/intelligence-collection-disciplines

Collection Plan Template

Copy this to plan a collection effort before running any discipline. The plan turns the compendium from a course into an operation: fill the six instantiation variables, pick the two or three disciplines that feed your decision (never all eight), and set the cadence to how fast each evidence channel actually changes. If [DECISION] is blank, stop — research without a decision is a hobby.

Template

# Collection Plan: [TARGET] / [CAPABILITY]

## Instantiation
[TARGET]      = [the competitor, partner, or acquirer]
[MARKET]      = [category + NAICS/SIC/NACE codes or nearest equivalent]
[GEOGRAPHY]   = [regions in scope, at COUNTRY level]
[BUYER]       = [who signs the check]
[CAPABILITY]  = [the strategic move you suspect]
[DECISION]    = [what this research will change — REQUIRED]

## Discipline Selection
_Pick from the artifact-mapping table — run the disciplines that feed the decision, not all eight._

| Discipline | Running? | Why (which signal chains) | Key sources (free first) |
|---|---|---|---|
| OSINT | | | |
| FININT | | | |
| GEOINT/DEMOINT | | | |
| TECHINT | | | |
| HUMINT | | | |
| SIGINT | | | |
| MASINT | | | |

## Cadence
- Weekly (SIGINT sweep, ~30 min): [what gets checked]
- Monthly (OSINT + HUMINT digest): [what gets checked]
- Quarterly (FININT + TECHINT deep pass): [what gets checked]
- Event-driven (react within 48h): [which tripwires]

## Fusion Table (fill as signals land)
| Discipline | Signal found | Label | Source URL + date |
|---|---|---|---|
| | | | |

**Fusion verdict:** ____ disciplines, one story → [watch item / working hypothesis / actionable] → recommended response: ____

## Provenance & Guardrails
- Every signal archived at collection time (portals restructure; files get replaced)
- All sources published, filed, posted, or publicly observable — the stage test applies to every method

Quality checks before you call it done

• [DECISION] is filled in and specific — it selects the disciplines and defines "enough"
• Two or three disciplines are marked Running, with chain-level reasons — eight checkmarks means no plan
• The fusion verdict uses the stacking rule (1 = watch, 2 = hypothesis, 3+ = actionable, conflict = dig)
• Announcements in the fusion table are labeled intent until FININT/MASINT/HUMINT corroborate