Sourcing standards

Intelligence sourcing standards explained

Last checked 6 November 2026 · 6 sources

Short answer

In the United States, two Intelligence Community Directives set the sourcing rules for analysis. ICD 206 says sourcing information shall be included in covered analytic products, through numbered source reference citations, source descriptors and source summary statements ¹. ICD 203, effective 2 January 2015, makes describing the quality and credibility of underlying sources the first analytic tradecraft standard ². Official reviews of prewar Iraq intelligence in the US and UK show why the rules exist ^4,5.

Sourcing directive: ICD 206, Sourcing Requirements for Disseminated Analytic Products ¹
Earlier version: ICD 206 of 17 October 2007, superseded ¹
Analytic standards directive: ICD 203, signed 2 January 2015 ²
Companion standard: ICS 206-01 on publicly available information, commercially available information and open source intelligence ³
Record keeping: Dynamic or ephemeral sources kept on record for at least one year ¹

The three parts of ICD 206

ICD 206 covers analytic products based mainly on intelligence reports, diplomatic reports or publicly available information. Each IC element designates which of its products are covered ¹. Every disseminated version of a covered product shall contain sourcing information, with listed exceptions ¹.

Element	What it is	Status
Source reference citation	A numbered endnote created each time a source is cited or a judgment depends on it. It should reference the most original source that presents the information ¹	Required ¹
Source descriptor	A brief narrative on factors that affect the quality or credibility of a single source, such as accuracy, possible denial and deception, age of the information, access, motivation and possible bias ¹	Used when a judgment depends on those factors ¹
Source summary statement	An explanation of quality, credibility or validity factors for the sources taken together, including which sources are meaningfully corroborative or conflicting ¹	Strongly encouraged ¹
Appended reference citation	Optional list of background sources, not to be used only to show the scope of research ¹	Optional ¹

What each citation must contain

Products meant for public release have their sourcing information removed before publication ¹.

A portion marking showing the classification of the citation ¹
The originator, author, producer or owner. For intelligence sources this can be the publishing IC element or a liaison service's country of origin ¹
An unambiguous source identifier that lets a reader find the source ¹
A title, the date of issue or posting, and the page number where it applies. If the posting date of an online item is unknown, the date of access is used ¹
A source descriptor. It is optional in the citation if it appears in the main text ¹

How ICD 203 fits in

ICD 203 sets the analytic standards. Its first tradecraft standard says products should properly describe the quality and credibility of underlying sources, data and methods, and use source descriptors in line with ICD 206 ².

ICD 203 sets a fixed scale of likelihood terms in seven bands from 01 to 05 percent up to 95 to 99 percent ². It says products must not combine a confidence level and a degree of likelihood in the same sentence ².

What the Iraq reviews found

The US WMD Commission reported to the President on 31 March 2005 ⁵. It said the 2002 estimate did not make clear how heavily it relied on a single source that no American intelligence officer had ever met ⁴. It said daily briefings left an impression of many corroborating reports where in fact there were very few sources ⁴.

In the UK, the government's March 2005 implementation report quoted the Butler review's finding of weaknesses in how the Secret Intelligence Service applied its validation procedures ⁶. It said the service had set new procedures and appointed a senior officer to oversee the quality of reporting and the evaluation of sources ⁶.

Current status

The ODNI directives page lists ICD 203 and ICD 206, with ICS 206-01 on publicly available information, commercially available information and open source intelligence listed beside ICD 206 ³. The page says IC policies are under review for compliance with Executive direction ³.

Common questions

What is ICD 206?

It is the US Intelligence Community Directive on Sourcing Requirements for Disseminated Analytic Products. It requires sourcing information in covered analytic products ¹.

What is a source descriptor?

ICD 206 defines it as a brief narrative of factors that affect or indicate the quality or credibility of a single source ¹.

Does ICD 206 require two sources?

No. It does not set a minimum number of sources. It strongly encourages a summary stating which sources are meaningfully corroborative or conflicting ¹.

Are public intelligence assessments footnoted?

Not always. ICD 206 says sourcing information will be removed from covered products meant for public release ¹.

What likelihood words does ICD 203 use?

It sets seven probability bands, from 01 to 05 percent through 95 to 99 percent, and asks analysts not to mix terms from different rows ².

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Sources

Circular reporting explained
How one source can look like many, what newsroom guides and US intelligence reviews say about it, and the checks that published standards set out.
Single-source and two-source rules
What published newsroom codes say about confirming facts with two independent sources, when one source is allowed, and how unconfirmed claims are treated.
How to trace a story to its source
A step-by-step method for following a claim upstream through credits, agency copy, documents and file provenance, based on published rules.
Attribution terms explained
What common attribution phrases signal about where a fact came from, and what published newsroom codes in the US, UK and Germany say about using them.