National versus Military Intelligence - Essay Example

National Versus Military Intelligence Introduction Intelligence, whether national or military is a discipline that uses various information collection and analysis approaches to provide direction and guidance that supports decision-making. Numerous sources of information provide legal, management and technical insights for national and military intelligence with their interest being on analysis. The sources include studies in intelligence, international journal of intelligence and counter intelligence, intelligence and national security, defense intelligence journal, military intelligence professional bulletin and Jane’s intelligence review. Intelligence used by the government therefore must be a community effort and the community has the responsibility of providing the required information to enhance the success of the intelligence. Since September 2001, there has been an increased need for improving the levels of intelligence and sharing of information. Police had a significant role in the study of national and military intelligence but this was curtailed when it was discovered that the police were in some way involved in abuses such as opposing the governmental operations. Information sharing is however an important aspect in intelligence whether national or military (George &Bruce, 2008). National intelligence is an integration of various departments of intelligence in a country that aims at covering the broader aspects of national policy and national the security of the entire nation. It is concerned with various departments and is more competitive than any intelligence department can be. National intelligence therefore is a complex body made up of various intelligence units and it aims at maintaining security of the entire nation. Various defense departments also constitute this body and together, they ensure the national security. National intelligence services ensure that using various departments and units, it detects any likely terrorist activity that is planned against the country. It does this by collecting and conducting an analysis on information in with regard to any possible terrorist activity. National intelligence acts as a program that establishes a counterterrorism centre for coordinating across every departmental line and serves as the primary executive branch organization for strategically planning of operations that are suitable for countering terrorism. It addresses efforts that are aimed at establishing tight national border controls as well as increasing the security in transportation against the terrorist activities. Military defense is one of the entities that are used to ensure national security at the level of national intelligence. Various military operations have been observed to undertake various oversight activities that have focused on enhancing national intelligence and ensuring that they focus on detecting the likely terrorist activities and at the same time ensuring that they receive briefings regarding the likely threats to the security of the nation (Bolton, 2008). Improved national intelligence also ensures the government has an increased awareness to emerging and upcoming political and cultural issues. It enables a country to attain some competitiveness in the way it is able to understand the strategies that are set against its enemies. This necessitates the involved parties to acquire training on the use of foreign languages and to learn foreign cultures preferably at junior levels. They also need to develop speed, precision, reconnaissance and surveillance to achieve victory in coalition and this is termed as an important step towards improving the national intelligence. National defense authorization Act was also introduced in order to reconstruct the stability of national intelligence and to ensure its improved performance. This entailed an improvement in the techniques for intelligence collection methods. The effectiveness of national intelligence however can be measured by the ability to counter terrorism in a country. This entails the ability of understanding a likely threat, giving warning regarding the adversaries’ capabilities and intentions and finding and disrupting the adversaries. A relationship was therefore established in 2004 between the military and national intelligence. The relationship established is that both military and national intelligence are aimed to support the missions of national and those of military intelligence (Bolton, 2008). Military intelligence on the other hand is a unit of national intelligence that involves acquiring knowledge of a potential enemy through collecting, analyzing, evaluating and interpreting military information. It involves learning about the enemy both before and during the battle. Military commanders aim at understanding the situational factors, which involve understanding who the friends are as well as who the foes are. Military intelligence personnel are expected to understand the battle space, locate the enemies and other troops that are termed as friendly troops, information concerning the weather conditions and the characteristics of the available terrain. The collection of information used in military intelligence is the open source intelligence whereby information is gathered from the open sources. The collected information however becomes intelligence once a military analyst analyses, evaluates and verifies the information. Information can also be collected from other sources such as the public journals but this only becomes intelligence once it has been analyzed, evaluated and verified by an analyst. Analysis of the information to obtain intelligence involves assessing the vulnerabilities and capabilities, which represent the opportunities and threats. The analyst in this case looks at the most fragile resource, which is important for military capabilities. Human intelligence that is gathered using spies is usually carefully tested using sources that are not related. Military intelligence uses human intelligence as the only form of intelligence that provides information regarding the intentions of an opponent. As packaging is done, the critical vulnerabilities are usually indexed in a way that makes them easily available to the intelligence personnel who then make the appropriate packaging for use by the policy makers and the war fighters (Caraccilo, 2006). The processing for military intelligence is better done by means of computers than mentally. The method of dissemination used in this type of intelligence is using database systems, Intel bulletins and briefings to the different decision makers. However, effectiveness of military intelligence is seen in the case of increased democratic control. This means that military intelligence is more effective where there is some level of control and oversight, which provides direction and guidance at high levels ensure that effectiveness of this intelligence is increased. Military intelligence is also termed to be effective if it succeeds in acquiring the relevant knowledge relating to a potential or actual enemy through collection, analysis, evaluation and interpretation of the information. The effectiveness is established if this information is successfully converted into intelligence and successfully used in location of enemy by the military personnel. There is uncertainty however in the cost efficiency of military intelligence as a big proportion of the apportioned funds go to training of the military forces, another portion to salaries for the military personnel and another to the research and development (George &Kline, 2005). Military intelligence is likely to receive more recommendations from the National Security Council on nuclear weapons modernization. The primary security challenge in the United States is the regional states and extremists that are seeking to attain weapons of massive destruction. States are aiming at modernizing and expanding their nuclear force in order to attain more nuclear power. Uses of nuclear weapons deter other states that are potential enemies to a specific state and therefore offer a significant security to that state. National Security Council in this case will recommend the use of military intelligence since this will enable the states to modernize their nuclear weapons. This is because the states using the military intelligence will be in a position to attain knowledge concerning the potential enemies. They will be able to collect information, analyze, evaluate, interpret this information regarding the potential enemy and later convert this information to intelligence, which will enable them to determine the type of weapons that the enemy uses. Based on this information, the state is therefore able to determine the level of modernization at which it should maintain its nuclear weapons. The availability of the military intelligence will also ensure that the states are responsive enough to the changing needs for these weapons and are able to maintain an industrial infrastructure that is responsive enough and that is responsive enough to maintain the capabilities already existing as well as manufacturing new and replacing components as they are needed. Availability of military intelligence in modernization of nuclear weapons also help to clear the unpredictability and complexity of the environment of the international security. This will ensure that some changes such as the political changes can be easily predicted. The intelligence will also ensure creation of a flexible nuclear portfolio, ensuring that the nuclear weapons maintained continually and elaborately play a vital role in maintaining security and maintaining the appropriate military forces. Military intelligence will also contribute towards the modernization of nuclear weapons by ensuring that a state maintains the appropriate defense level that will enable it to extend this defense to its allies (Guo, 2006). Conclusion In conclusion, two forms of intelligence have been discussed and these are national and military intelligence. National intelligence has been discussed as an integration of various intelligence units with its main aim being maintenance of security and policy for the entire nation. Military intelligence on the other hand, has been viewed as a form of intelligence whereby the military personnel collects, evaluates and interprets information to attain intelligence, which is then used as to attain knowledge of a potential or existing enemy. Military intelligence has then been considered as the most probable recommendation by the National Security Council on the modernization of nuclear weapons. References George, R. Z., & Bruce, J. B. (2008). Analyzing Intelligence: Origins, Obstacles, and Innovations. Washington: Georgetown University Press. George, R. Z., & Kline, R. D. (2005). Intelligence and the national security strategist: Enduring issues and challenges. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield. Guo, S. (2006). Chinas "peaceful rise" in the 21st century: Domestic and international conditions. Aldershot [u.a.: Ashgate. Bolton, M. K. (2008). U.S. national security and foreign policymaking after 9/11: Present at the re-creation. Lanham [u.a.: Rowman & Littlefield. Caraccilo, D. J. (2006). Military intelligence technology of the future. New York: Rosen Pub. Group. Read More