Military Intelligence: Decoding the Art of Strategic Acumen, From Battlefield Tactics to Global Security

By Fouad Sabry

What is Military Intelligence

Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a range of sources, directed towards the commanders' mission requirements or responding to questions as part of operational or campaign planning. To provide an analysis, the commander's information requirements are first identified, which are then incorporated into intelligence collection, analysis, and dissemination.

How you will benefit

(I) Insights, and validations about the following topics:

Chapter 1: Military Intelligence

Chapter 2: United States Air Force

Chapter 3: Military Science

Chapter 4: Counterintelligence

Chapter 5: United States Strategic Command

Chapter 6: Office of Naval Intelligence

Chapter 7: NetOps

Chapter 8: U.S. Critical Infrastructure Protection

Chapter 9: Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security

Chapter 10: Psychological Operations (United States)

(II) Answering the public top questions about military intelligence.

Who this book is for

Professionals, undergraduate and graduate students, enthusiasts, hobbyists, and those who want to go beyond basic knowledge or information for any kind of Military Intelligence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: One Billion Knowledgeable
• Release date: May 31, 2024

Book preview

Chapter 1: Military intelligence

Military intelligence is a branch of the armed forces that use methods for information gathering and analysis in order to give advice and direction to commanders. This goal is accomplished by giving an evaluation of information from a variety of sources, tailored to the commanders' mission objectives, or by providing answers to inquiries as part of operational or campaign planning. The commander's information needs are first determined in order to give an analysis, which is then included into intelligence gathering, analysis, and dissemination.

The operating environment, hostile, friendly, and neutral troops, the civilian population in a theater of combat operations, and other general areas of interest are possible research subjects. In peacetime, during the period leading up to war, and during the actual war, intelligence operations are carried out at all levels, from tactical to strategic.

In order to offer analytical and information gathering professionals in both specialized units and from other weapons and services, the majority of nations continue to maintain a military intelligence capability. The range of political and military activity is informed by the collaboration of military and civilian intelligence capabilities.

Before formal training, intelligence personnel may be chosen based on their analytical skills and general intelligence.

In all tiers of political and military activity, intelligence operations are conducted.

Strategic intelligence focuses on a wide range of topics, including the economy, political assessments, military prowess, and intents of other countries (and, increasingly, non-state actors). These changes are examined in conjunction with well-known information about the place in issue, such as topography, demographics, and industrial capacities. Such intelligence may be scientific, technical, tactical, diplomatic, or social.

Strategic intelligence is officially defined as intelligence necessary for the development of policy and military plans at national and international levels. This corresponds to the Strategic Level of Warfare, which is officially defined as the level of warfare at which a nation, frequently as a member of a group of nations, determines national or multinational (alliance or coalition) strategic security objectives and guidance, then develops and utilizes national resources to achieve these goals.

Operational tiers are the focus of operational intelligence, which supports or rejects them. The design of practical manifestation is under the operational layer of leadership, which is below the strategic level. officially described as Intelligence necessary for organizing and carrying out large actions to achieve strategic goals within theaters or operational zones.

Law enforcement professionals refer to intelligence that facilitates in-depth investigations into numerous, comparable targets as operation intelligence. In the field of law enforcement intelligence, operational intelligence is primarily concerned with identifying, targeting, detecting, and intervening in criminal activity. Due to its more constrained application, law enforcement and law enforcement intelligence do not scale to their use in general intelligence or military/naval intelligence.

Tactical intelligence would be a part of the battlegroup and would be geared at supporting tactical actions. Patrols are briefed on the most pressing dangers and collection priorities at the tactical level. After that, a debriefing is conducted to gather data for analysis and transmission along the reporting chain.

The official definition of tactical intelligence is intelligence required for the planning and conduct of tactical operations. This definition aligns with the definition of the tactical level of warfare, which is the level of warfare at which battles and engagements are planned and carried out to achieve military objectives assigned to tactical units or task forces..

Based on the military goal and operational plans, intelligence should respond to the demands of the leadership. The estimate process has as its focal point the military objective, from which a number of information requirements are deduced. The need for information may be related to the terrain and how it affects the movement of vehicles or people, the enemy troops' disposition, local opinion, and the enemy order of battle.

Analysts look at the information that already exists and discover knowledge gaps in response to the information requirements. The staff may be able to task collecting assets to target the requirement where there are knowledge gaps.

Analysis reports use all information sources accessible, whether it be information already in existence or information gathered in answer to a request. The remaining planning personnel are informed by the analysis reports, which have an impact on planning and attempt to forecast adversary intent.

Collection Coordination and Intelligence Requirement Management are the terms used to describe this procedure (CCIRM).

The four stages of the intelligence process include gathering, analyzing, processing, and disseminating.

These are referred to as direction, collection, processing, and dissemination in the United Kingdom.

The six types of intelligence operations include planning and direction, collection, processing and exploitation, analysis and production, dissemination and integration, and evaluation and feedback, according to Joint Publication 2-0 (JP 2-0) for the U.S. military.

The majority of the most crucial information is already widely known or may be found in the public domain. Open-source intelligence is the term used to describe this method of information gathering. Military commanders, for instance, place a great deal of importance on a region's population, ethnic makeup, and primary industries, all of which are often known to the general public. However, it is crucial that the person gathering the data realizes that what they are gathering is only information and doesn't turn into intelligence until an analyst has examined and validated it. After careful consideration, the collection of read materials, the makeup of the units or elements, the disposition of the strength, the training, the tactics, and the personalities (leaders) of these units and elements all add to the overall intelligence value.

The basic weapons and tonnage of the majority of big ships and airplanes are also known, and specialists can frequently estimate these vehicles' speeds and ranges based solely on images. Ordinary information, such as the lunar phase on specific days or the ballistic range of popular military weapons, is regularly gathered in an intelligence library and is particularly helpful for planning.

Detailed high-altitude photographs of a nation can be photointerpreted to yield a large deal of helpful intelligence. To interpret ammunition shipments and inventory, photointerpreters typically keep records of munitions facilities, military installations, and crate designs.

Most intelligence services sponsor or maintain organizations whose sole function is to preserve maps. Since maps are useful for many purposes outside of government, these organizations are frequently referred to or identified in the public as being part of the government. Good intelligence can spot deception that some historical counterintelligence services, particularly in Russia and China, have outlawed or inserted onto public maps.

The principal newspapers and journals of every country, as well as every journal that has been produced, are regularly read by the intelligence agencies of significant countries. This is a fundamental source of knowledge.

Personnel in the diplomatic and media sectors frequently have the dual objective of gathering military intelligence. Although it is highly uncommon for journalists in western democracies to receive payment from an official intelligence service, they may nevertheless pass on material out of patriotism as they conduct their lawful profession. Additionally, a lot of public information in a country could not be accessible from elsewhere. Because of this, the majority of intelligence services assign personnel to foreign service offices.

Additionally, several developed countries routinely listen in on the entire radio spectrum and analyze it in real time. This includes satellite traffic as well as broadcasts of local, regional, and national radio and television as well as local military activity, radar emissions, and even microwaved telephone and telegraph traffic.

The ECHELON system, commonly maintained by the U.S., is notorious for its ability to intercept cell phone and pager traffic. Normally, sophisticated computer programs that interpret natural language and phone numbers in search of potentially dangerous conversations and correspondents analyze bulk traffic. Undersea or land-based cables have also been tapped in some unusual circumstances.

In order to safeguard the sources and methods from foreign traffic analysis, analysts are typically only permitted access to more exotic secret material, such as encryption keys, diplomatic message traffic, policy, and orders of combat.

Evaluation of an adversary's strengths and weaknesses constitutes analysis. These are risks and opportunities, respectively. In order to build critical military capabilities, analysts typically seek out the resource that is least protected or most vulnerable. As a result, these are marked as serious vulnerabilities. The logistical chain supporting a military unit's gasoline supply, for instance, is frequently the most exposed component of a nation's order of battle in modern mechanized combat.

Spies frequently carefully compare human intelligence with information from other sources. It is well known for being inaccurate. Sometimes sources will just make up outrageous tales to get paid, or they might try to settle scores by labeling their adversaries as enemies of the government paying for the intelligence. However, human intelligence is frequently the only type of intelligence that offers insight into the motivations and objectives of an adversary, making it frequently especially relevant to the negotiation of diplomatic solutions.

In some intelligence agencies, analysis is done in a specific way. A regularly updated list of common vulnerabilities is used to methodically examine the location, capabilities, inputs, and environment of general media and sources to identify items or groups of interest.

Critical vulnerabilities are then indexed so that advisers and line intelligence officers can quickly access them and package this data for policymakers and warfighters. The nation and military unit typically index vulnerabilities along with a list of potential attack techniques.

Important opponent capabilities are typically examined on a schedule determined by an estimate of the enemy's preparation time, and critical threats are typically retained in a prioritized file. For instance, staff members who were constantly on call were able to study nuclear threats between the USSR and the United States in real time. In contrast, the study of tank or army deployments is typically started by the buildup of fuel and ammunition, which are tracked on a daily basis. In some instances, real-time automated analysis of automated data transmission is carried out.

Military intelligence is essential to decision-makers and involves packaging threats and weaknesses. A good intelligence officer would maintain a tight relationship with the decision-maker or combatant in order to foresee their information needs and personalize the information provided. In order to better anticipate demands, a smart intelligence officer will also ask a lot of questions. The intelligence officer will have a staff that can be used to assign research tasks for a significant policy-maker.

Intelligence is not responsible for creating an attack strategy, although understanding the capabilities of typical military unit types can be useful to analysts. Typically, a list of threats and opportunities is given to policymakers. After they provide their approval for a fundamental action, trained military personnel plan and execute the specific action. Target choice frequently goes to the top of the military chain of command after hostilities start. When ready supplies of gasoline and weaponry run out, logistical issues are frequently outsourced to civilian policy-makers.

The various decision-makers receive the processed intelligence information through database systems, intelligence bulletins, and briefings. The bulletins may also include any resulting information needs, which would bring the intelligence cycle to an end.

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