HUMINT is intelligence gathered through what means?

• A. Satellite imagery
• B. Interpersonal contact by human sources
• C. Open-source data from the internet
• D. Open-source social media

Answer: (B)

HUMINT is gathered through interpersonal contact by human sources. The defining element is the human interaction—informants, witnesses, debriefings, interrogations, or clandestine contacts where information is elicited from people rather than machines or public data. This human-centered approach distinguishes HUMINT from other intelligence types that rely on non-human sources.

Satellite imagery, on the other hand, provides visual information captured by sensors in space, which is IMINT/GEOINT. Open-source data from the internet is OSINT, since it comes from publicly available sources. Open-source social media is also OSINT, though it focuses on data from public posts and discussions rather than direct human elicitation.