Intelligence! What is it & how is it useful?

Kia Ora,

There is the standing joke that Military intelligence is an oxy moron as it doesn't really exist.

But properly provided information can build a good intelligence picture to allow you to defeat the enemy in a military sense or impact on crime in the civilian world.

The problem is what is intelligence & how to use it?

What was noticeable in Iraq was the US preponderence on electronic intelligence over human intelligence (either from 'spies' or those on the ground). At one part we were told that nothing happened unless it was witnessed by a US soldier(that was later extended to coalition soldier).

More than once we, as private security reported suspicious activity on the entrances to the Green Zone, only to be ignored by the US soldiers. Each time within a day or two there would be a suicide bombing at that gate.

I see now since 9/11 the US has developed so many conflicting intelligence gathering organizations, both government & private, that most of the reports are not even read. Much of the information gathered is an exact duplication of another groups & the plan to co ordinate is not happening.

In fact it is so bad that they believe the US has actually made itself less safe as so far attempts of terrorist attacks have been thwarted by normal citizens not the vaunted intelligence network.

It seems to be the same here in NZ when you call in suspicious activity to the police. Those answering the phones at police communications have no idea that those small bits of information going into their system help make up the intelligence picture of an area.

In the late 80's I was taught a very important lesson in what intelligence is & how it is best used.

The I.O. (Intelligence Officer) of our unit had come from the British army. As part of virtually whole of army exercise we were expecting good intelligence, but all we were getting from upline was a summary of the major incidents that we all knew about anyway.

What the I.O. had done though was have his whole cell bring some civilians up. He then had them out talking to locals about information. After each contact with the enemy by our unit, he would interview those involved to get the little things like tactics used, weapons & clothes.
Those were the things that were not coming through, but told us a lot about the enemy.

It is no difference when dealing with crime. If you first go into say a static security guard job (were you are confined to the one site) it is good to note things that seem suspicious or just general activity.

Then you start to see the things that are out of the norm.

When can this be of use?

The NZ police like police everywhere are for ever asking for information if an incident happens. By having those small suspicious incidents noted it builds immediately a picture of what was out of place at the time. The initial reports also allow the police to get a picture of normal activity in that area.

It is still all intelligence & often the most important parts. It is not often the smoking gun that will be found, but the out of place comment or suspicious incident could be what is needed to get an arrest.

http://www.foxhoundsecurity.co.nz