The intelligence cycle doesn't stop at the Tactical Level. Information needs to go down to the teams, but at the same time, not all of the strategic priorities necessarily need to be known by the teams that are doing the work. The strategic priorities have to be sorted and distributed to the teams so that they can take action. This is where the F3EAD process comes in, as it is another process that is used by specialized teams to achieve their targets. 

F3EAD is a version of the targeting methodology employed by the special operations forces (SOF) that are accountable for some of the most highly-publicized missions in support of incidents happening overseas. F3EAD is a system that enables them to foresee and estimate enemy operations, spot, pinpoint, and target enemy forces, and to perform intelligence exploitation and analysis of captured enemy personnel and material.

In this chapter, we are going to learn about:

• Overview of the Find, Fix, Finish, Exploit, Analyze, and Disseminate (F3EAD) process
• F3EAD application in the military
• F3EAD and the Cyber Kill Chain
• Application of F3EAD in the commercial space