Intelligence (information)

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Intelligence, or intel, can be information or knowledge about anyone or anything considered contrary to the modus operandi of an organizational entity, such as a government or a business. Information is unprocessed knowledge, and they are both forms of intelligence, but at different levels of maturation and actionability. Usually, policymakers and executives prefer knowledge over information, which is why the information must be processed by members of the intelligence field. For governments and militaries, intelligence is especially considered knowledge of an enemy combatant in war, and the overall environment in which they operate. For the corporate world, intelligence might be knowledge of a competitor or the members of trade union. It often provides leaders with answers to the Five Ws; who, what, when, where, and why. Intelligence is not a singular type of product, it can be found in many different states of existence and formats. When it is unprocessed as raw information and data, it is called raw intelligence, and when it is a fully-developed product of information, it is called finished intelligence. The collection of people and organizations around the world that work with intelligence is called the intelligence field, where intelligence is cultivated, gathered, processed, analyzed, and distributed. Because intelligence as information is so closely linked to the intelligence field, many scholars argue that intelligence is both a thing and the process of how that thing evolves. However, the process is more commonly referred to as intelligence management – of which the most popular working theory today is known as the intelligence cycle, which is in essence a corollary to the life cycle of intelligence.