Clandestine information gathering refers to gathering information in a secret way such that the people the information is being gathered on (and indeed the rest of the public) do not know that they are the subject of such an operation.
This is the main job of intelligence agencies run by the world's governments. In gathering information in secret, they hope to protect the nation from attack by acting to stop the attack before it happens by virtue of possessing that secret information.
The nile shaped ancient Egypt because without the Nile river brought fertile soil for the crops, helped with transportation, which helped with trade, provided food and water.
The Great Compromise solved the problem of representation because it included both equal representation and proportional representation. The large states got the House which was proportional representation and the small states got the Senate which was equal representation.