Human Terrain Mapping

Research and data gathering activities primarily conducted for military or intelligence purposes to understand the “human terrain,”—the social, ethnographic, cultural, and political elements of the people among whom the U.S. Armed Forces are operating and/or in countries prone to political instability. This work includes observations, questionnaires, and interviews of groups of individuals, as well as modeling and analysis of collected data, and may become the basis for U.S. military actions in such locations. In addition to Human Terrain Mapping (HTM), such activities are often referred to as human social culture behavior (HSCB) studies. It is DOE policy that HTM activities will be managed as HSR.