Special operations are only a small part of what the intelligence community does. Most of it is really mundane and is done by very official attaches at the emba

Special operations are only a small part of what the intelligence community does. Most of it is really mundane and is done by very official attaches at the embassies. It's compiling reports on what is happening, meeting with the other countries officials about bilateral relations, meeting your own citizen to know what they are doing. A lot of it is above board. I will hasard that most of the information which end up being classified is actually acquiried legally but becomes interesting through cross-referencing or exclusivity.