Author(s): Teodor Octavian TROPOTEI, Ioan DEAC
Publication name: Romanian Intelligence Studies Review
Publisher name: Mihai Viteazul National Intelligence Academy
Publication type: Journal article
Publication date: December 31, 2019
Pagination:
Issue/ Volume: 22/2019
DOI:
Abstract
Academic studies in the sphere of intelligence have been fueled by the need to
provide a scientific basis for the knowledge and foresight of the processes, activities and
products pertaining to the field. Intelligence studies have traditionally been oriented
towards the stages of the intelligence cycle, intelligence typology, doctrines, taxonomies,
technological data collection, axiological and ethical aspects, and the feedback received
from the recipients of the finished intelligence product. However, intentionally or not, the
academic studies have, most of the times, left undocumented one of the fundamental
activities of the field, i.e. the collection of information from human sources – HUMINT.
Considered rather spycraft, or tradecraft at best, the lack of scientific research in this
sub-field can be motivated, in the absence of a better argument, either by excessive and
improper scientific restraint, or by invoking, as inappropriately as in the first case, the
protection of professional secrecy.
This article aims to identify scientific foundations of information exploration/exploitation
in the process of elicitation, which is a technique used to extract information from people
without raising suspicion that specific facts are being sought.
Keywords: intelligence, humint, elicitation, exploration/exploitation in the
process of elicitation.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.