# F3EAD **Entity class:** Operational-intelligence cycle **Domain:** Military operations / counterterrorism / intelligence exploitation **Expansion:** Find, Fix, Finish, Exploit, Analyze, Disseminate **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition **F3EAD** is a cycle linking target discovery and location to action and rapid exploitation. **Find** identifies a target or network; **Fix** establishes identity and location; **Finish** applies an authorized action; **Exploit** collects information from the result; **Analyze** converts that material into understanding; **Disseminate** returns intelligence to operators and other authorized consumers. The cycle is recursive: exploitation can reveal new identities, devices, accounts, documents, or relationships that begin another find-and-fix sequence. Legal authority, mission, and meaning of “finish” vary; it can include capture or another authorized intervention and should not be assumed to mean lethal action in every context. ## Relationships - **identity layer:** [[wiki/Identity Intelligence|Identity Intelligence]]. - **network layer:** [[wiki/Link Analysis|Link Analysis]] and [[wiki/Pattern-of-Life Analysis|Pattern-of-Life Analysis]]. - **mission:** [[wiki/Counterterrorism|Counterterrorism]]. - **feedback architecture:** [[wiki/Real-Time Observability|Real-Time Observability]]. ## Sources / Provenance - [[wiki/Counterterrorism Intelligence|Counterterrorism Intelligence]] research synthesis.