Foreign policy & defense
intelligence
Information collected and analyzed for government decisionmakers, and the agencies that do it. Distinct from law enforcement, though the FBI does both.
In full
Intelligence covers collection, analysis, counterintelligence, and covert action, under the coordination of the Director of National Intelligence. Its products are classified and its oversight is therefore structurally different from other agencies: the intelligence committees, the FISA court, and inspectors general stand in for the public scrutiny that cannot happen in the open.
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A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.