Biographical intelligence

Order of battle intelligence is a subset of intelligence analysis, which produces information on the organization, strength and deployment of a military force. Its basic principles are common to all forms of military forces, conventional and guerilla, but the methods of collection and analysis differ for different target organizations.

Order of battle intelligence serves strategic and tactical functions. At the strategic level, it is the basic means of understanding the enemy's immediate capability. For a grand strategic view, economic intelligence, Scientific and technical intelligence, etc., must also be considered.

Strong order of battle intelligence, including biographical intelligence down to the individual level, is a vital tool in prisoner interrogation. Order of battle and biographic information often makes We Know All and File and Dossier interrogation techniques feasible. It may play a role in creating false documents for interrogation (e.g., Pro), or creating false identities for one's own personnel.

Biographical intelligence
Biographical intelligence is based on knowing every possible name, nickname, code, and other identifiers for individuals. Even a chance mention of a name on a captured document or a broadcast should cause a name record to be created, although there should be an active effort to link the formal and informal names:
 * Old Blood and Guts
 * Commmanding General, 2nd Armored Division
 * Georgie
 * Commanding General, Western Task Force
 * G.S. Patton
 * Commanding General, Seventh United States Army
 * George S. Patton Jr.
 * Commanding General, Third United States Army

Intelligence services assume there will be spelling and pronunciation variations of names. As well as their best understanding of the correct spelling, and any specifics such as serial number, their data bases usually employ additional phonetic coding methods, such as Soundex. Individual identifying information, such as fingerprints, DNA, voiceprints, writing patterns, etc., are also sought.

The challenge of naming becomes more complex when the opponent uses a language that does not use Roman letters and transliteration becomes necessary, and even when a Roman alphabet language has common spelling variations on similar-sounding names, such as Gomez and Gomes.

Aliases, of course, are a great complication, especially when dealing with clandestine organizations.

Collection
Reading every scrap of written information (called "document exploitation") and prisoner interrogation are the core collection methods, considered human-source intelligence. Other human-source methods, such as elicitation of information from cooperative persons complement the process.

Signals intelligence plays a vital role, both of human communications and of electronic intelligence such as traffic analysis of telephone numbers and radio addresses, as well as characteristics of electronics used (e.g., satellite or cellular telephones).

Imagery intelligence starts with pictures of persons, insignia, then of vehicles and other individual equipment. More general information can be informative; Soviet S-75 Dvina air defense missile sites had a characteristic layout, so if imagery revealed construction of such a site, the communications and human intelligence collectors were alerted to the presence of anti-aircraft specialists.