Echelon

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE
"When it absolutely, positively has to be blown up overnight" (Airborne saying)

The contrast between civilian intelligence (like the CIA) and military intelligence (like the DIA and parts of the Pentagon intelligence network) is great. In recent years, the CIA has had reason to resent the expansion of military intelligence as turf infringement, especially in the area of HUMINT where the military has begun placing special forces in remote locations disguised as civilians; e.g., in the form of MLEs (Military Liaison Elements). Critics of military intelligence argue that its expansion is an effort to avoid congressional oversight while supporters of it argue that the CIA should stick to strategic intelligence while the military needs its own network for tactical intelligence. As it is sometimes put: "the CIA wants to know if Osama bin Laden is developing a nuclear weapon; the military wants to know where he goes out for a hamburger." Most definitely, the military has its own intelligence needs, and the war on terror has made those needs more unique and peculiar. Infiltration becomes as important as monitoring, locations are more exotic and obscure, and "actionable" comes to mean not only gathering intel but the ability to act upon it fast.

As Hughes-Wilson (2004) notes, a distinction between military and civil intelligence is likely to be a false distinction since pretty much all intelligence is government intelligence. The unfortunate political reality is that things almost always become a military problem when something goes horribly wrong. Today's world is seeing more synchronization and hybridization, especially with joint civilian and military activities, which is changing who the consumer or "customer" of intelligence is, be they political or military. It should also be pointed out that military intelligence is NO contradiction in terms (or oxymoron) since the military is an institution specifically charged to guard against surprise. Khalsa (2004) makes clear that guarding against surprise is the primary function of military intelligence. Even though operations are the usual military path to glory, military intelligence is just as important since it functions to reduce surprise, error, and anomaly. It does this by basically collecting and processing information about an enemy's capabilities and intentions, which refer, in part, to an enemy's capabilities and an enemy's state of mind. It is also the case that military intelligence, unique among other kinds of intelligence, is usually characterized by crystal-clear expectations about what the intelligence officer is expected to deliver. For that reason, it makes for good introductory material for the student of intelligence to learn about. Here's an example of some essential elements of information collected with military intelligence: