Intelligence Lapses: The Risks of Relying on 'Chatter'

Robert Baer's excellent Time article discussing intelligence "chatter."

Excerpt:  "Chatter is one of those floating espionage terms that can mean anything from secretly intercepted telephone calls and e-mails to the volume of communications traffic at a particular time over a particular line. A more technical definition of chatter might be the interception of any unguarded electronic communication between two people who expect privacy — people more likely to speak frankly and convey information they wouldn't in a public forum. America's 16 intelligence agencies by and large consider chatter the most reliable intelligence there is. But they also need to constantly remind themselves that it is a blunt tool, often as confusing as it is illuminating."

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