Intelligence Process: Dissemination

962 Words2 Pages

INTELLIGENCE PROCESS: DISSEMINATION

One of the most important steps in the intelligence cycle is deciding who or whom will receive the analyst’s work. This process is called dissemination. Once completed, the intelligence product has to be able to be passed on to those personnel that meet the requirements of dissemination; Right to know, Need to know, Authority to release.

The first requirement of the right to know determines what individuals should have the information to make intelligence decisions. Access to the final products is mainly focus towards law enforcement agencies, both federal and state. These agencies are, however, not the exclusive heir to information. In some cases the Department of Family Services may need to have information on civilians in order to locate offenders or deal with juvenile delinquents. The right to know may also be extended to licensing groups, in order to stifle organized crime. Some examples of non-authorized industries are banks, credit bureaus, and employment agencies.

The need to know is the second requirement of the dissemination process. Whether part of the law enforcement agency or working outside of the agency, before intelligence information is disclosed, there must be a need to know based on the case that law official may be working on. This requirement keeps just anyone from casually browsing through all the classified information that may not pertain to what they have the right to know. The information-seeking agency will need to have proof of needing to know the information, found generally by the case number. Another form of need to know is observed when a background investigation is being conducted on an individual.

Once the first two requirements have been satisfied and the right to know and need to know has been established, it is now necessary to determine whether the right to release information to the agency is possible. Many times the information or intelligence may not be possible to release, due to the originating agencies need to have the information keep a secret from the everyone, for example, an undercover agents identity was disclosed. Historically, information is classified at a higher level than necessary, so personnel in this type of circumstance are not compromised. If this is the case, than a date should be disclosed as to when this information may be declassified or downgraded to the consumers level.

There are two general methods of dissemination. The first type is a distribution list.

Open Document