelligence it contains are vitally important.

Political Intelligence

Political intelligence is the first type of intelligence that comes to mind when the word intelligence is used. In addition, this type of intelligence includes some of the military intelligence and constitutes the most comprehensive issues in intelligence. So let’s examine political intelligence.

As I have just mentioned, political intelligence includes the most comprehensive subjects of intelligence, but it would be best to examine this type of intelligence in 2 subjects. What are these 2 titles?



It is shaped by two main headings, namely, political intelligence. Well, if we need to examine the concept of foreign political intelligence a little bit.

Foreign Political Intelligence; This intelligence title is an incorruptible structure that has been taken against all other states with which the country has or has not established close relations for its own security, against any recognized or unrecognized state, with or without borders. can be summarized as attitude and attitude. Foreign policy and diplomacy have unbreakable integrity in terms of international relations. It is impossible to break this unity or try to distinguish it from each other. This integrity includes the diplomacy line applied by states against other states today. Therefore, it is completely connected with Foreign Political Intelligence.

Domestic Political Intelligence; This intelligence title means that regardless of the management style of the countries, the administrators or administrators, who are the responsible decision-making bodies of the state, are prepared by the authorized intelligence agency or by the administrators against possible threats, taking into account the friendly and enemy factors while managing their countries. It is intelligence made primarily by reasoning. It is not possible to go into detail in this intelligence title. The reason is to give an example because it is deciphered against the management structure, it includes legal responsibilities. That’s why I didn’t want to touch on such an example of domestic political intelligence.

So let’s move on to our next title, Military Intelligence.


Military Intelligence

Since the first known written sources, the subject that has attracted the most attention of researchers has been the importance given to military intelligence in the inscriptions. Throughout the history of humanity, wars and peace have always witnessed the most important turning points in our civilization history. According to Ümit Özdağ on this subject, 87% of the history of civilization was spent with wars and the remaining 13% with preparations for wars. We are witnessing this today. Whenever there are some political crises between the states, there is no limit to the intelligence operations going around. So a little technical explanation is needed.

Military Intelligence; One of the most important duties of the states against the societies living in their own lands is to keep the land they hold away from all kinds of internal and external threats, to take measures to ensure its continuity and loyalty, and in this sense to use its armed strength from any angle. is to not hesitate to use it for the permanence of the state and to strive for the permanence of the state.

Military power is the greatest power that states can have against other states in the past and today. But it is necessary to crown it with Intelligence. Gathering information about geographically neighboring states, even in times of peace, laid the groundwork for the most rooted intelligence field in human history. For this reason, Military Intelligence and Political Intelligence are the subjects that have the longest history in this branch of science and should be explained in detail without any misunderstanding.


Economic Intelligence

Economic Intelligence is the determination and examination of the possibilities and resources of states, terrorist organizations, and organizations in order to determine whether states can achieve their goals against internal or external threats. While conducting economic intelligence studies, for example, studies are carried out under these headings at the stage of gathering information against the target.

Such titles can be given as examples in this regard. If we think of the titles as a tree, it has hundreds of sub-branches. Economic intelligence studies can vary by institution. The important thing here is to process the data impartially. Otherwise, such a study may fail at some points.

In addition, there is one more point that I would like to mention in this regard. The Economy of the target is in Who or Whom hands. The counter threat is directed towards other countries on which it is economically dependent for various reasons, e.g. raw materials, food, industry, technology, etc. Its commitment in areas such as When we look at the history of humanity, the most powerful empires or states developed around the Silk Road route, which was the trade center or source of the time. Therefore, a strong country must have a strong economy. A country with a strong economy will also have advanced intelligence requirements. There can be many comments on the subject, but let’s cut it off here and continue with our other topic, Social Intelligence.


Social Intelligence

Social Intelligence is an intelligence field that is fully integrated with sociology. So what is sociology? Sociology means society. It examines the social behaviors, movements, religions, views, worldviews, and ideologies of people and therefore societies. Intelligence also benefits from this. Intelligence conducts its studies on societies in times of peace and war, using sociology. It examines the fragile points, sacred and important spiritual values of the people and makes inferences.

Every country has a different social and cultural structure. Social intelligence includes the analysis of the social structure and the data collection and analysis process necessary for a more successful process of intelligence activities against the target society or societies.


Geographical Intelligence

Geographical Intelligence, the geography of countries has indispensable importance in terms of intelligence. Until the 19th century, knowing the mountains, seas, wetlands, and rivers and learning information such as climate was more important than learning the capacities and powers of the armies in those years, without even having to look at our distant past. On behalf of intelligence agencies and military units, mapping and learning tomographic information of countries and using them in intelligence operations still have a very important place today.

However, nowadays, with the development of technology, these data are not only accessible to intelligence agencies or military structures. Anyone who wishes can access this information and analyze it. However, individuals or studies without sufficient data always have limited information, but intelligence agencies are obliged to have the most up-to-date and accurate information, and intensive studies are carried out for this. The most effective mapping and imaging studies in this area are spy satellites and observation tools.


Communications and Transport Intelligence

Communications and Transportation Intelligence; Information about how these regions are managed in times of crisis, radio, television, telephone, highway, airway, sea transportation, trade points, stations, ports, and the characteristics of all these regions. covers.

It is necessary for countries to collect and report information against each other in times of peace, and to use this information in appropriate conditions and times during times of war. At the point where technology has reached today, individual people can reach this information, which was very important and valuable in the past, with most mapping and navigation systems. However, as I mentioned before, intelligence services have to access the most up-to-date information.


Biographical Intelligence

Biographical Intelligence is an intelligence field that is applied from the smallest unit affiliated with the state to the most authorized person. This intelligence field includes the private and public information collected about the economic, political, cultural, material, and moral values ​​of the country, as well as the individuals who live in the military and potentially important people as well as individuals with secret connections.


Technical Intelligence

Technical Intelligence is the acquisition of intelligence using various methods. By definition, its explanation is long and requires detail, because technical intelligence is not applied in a specific way. We need to touch on the various methods and examine their workings. But if we consider it as a technical definition…

Technical Intelligence; Collecting information about targets using necessary technology and methods. In order for this intelligence field to function, both technologically technical equipment and personnel to use this equipment are needed.

Technical intelligence is often categorized separately from scientific intelligence, but since they are close and related topics, I will prefer to treat them together. So What Is Scientific Intelligence?

Scientific Intelligence; As can be understood from the name of this intelligence field, it is possible to follow up in the field of science, technology, and weapons owned by rival states, and with the information leak operations to be carried out while this process is running, with the weapons made with minimum resource expenditure based on the research of other states. is to continue the arms, industry, and technology race against other states.


Cyber Intelligence

Considering the point where technology and science have come today, Cyber ​​Intelligence, IoTs, Online Services, Data Centers, etc. There have been attacks targeting this data in cyberspace where big data is and is constantly processed. In order to keep up with today’s technologies in order to develop a defense against these attacks, a new intelligence field, cyber intelligence, has emerged. Developed and developing countries invest heavily in this area. In addition, when we look at all other fields, the field of cyber intelligence has been the most invested and rapidly growing intelligence field with the effective and correct use of technology. This development is developing rapidly in all countries where the internet and technology are used and used effectively.

Later on cyber intelligence, methods, techniques, cyber world, cyber wars, etc. I will publish my blogs with a learning process like the operation of the basic intelligence series by taking the topics as the title.

We have come to the end of my blog post for today. Since there are very few resources in this field, I can write my blogs with limited access. However, I will deal with all these topics with examples and details in the future. For now, I hope to see you in my next article, Types of Intelligence by Scale. Stay tuned.

Click here to read the fifth part of the series, Intelligence Types by Scale.

Types of Intelligence by Scale • July 18, 2022


Eyüp Şükrü ERGİN
Eyüp Şükrü ERGİN Intelligence Analyst, Threat Hunter and Threat Researcher.
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