Intelligence improvements saving lives in Iraq, Afghanistan
By Joe Burlas
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Aug. 5, 2004) -- New military intelligence technology and improvements in tactics, techniques and procedures over the course of the last year are saving Soldiers’ lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Army G2 officials.
Lt. Col. Steve Iwicki, deputy director for Actionable Intelligence, G2, and Lynn Schnurr, G2 director of Information Management, updated the Pentagon press corps on military intelligence transformation efforts Aug. 5.
Iwicki related a recent incident in Afghanistan where a small U.S. patrol in a remote area started observing similar signs that a patrol in the same area had observed a year earlier just before being attacked by a significantly larger force. The earlier patrol suffered a number of casualties. With the help of new intelligence capabilities, the recent patrol was able to leave the area without incident in the face of a superior numerical force via the one avenue the enemy had left uncovered.
While stating he could not get too specific due to security reasons, Iwicki said the new capabilities included:
o A persistent sensor capability that kept the patrol and its surrounding area under observation for eight hours. That particular sensor was generally unavailable to support units at the patrol level a year ago.
o Intelligence analytical centers across the globe provided “real time” intelligence feedback. They viewed the feed from multiple collectors and helped the patrol avoid the enemy. This reach-back capability out of theater and the use of tactical intelligence overwatch are no longer just concepts, Iwicki said, but now are business as usual for the Army.
Schnurr talked about the new use of biometric systems that use unchangeable body characteristics such as fingerprints or retinal patterns to verify identities on the battlefield.
She talked about an Iraqi man briefly detained by the Army last September that was scanned with a biometric device, entered into a database and later released. The same man was detained in July under suspicious circumstances, looking radically different and using a different name. Another biometric scan and comparison to the database quickly tied him to the earlier incident, despite his denials.
The ability to make timely intelligence linkages in dealing with individuals is critical today as the Army is no longer operating in Cold War environment of force on force -- it is about people, Schnurr said. “It is difficult to understand who the people are, and if they are really who they say they are,” she asked.
While significant progress has been made in sharing intelligence information all the way from the tactical to the national level, we can do better, Iwicki said. He related a year ago about 400,000 patrols were made in Iraq, but only 6,000 reports of those patrols made it into the system.
One fix is beefing up the intelligence sections at battalion and brigade level, something that is being done with divisions growing from three combat brigade teams to four units of action. Those force structure changes more than doubles the number of trained military intelligence operators and gives the S2 shops intelligence equipment normally found at the division or higher level.
Another fix to sharing information is the creation of two-person intelligence liaison teams assigned to each battalion. Their job is to visit each company, find out what has happened of intelligence value with the unit in the previous 24 hours and then help the battalion S2 section to input the reports into a shareable database.
A third fix in the works is a handheld computer system, known as the Commander’s Digital Assistant. It was initially developed as part of the red force/blue force tracking system. Dropdown menus allow Soldiers to quickly compile digital reports of what is going on in their area, and an integrated satellite-band modem gets it into the intelligence database.
The CDA is designed for use by military intelligence collection teams and normal infantry patrols.
CDA has already passed technical and user assessments. A final unit evaluation is scheduled for late August prior to 100 being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan in October. The initial needs assessment funds about 1,000 of the devices, though Iwicki believes that it will eventually become part of every Soldier’s alert bag in the future.
Division commanders have about 15,000 Soldiers, each a sensor that can report timely information on their parts of the battlefield if properly equipped, Iwicki said.
The Army has implemented fixes to some 120-plus intelligence issues it identified a year ago, Schnurr said. G2 continues to hold weekly teleconferences with Central Command commanders and intelligence professionals in Iraq and Afghanistan to assess how those fixes are working and determine what additional issues need to be addressed, she said.
Iwicki described many of the technology fixes as looking at what the Army needs the military intelligence field to do in the future and “spiraling” pieces of those technologies forward.
“We know we are not getting the final product,” Iwicki said. “There are going to be versions two and three down the road, but the capabilities we can use today are saving lives.” (Editor’s note: See earlier related articles, Initiatives seek to transform Army intelligence capabilities and Actionable Intelligence relies on every Soldier.) |
