41 Actionable Intelligence
Information superiority is a force multiplier. We should strive to have information superiority and prevent the same for the adversary. Intelligence officers and personnel conduct collection operations to gather information, which ultimately is intelligence on the adversary. This intelligence aids in identifying and destroying high payoff targets. But insurgency is unlike a conventional war. Conventional intelligence platforms and processes have not really lived up to expectations in the war against insurgency forcing us to rethink—to transform the intelligence and here is where Actionable Intelligence comes in.
Yes HUMINT is the preferred mode of intelligence collection but it should never replace the other forms of intelligence. We can cue other intelligence disciplines while preparing an intelligence summary or assessment using HUMINT.HUMINT is more preferable as face-face communication yields more robust results. For example interrogation, tactical questioning, debriefing –all these help us to gain a first-hand insight in the problem at hand..we are able to collect first hand intelligence. This direct interaction concept has time and again proved that HUMINT is indispensable in collecting intelligence, more importantly actionable intelligence. Take the scenario of a unit coming under fire from an enemy inside the perimeters of a village. A cordon and search operation leads to the apprehending of a local who may or may not be co-operative. In the latter case tactical questioning may yield the location of a house in the village which contains the enemy. Thus with first hand actionable intelligence the enemy can be liquidated. Now on further questioning and apprehension of a couple more villagers with irregular behavior the unit HUMINT officer discerns they have information of counterintelligence value , so he hands them over to the custody of the tactical HUMINT cell for further interrogation , which could possibly lead to the revelation of more enemy members identification and finally the network can be busted.
In the process of dissemination of actionable intelligence TIME is of essence. The war fighter must be supplied the exact intelligence at the right time to clear a kill-zone. Editing, Vetting and quality control can be kept for a later stage and limited processes of the two must exist at the grass root level. Form is less important than the speed and accuracy with which actionable intelligence is delivered to the warfighter.Fine;
you have to write an intelligence summary. But as the decision cycle is very compressed in this information age the analyst cannot afford to waste time over grammatical errors, punctuation, form. More important the intelligence summary/assessment should not be routinely reactive but proactive. Consider that the analyst is writing out a summary of the developments in his area of operations AO in the past 24 hours. He details to other units what type of attack it was, the magnitude of the attack, the casualties etc.,This is essentially a reactive report. Had he , besides all these , included in the report his own perception of the attack based on former attacks and the characteristic war fighting traits of the enemy he could have postulated trends/patterns and what could happen in the next 24-48 hours , the other units would have been better informed and prepared in advance and also it is possible they create their own actionable intelligence reports by resorting to more intelligence databases/history and assessments coming from higher ups of the enemy’s TTPs.
Tunnel vision of intelligence officers is another problem that needs to be addressed immediately. The flow of communication from the grass roots level to the higher ups and vice versa in the MI community is frequently a timing breakdown. With the result that the intelligence officers concern themselves with only the happenings in their own specific piece of the area of ops AO.Say the intelligence unit in one area of operation receives an intelligence report rather late as it has already been auctioned upon by another unit. An all source analysis system was dedicated mostly at the division and corps level. That is to say at the battalion
42 level very few analyst are there who can rarely take out time to make a detailed assessment of the actionable intelligence which arrives from higher ups , even if on time. With the result the report gets lost in yet another stack of reports to be analyzed.
A multilayered HUMINT system to effectively tackle insurgency can be created. It will consist of local villagers, turned former insurgents, paid informers, double agents, intelligence officers and torture interrogation methods. Thus it will be possible to supply immediate actionable intelligence to Indian strike forces. Using the locals against the insurgents is demoralizing for the latter. These locals can act as guides, informers and secret agents. Target folders can be created, the key insurgent leader, logistics and safe houses identified and couple this with information by cueing other intelligence disciplines and conducting an all-source intelligence assessment—we can then zero in to destroy the insurgent networks. The locals can further spread the word around in keeping with the psychological ops of the intelligence deptt.Isolating the insurgents from the local villagers is the key.
We should not compare the efficacy of one intelligence discipline or skill set over another in obtaining actionable intelligence.HUMINT SIGINT CI MASINT IMINT..all contribute to the process. One intelligence discipline starts the process and the others validate or refute the information gathered. For example to validate a HUMINT piece of information we might require SIGINT to confirm it and we might require IMINT to further assess it by imagery reports. Thereafter we might have to conduct an all-source analysis/combination to prepare the final actionable intelligence report for dissemination to the ground strike units. Thus what we need is an optimum synchronization of all intelligence disciplines and the process should be evolving continuously. There should be a provision of feedback so as to alter the collection plan if necessary. We should never defeat the process of all-source intelligence analysis or else we can never gain actionable intelligence in time. In the MI domain deconfliction is very necessary and the tendency to consider one intelligence discipline as superior to others thus leading to compartmentation and lack of information exchange should be avoided. One intelligence discipline, regardless of type of conflict, be it conventional warfare or asymmetric, must be coordinated with other intelligent disciplines to be truly effective in order to gain actionable intelligence.
43 Every Soldier as a Sensor (ES2)
A technique that puts the Soldier at the center of gathering actionable intelligence will lead to success on the battlefield and improve battle space intelligence capabilities. This technique will fundamentally change the intelligence culture of one that focuses on certain intelligence personnel to one that focuses on Soldiers and commanders at every level to gain and maintain greater situational understanding of the battle space.
Current counterinsurgency tactics that outflows from digital collectors to Soldiers collecting information is the key to transforming the military intelligence community. Soldiers are on the ground in the neighborhoods of Iraq engaging the local communities; these individuals are the most important sensors of all.
To increase mission effectiveness, network centric environments can be used by Soldiers to record and report actionable intelligence to commanders who can use national assets to analyze and support their targeting process in the battle space. This allows for diverse, flexible, and actionable information management. Network centric environments provide a battle command framework to pioneer effective gathering and exploitation of actionable intelligence by Soldiers on the battlefield.
The collection, analysis, protection and sharing of information on the position and movements of the enemy and on the weather and area where the operation is being conducted—all these go into the production of actionable intelligence. Intelligence actions, be it tactical or strategic exist at all levels and most of the individuals tasked with collecting intelligence are at Bn level or above. A transformation is required right here. The individual soldier on the ground should be the prime sensor. Every soldier should be a sensor.
That is to say not only the Military intelligence community but every soldier should be indoctrinated in the art of collecting intelligence. Actionable intelligence is extremely important for mission success.
Information which is not accurate and which is not on time can cause mission failure and cost lives. Hence it is the duty of every soldier to contribute to the actionable intelligence collection process. They should act as the collectors. Synchronized interrogation (wherein the interrogator and the interrogated reach a level of understanding without the use of coercive methods), the support of the local people and the individual soldier as the sensor—all these portray the near perfect combination for actionable intelligence collection.
What we are dealing with here is Human-Centric Operations. Yes, it will be quite a challenge to train every soldier in in the methods of intelligence but it is not necessary to train them in all aspects of military intelligence. When they come into contact with the local people, they should be at least skilled enough to elicit information instead of posing as a threat, using words efficiently coupled with respect of local traditions. They should be alert enough to make a quick scan of the surroundings and see if anything is out of the ordinary. They can build up a rapport with few or one of the families or even the village head. What we require is training every soldier in basic HUMINT. If needed and when information is accurate and of counterintelligence value they can be accompanied by tactical HUMINT teams…a 2 member team. With time this new entrant in the field of military intelligence will get more accustomed to intelligence habits, will develop the acumen and then use all the intelligence resources to work more efficiently. What we now have is a soldier who not only fights with weapons but also knowledge
Human intelligence-centric operations are part of the Human Intelligence (HUMINT) discipline. There is an overall lack of military intelligence personnel, so training leaders, organizing intelligence cells, and training Soldiers adequately so they may accurately obtain actionable intelligence, while still engaged in combat operations is a challenge. Using HUMINT as a platform in intelligence collection methods requires that training and education become readily available for Soldiers and commanders to be able to assess, analyze, support, and target when engaged in combat operations.
44 India has used a multitude of intelligence extraction methods that have proven to be the greatest obstacle for Soldiers and commanders obtaining actionable intelligence. Captured enemy prisoners of war and local civilian populations have been used to coercively extract actionable intelligence. These methods have been a detriment to strategic success as shown by the Philippine conflict in the Spanish-American war and the Iraq conflict during the ongoing Global War on Terror. However, the technique that has been the most successful today is Soldiers collecting actionable intelligence on the battlefield.
HUMINT is the most preferred method for many Soldiers at the brigade and below. Human Intelligence is preferred because the information is immediate and your source can lead you directly to a target. When you have a source that has been vetted, the source understands that he or she must accompany you to the location. If he is unable to accompany, he will be detained in the unit area until the mission is complete. This ensures that accurate information is portrayed and obtained correctly by the source. One challenge of this system is the fact that many sources fear for his or her life.They are afraid of the consequences if their peers discovered they were giving actionable intelligence to the United States soldiers.
This obstacle has been overcome by protecting the source’s identity or by providing compensation to the source for the information. Tactical HUMINT Teams (THTs) are coupled with units to accompany them on many of these missions. THTs are a reliable source of information, intelligence, and are a great asset to the commander.
In relating actual intelligence to actionable intelligence we have to consider several variables. Time, accuracy, legitimacy, and bureaucracy are the areas we will discuss here. Because situations change rapidly time is very important for any intelligence to be used as actionable intelligence by the Soldiers on the ground at the brigade and below. For instance if intelligence comes in that there is a high value target in a house in a near-by village, most times a unit will have less than 24 hours to search that house and detain the target.
That may seem like a long time, but you have to consider that the unit has to put together a patrol, get more information on the village as a whole, plan the operation, rehearse actions on the objective, etc. In the same instance we would have to make sure the intelligence is accurate. The unit planning the mission must have the correct house to go to and information on and description of the target. If that unit goes into the wrong house they can potentially upset the local people, or worse yet allow the target to get away. Legitimacy is probably the biggest draw-back to some methods of human intelligence. For instance a patrol goes out and a local civilian tells someone on that patrol that he knows there is a “bad guy” in a particular house. Many of the local civilians will give information because they know the U.S. will give them money for information, or they will provide false information on a person because they are mad at them for something. Validating information is critical because of situations like this. For the Soldier on the ground one of the most, if not the most, frustrating things is getting authorization to act on intelligence. The bureaucracy is crippling in many cases. Although the levels of authorization for acting on intelligence are necessary to ensure units are doing all the correct preparation, analysis, and to ensure validity of intelligence there have been many opportunities lost due to the time it takes to get approval of a plan or authorization to conduct a mission.
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