CHAPTER
1
THE INTELLIGENCE CHALLENGE
FOR COMMANDERS:
Why You Need This Handbook
Units win battles, campaigns, and wars by generating combat
power at decisive times and places. Intelligence predicts and
then verifies when and where those decisive points will be. It
also provides insight on how much combat power you'll need to
use to win. Intelligence is your decision tool that focuses and
leverages your combat power. To accomplish this, you must understand--
- The capabilities and limitations of the Intelligence BOS.
- How intelligence is synchronized with other BOSs.
- The intelligence system of systems architecture.
- Your role in focusing and prioritizing the Intelligence
BOS.
Purpose of this Handbook
This handbook will help you understand the Intelligence BOS
and your role in directing the IEW effort to meet your mission
requirements. You will never have a perfect picture of the battlefield;
however, the more you know about the intelligence system and how
to focus it, the better your picture will be.
THE ARMY INTELLIGENCE
MISSION
The Intelligence BOS provides timely, relevant, and accurate
IEW support to tactical, operational, and strategic commanders
across the operational continuum and the threat spectrum. It reduces
uncertainty and risk to U.S. Forces and permits effective application
of combat power.
THE SIX INTELLIGENCE FUNCTIONS
(INTELLIGENCE MISSION ESSENTIAL
TASK LIST (METL))
- Indications and Warning (I&W)
gives you as much early warning of hostilities as possible.
- Intelligence Preparation of
the Battlefield (IPB) integrates the environment with
the enemy's fighting doctrine. It reveals his capabilities and
vulnerabilities and allows you to systematically predict his actions.
It also helps you understand the battlefield and synchronize all
your BOSS for maximum effect.
- Situation Development confirms
or denies enemy courses of action (COAs) predicted in the IPB.
This enables you to make timely decisions.
- Target Development and Target
Acquisition identify high value targets (HVTs) and
high payoff targets (HPTs) that support your concept of the operation.
Then they detect and locate those targets with sufficient accuracy
for attacks by fire, maneuver, and electronic means.
- Battle Damage Assessment (BDA)
gives you a continual assessment of enemy strength
and your operations' effect on the enemy.
- Force Protection identifies
those elements of your force most important to an enemy force
and those most vulnerable to detection and attack by enemy operations.
It also limits the enemy's opportunities to engage friendly forces,
and enables you to achieve maximum surprise on the battlefield.
You may have to prioritize these functions based on resources
and time constraints. For instance, the intelligence collection
assets required to support your situation development and targeting
requirements are the same which support any BDA requirements you
establish. Your G2 or S2 has to be a very smart collection manager
to accomplish this. If you need something quickly, it will usually
be at the expense of another requirement.
INTELLIGENCE TENETS-HOW BEST
TO EXECUTE THE METL
- Intelligence is for the commander.
It's valuable only if it satisfies your planning and
warfighting requirements in a timely manner. You are both the
director and the recipient of intelligence. Your intelligence
officer's goal is to provide you the intelligence, targets, and
BDA you need when you need them.
- The commander focuses the
intelligence effort by stating his priority intelligence
requirements (PIRs), targeting priorities and priorities for other
types of intelligence support, such as force protection and BDA.
You will never have enough intelligence assets to perform all
six intelligence functions concurrently. So you need to identify
when you must have specific intelligence and when specific targets
must be detected and attacked to support your concept of the operation.
By articulating your priorities, you focus and synchronize collection
assets on your specific needs and also prioritize the intelligence
processing and dissemination efforts.
- Understand the battlefield.
Intelligence predictions and analysis must be grounded
in tactical and operational expertise and common sense. Your intelligence
officer must understand your intent and concept of the operation,
and the reaction it will most likely evoke from the enemy force.
With this understanding, he can anticipate enemy action and reaction,
and use his finite collection resources to confirm them.
- IPB drives all warfighting
operations. The G2 and S2 must assess multiple enemy
COAs and prioritize them in order of likelihood of occurrence.
IPB also gives you and the "2" a systematic way to confirm
the intelligence estimate or determine which alternative COA the
enemy has taken. The set of enemy COAs developed in the IPB process
allows you and your staff to anticipate and preempt the enemy
on the battlefield.
- The G2 and S2 always manage,
direct and coordinate your intelligence effort. Your
MI unit commander responds to the G2's or S2's intelligence taskings.
- The maneuver commander task
organizes and requests intelligence as-sets to best support each
mission, enemy, terrain, troops, and time available (METT-T) situation.
Habitual relationships are used where possible, but
command relationships and standard tactical missions for MI units
are dictated by a METT-T analysis. Intelligence assets are never
kept in reserve.
- Only the parent unit's commander
or staff tasks intelligence assets. All other units
(both higher and lower) must request support on a non-interference
basis.
- Intelligence operates as a
"seamless system of intelligence systems." No
echelon has all the intelligence assets it needs to satisfy all
the requirements of its commander. Consequently, higher echelons
must focus downward and push intelligence to lower echelons, while
lower echelons must be able to pull or request specific intelligence
information from higher echelons. This system is seamless because
there are no echelon barriers to this flow. Your G2 or S2 must
know how to or-chestrate this system of systems to satisfy your
requirements.
CHARACTERISTICS OF EFFECTIVE
INTELLIGENCE
- Relevance: Do the
intelligence products pertain to your mission and support your
concept of the operation?
- Usability: Are
the intelligence products in a format you can easily use? Can
they pass the "so what?" test? Do they clearly tell
you their significance to your concept of the operation?
- Timeliness: Are
you getting the intelligence, targets, electronic warfare (EW)
support, and BDA when you ask for them?
- Accuracy: Are the
intelligence products and targets correct? Are targets given with
locations sufficiently accurate to attack them?
- Completeness: Are
you getting the whole story or are the portions that are known
versus those that are analytical estimates made clear to you?
- Objectivity: Is
the intelligence unbiased, undistorted, and free from political
influence or constraint?
- Predictive: Do
the intelligence estimates of enemy capabilities give a set of
possible enemy COAs which are prioritized in order of likelihood
of occurrence?
KEY PLAYERS IN THE INTELLIGENCE
EFFORT
You are the primary
player and owner of your unit's intelligence effort.
Commanders must focus intelligence.
They
must decide what they need to know for the
operation to succeed. This includes establishing
clear priorities for intelligence and targets.
My goal was to limit my questions to six.
--Frederick M. Franks , Jr.
General, U.S. Army
Commander, Training and Doctrine
Command
Your "2" coordinates
with you, your "3", and your fire support
officer (FSO) to identify your intelligence and targeting requirements.
He then:
- Verifies these requirements through IPB and staff wargaming.
- Develops a collection or Reconnaissance and Surveillance
(R&S) plan to satisfy those requirements.
- Converts, through analysis,
collected information into intelligence and targets. He then disseminates these to you and others when
they're
needed.
Your MI unit commander
is tasked to satisfy many of your unit's intelligence requirements.
However, he will not be able to satisfy all your requirements.
Your "2" must be able to elicit support from other echelons
in the intelligence systems of systems to ensure you are fully
supported.
ORGANIZATION OF THIS
HANDBOOK
Chapter 2
describes your role in the fundamental intelligence process for
planning and executing battles. This description is keyed to the
command estimate process.
Chapters 3 and 4 discuss key organizations and functions of S2/G2 staffs and MI unit capabilities.
Appendix A describes how to focus PIRs.
Appendix B provides a more
detailed description of specific intelligence collection assets.
Appendix C
contains tips on how to train your unit's Intelligence
BOS.
Appendix D
contains an annotated reference of field manuals with
more detailed information on the Intelligence BOS.
If you know the enemy and
know yourself; you
need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
Sun-Tzu