The Zimmermann Telegram is associated with which intelligence discipline?

• A. COMINT
• B. SIGINT
• C. HUMINT
• D. OSINT

Answer: (A)

Intercepting and decoding a diplomatic telegram is a classic example of communications intelligence. The Zimmermann Telegram was a coded message Germany sent to Mexico during World War I, and it was intercepted by British signals intelligence and then decrypted, revealing its contents. COMINT, which stands for communications intelligence, focuses on information derived from intercepted communications between people or organizations—like telegrams, phone calls, or radio messages. This makes COMINT the best fit here because the key activity was capturing and deciphering a message sent over a communications channel. While SIGINT is the broader umbrella that includes all signals, the specific discipline demonstrated is COMINT. HUMINT and OSINT don’t apply here since HUMINT relies on information from human sources and OSINT uses publicly available information.