The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.
Phi Beta Iota: The Department of State (State), which should be the primary interface between the Republic, it's policy, acquisition, and operations communities, and the rest of the world, has fewer diplomats than the Department of Defense (DoD) has military musicians; and continues to suffer persistent staffing and foreign language gaps that “compromise diplomatic readiness” according to the General Accountability Office (GAO).
Continue reading “Reference: Department of State Language Gaps”
The future of OSINT is M4IS2.
The future of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is Multinational, Multifunctional, Multidisciplinary, Multidomain Information-Sharing & Sense-Making (M4IS2).
The following, subject to the approval of Executive and Congressional leadership, are suggested hueristics (rules of thumb):
Rule 1: All Open Source Information (OSIF) goes directly to the high side (multinational top secret) the instant it is received at any level by any civilian or military element responsive to global OSINT grid. This includes all of the contextual agency and mission specific information from the civilian elements previously stove-piped or disgarded, not only within the US, but ultimately within all 90+ participating nations.
Rule 2: In return for Rule 1, the US IC agrees that the Department of State (and within DoD, Civil Affairs) is the proponent outside the wire, and the sharing of all OSIF originating outside the US IC is at the discretion of State/Civil Affairs without secret world caveat or constraint. OSIF collected by US IC elements is NOT included in this warrant.
Continue reading “Search: The Future of OSINT [is M4IS2-Multinational]”
Patrick C. Cammaert is a major-general of the Marine Corps of the Royal Netherlands Navy. Since early 2003 he is Military Advisor to the Secretary-general of the United Nations. Until October 2002 he was in command of the United Nations Mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). Before commanding UNMEE, general Cammaert served as Commander of the Multinational United Nations Stand-by Forces High Readiness Brigade (SHIRBRIG) and as battalion commander with the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) and as assistant chief of staff of the Multinational Brigade of the Rapid Reaction Force of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR).
Intelligence in Peacekeeping Operations: Lessons for the Future
The Netherlands, MajGen Patrick Cammaert, Royal Marines
IOP '06. MajGen Cammaert is recognized for his extraordinarily diplomatic and diligent furtherance of common sense and understanding at the highest levels of United Nations leadership, with respect to both the generic value of the process of intelligence to peacekeeping and conflict avoidance, and the specific value of open sources of information, including geospatial information, useful to the strategic mandate, the operational force composition, and the tactical campaign. As Military Advisor to the Secretary General from 2003-2005, and then as Force Commander of UN Forces in the Congo, he devised and began implementation of the regional United Nations Joint Military Analysis Centre (UN JMAC) program. His leadership with respect to a common standard of intelligence training for all UN civilian and uniformed personnel are likely to have a considerable impact on the future effectiveness of peacekeeping operations
Although the Brahimi Report (AF) and the efforts of Louise Frechette (CA) as Deputy Secretary General to achieve strategic decision-support coherence were both important, no single person has done more to help the United Nations understand that intelligence is not a “dirty word” but rather an essential tool relevant to the strategic level (getting the mandate right), the operational level (getting the force structure right), and the tactical level (being effective in multicultural environments). Below are his responses to questions, as presented on a video interview done in New York.
United Nations, Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
IOP '06. Under the leadership of Dr. Patricia Lewis, and in pursuit of the basic mission of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), the development of “ideas for peace and security,” this organization has demonstrated sustained excellence in the exploitation of open sources of information, and in the development of new forms of internal information management and external information sharing, that suggest it is a potential catalyst for a surge in United Nations capabilities to leverage information to deter and resolve conflict, to reduce weapons of mass destruction as well as small arms and other contributing capabilities to genocide and instability, and to increase the prospects for peace across the many regions beset by complex emergencies that reduce human security.
Along with Lakhdar Brahimi (AF), Louise Frechette (CA), and Patrick Cammaert (NL), Dr. Patricia Lewis was among a tiny handful of United Nations (UN) professionals who understood in the 1990's that the UN, like the World Bank and other organizations that seek to create a prosperous world at peace, is in the information business, and that Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) was both the common language and the coin of the realm.
Below are her remarks to OSS '03, still the best overview available from any UN official.
