Comes from:
HUMINT (Human Intelligence) - here we suck having eviscerated the CIA with road blocks such as the Church Committee and the Torricelli (sp?) Doctrine.
ELINT (Electronic Intelligence) Analyzing the enemies (or potential enemies) radar capabilities is a good example.
'WE'* are the best in the business at ELINT.
SIGINT (Signal Intelligence) Everything from intercepting all types of phone calls to radio intercepts to code breaking.
'WE' * are the best in the business at SIGINT.
* 'WE' is the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand who comprise a consortium of the major English speaking countries of the world. Primarily through the NSA**, these countries cooperatively collect, analyze and share SIGINT and ELINT.
** Technically CIA would be loosely in charge but practically NSA runs this business including the input from dozens of little heard of smaller agencies such as the Special Collection Service (SCS).