Dissemination

Distributing intelligence products to the policymakers who requested them.

Once the information has been reviewed and correlated with data from other available sources, it is called finished intelligence and is disseminated directly to the same policymakers whose initial needs generated the intelligence requirements. Finished intelligence is provided daily to the president and key national security advisers who then make decisions based on this information. These decisions may lead to requests for further examination, thus triggering the intelligence cycle again.

There are five categories of finished intelligence.

• Current Intelligence: Addresses day-to-day events
• Estimative Intelligence: Looks forward to assessing potential developments that could affect U.S. national security
• Warning Intelligence: Sounds an alarm or gives notice to policymakers
• Scientific and Technical Intelligence: Includes an examination of the technical development, characteristics, performance and capabilities of foreign technologies, including weapon systems or subsystems
• Research Intelligence: Supports other finished intelligence products (current, estimative, warning, and scientific and technical)