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Beyond spy balloons: here are 7 kinds of intelligence spies want, and how they get it

Overview of attention for news story in The Conversation
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (98th percentile)
  • Average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source

Mentioned by

news
17 news outlets
twitter
7 X users
reddit
2 Redditors
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Article details
Title
Beyond spy balloons: here are 7 kinds of intelligence spies want, and how they get it
Published by
The Conversation, February 2023
DOI 10.64628/aa.sje3e4fnw
Authors

Desmond, Dennis, Dennis B. Desmond

Abstract

While human spies are the best-known way nations collect intelligence, there are several methods countries can use to spy on one another.

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Timeline Attention over time Attention Score history
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Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 136. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 17 February 2026.
All research outputs
#383,994
of 34,348,536 outputs
Outputs from The Conversation
#46,073
of 212,466 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#7,962
of 527,037 outputs
Outputs of similar age from The Conversation
#524
of 950 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,348,536 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 212,466 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 99.1. This one has done well, scoring higher than 78% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 527,037 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 950 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 44th percentile – i.e., 44% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.