2003 Cammaert (NL) Reflections on Peace Intelligence with the Military Advisor to the Secretary General of the United Nations

Historic Contributions, Military, Non-Governmental, Peace Intelligence

Patrick Cammaert
Patrick Cammaert

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.

Patrick Cammaert
Patrick Cammaert

2003 Lewis (UNIDIR) Creating the Global Brain: The United Nations

Collaboration Zones, Communities of Practice, Historic Contributions, Peace Intelligence
Patricia Lewis
Patricia Lewis

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.

Patricia Lewis
Patricia Lewis