INT-13: Source Types and Selection
Decide who to learn from before you spend time collecting.
Why This Course
BLUF: A collection plan says what your group needs to know. It doesn’t say from whom, and without that decision every question goes to whoever is nearest, usually the same few members watching the same road. This course teaches source selection the way FM 2-22.3 does: by category and level of contact, then by placement and access, cooperation and reliability, with a fourth judgment a MAG can’t do without, risk. You leave with a source selection matrix matched to your own collection plan.
By the end of this course, you’ll be able to:
- Sort the people, groups and records around your MAG into source categories, and recognize the ones that are off limits.
- Judge, for each question, whether a candidate could actually know the answer firsthand, secondhand or not at all.
- Assess a candidate’s willingness, motivation and reliability honestly, before they have reported anything.
- Put every candidate through three risk gates, and spot the candidate who may be collecting on you.
- Build a source selection matrix that gives each EEI independent sources and a profile for every gap.
Lessons 01–05
Lesson 01
Source Categories
Who and what a MAG can learn from, FM 2-22.3’s levels of contact, and what is off limits.
Lesson 02
Access and Placement
Placement versus access, three grades of access, and why access is judged per question.
Lesson 03
Cooperation and Reliability
Will they talk, and why? And what reliability honestly means before a first report.
Lesson 04
Risk
Three risk gates: to the source, to the group, and to the relationship.
Lesson 05
Capstone: The Source Selection Matrix
The source selection matrix, independent sources, and source profiles for the gaps.
How This Course Works
| Format | Five online lessons, each with knowledge checks you must answer correctly to continue |
| Sequence | Lessons unlock in order; progress is saved in the browser you use |
| Prerequisite | INT-12, Collection Requirements and EEIs. INT-04 and INT-05 recommended |
| Capstone | A source selection matrix for your own group, matched to your INT-12 collection plan |
| Boundaries | No tasking, payment or pressure of any source; voluntary contact only |
| Certificate | Unlocks on the Course Map once all five lessons are complete |
Fortune Favors the Prepared · Semper Paratus, Semper Gumby · fortunefavorstheprepared.com