Author(s): Răzvan GRIGORESCU
Publication name: Romanian Intelligence Studies Review
Publisher name: Mihai Viteazul National Intelligence Academy
Publication type: Journal article
Publication date: December 31, 2020
Pagination:
Issue/ Volume: 24/2020
DOI:
Abstract
The collection of information has evolved continuously throughout history,
undergoing a series of transformations closely related to the development of the
information sources. Over the last decades, these evolutions have been observed not only
at the level of the intelligence community, but also at the level of the business
environment, with the development and implementation of the competitive intelligence
functions within the companies, on a larger scale.
It is a known fact that many competitive intelligence professionals claim that
they use HUMINT in their daily activity, often without clearly explaining what they are
referring to. With regard to this topic, we believe that more transparency is needed, due
to the fact that HUMINT is being also used by the government intelligence agencies to
designate the secret human sources.
This paper briefly analyses how business information should be collected by the
competitive intelligence professionals, the types of sources with which they operate, as
well as the way in which HUMINT must be approached in competitive intelligence, in
order to align with the applicable Romanian legislation and the SCIP Code of Ethics.
Keywords: competitive intelligence, collection, elicitation, HUMINT, SCIP,
ethics.
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