Looking for Intel? . . . or Looking for Answers? Reforming Military Intelligence for a Counterinsurgency Environment
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Authors
Blanken, Leo
Overbaugh, Justin
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Date of Issue
2012-08
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Abstract
We analyze the recent Flynn Report and assess its implications for the future of military intelligence in Afghanistan. In particular, we argue that the report seeks to expand the substantive tasks of the military intelligence practitioner, while collapsing nontrivial aspects of existing organizational hierarchies.We argue that implementation of the Flynn Report’s proposals would match poorly with the traditional nature of military intelligence and the realities of human resources constraints in the military. Further, the resulting scale of unfiltered data such a system would produce might serve to overwhelm rather than assist decision-makers. Finally, we conclude that the problems expressed in the Flynn Report should not be traced to the military intelligence apparatus per se, but rather to the inability of US political leadership to map out a clear vision for current operations – both in Afghanistan, and in the counterinsurgency environment in general.
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Article
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The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2012.688307
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Defense Analysis (DA)
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Citation
Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 559-575, August 2012
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.