http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/navy/ndp2.htm
....

CHAPTER ONE
The Nature of Naval Intelligence
.....

By ‘intelligence’ we mean every sort of information about the enemy and his country— the basis, in short, of our plans and operations.”
— Karl von Clausewitz: On War, 1832
At the outset, it is important to understand the distinction between information and intelligence. Information is an assimilation of data that has been gathered, but not fully correlated, analyzed, or interpreted. While not fully analyzed or correlated, information still has significant value to the tactical commander and plays a key role in threat warning and target acquisition. For example, combat information is “unevaluated data, gathered by or provided to the tactical commander which, due to its highly perishable nature or the criticality of the situation, cannot be processed into tactical intelligence in time to satisfy the user’s tactical intelligence requirements” (Joint Publication 1-02). Organic, theater and national level cryptologic sensors provide a significant portion of combat information. Intelligence, on the other hand, is “the product resulting from the collection, exploitation, processing, integration, analysis, evaluation, and interpretation of available information concerning foreign countries or areas.” Integration and analysis, combined with a thorough understanding of mission requirements, convert information into usable intelligence. Thus, intelligence is the product we derive from analyzing all available and relevant information...

Purposes
“You are supposed to tell us what the Japanese are going to do, and I will then decide whether it is good or bad and act accordingly.”
— Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, U.S. Navy CinCPacFlt, 1942

...— Identifying Centers of Gravity and Critical Vulnerabilities. Naval intelligence strives to provide an accurate picture of the battlespace from which we can identify clear and attainable objectives. For instance, at the operational level, the force commander may decide that to accomplish his objective, a particular target set— such as enemy command and control facilities—must be destroyed. At the tactical level, intelligence support is needed to plan an effective strike against a specific element of that target set, such as a radio-relay site. This tactical intelligence may consist of detailed, analyzed target photographs from tactical reconnaissance or national collection systems, pinpointing essential aim points for the strike leader.

...

Principles
The principles of naval intelligence provide enduring guidelines for effective intelligence operations. Understanding and applying these principles will give decisive advantages to naval commanders.
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. When you are ignorant of the enemy, but know yourself, your chances of winning and losing are equal. If ignorant of both your enemy and of yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril.”
— Sun Tzu, The Art of War, ca. 500 B.C.
— Know the Adversary. Since the time of Sun Tzu, knowing the adversary has been the paramount principle. Identifying the adversary is the first step in gaining this knowledge. Knowing how the adversary thinks (especially how the adversary perceives success and failure) is essential in forecasting his likely courses of action. We know our adversary better by understanding his goals, objectives, strategy, intentions, capabilities, methods of operation, vulnerabilities, and values. We gain this understanding by studying his character, culture, social mores, customs and traditions, language, and history. Only then will the intelligence officer be able to provide the commander a full assessment.

...


Human Intelligence (HUMINT): A category of intelligence derived from information collected and provided by human sources. (Joint Pub 1-02)