Literal Intelligence: Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

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Table of Contents

Analysis of the Literal Collection Disciplines Available
The specific targets
Plausible choices of published, internet or HUMINT technique
How to sequence collection for best results
Management issues to be prepared to address
Alternate collection strategy if the assets requested are not available
The strategy for collection in the literal intelligence disciplines
References

Analysis of the Literal Collection Disciplines Available

The problem posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is posing a serious security threat not only to the people in the Middle East but also to the entire world (Murphy, 2005). The recent attacks in Paris, France are a clear indication that this terror outfit has no geographical boundary and can strike anywhere. The United States, and other world powers, therefore, need to find effective ways of dealing with this threat in a way that is effective.

To do this, it is necessary to gather intelligence. There are several literal collections of disciplines which are available and can help in gathering initial intelligence about this group. There are newspaper reports, television and radio news reports, and video recordings that these terrorists make from time to time when making demands or issuing threats. These literal collections can be used to gather initial intelligence that can be used to effectively crash this group. These collections can help in explaining how this group conducts its activities and the strategies it uses when planning an attack.

The specific targets

Islamic State, just like Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and Al Shabbab, operate clandestinely, and gathering intelligence about them is not easy. They are always very keen to cover their tracks and they use different tactics to do this. They can kill those whom they believe can reveal their activities or the whereabouts of their top leaders. As such, when choosing the specific targets of sources of information that will be used, it is necessary to put into consideration these facts. The best target source will be television reports. According to Gerdes (2004), sometimes these terrorists often invite television journalists to interview them.

The reports from such an interview can help investigators to understand the plans of these terrorists. The video recordings that they often send to the newsrooms can also help to give a picture of the places that they use to hide. The international intelligence bodies such as Secrete Service can use drones to monitor the activities of these terror groups and gather relevant information about their operations. Gathered together, these facts can be used to guide an offensive against this dangerous terror group.

Plausible choices of published, internet or HUMINT technique

Islamic State is one of the most complex terror groups whose operations cannot be easily understood. It is necessary to use multi-disciplinary sources to gather intelligence from them. As mentioned above, published sources such as newspaper reports, television and radio news, relevant magazines, among others may be useful in understanding this group. The internet is also another reliable source that cannot be ignored. With the emergence of social media such as Facebook and YouTube, sometimes these terrorists may not need to contact the newsroom when they want to communicate to the international community.

All they have to do is to upload their recorded video on YouTube or Facebook and the information will reach their intended audience. As Goldman (2014) says, when making these video records, these terrorists often leave a trail of evidence that can be used to track them. It may be the background that may be used to identify the location of the recording. It may be the voice or possibly the face of those making the records that can be used to identify their real identity. A critical analysis of these videos often makes it possible to know more about their location and the identity of these criminals.

It will also be necessary to use the Human Intelligence (HUMINT) technique to gather more facts about this group (Tipton, Tipton, & Corroney 2008). After knowing about their possible locations, the international security forces can send their agents to act as suppliers of some of the items that these terrorists often use. They can pose as suppliers of arms, ammunition, foodstuffs, clothes, or any other stuff that is commonly used by these people. These agents will be required to work closely with them, win their trust so that they can infiltrate the leadership. This will make it easy to eliminate this terror group from top to bottom.

How to sequence collection for best results

The best results collected will be stored in a sequence from the simple common facts which are in the public domain to top secretes which are highly classified. This is so because each piece of intelligence will help in getting more facts about the group. The newest information gathered will help in getting even more information about this terror group. The sequencing is important because the team of investigators will know the information which is most current about the group instead of using a poorly structured data system.

Management issues to be prepared to address

When gathering intelligence about this dangerous terror outfit, several management issues must be addressed to get the desired outcome. The first issue is the human resource that will be used in this project. Collecting information from terrorists is not easy, and not many people may be interested in undertaking this activity. It will be necessary to recruit agents who are very intelligent and willing to take the risk. They must be taken through rigorous training before they are allowed to go into the field. Another issue of management is the coordination of all the involved parties. Different teams of employees will be undertaking different activities, but they must be closely coordinated to ensure that they share critical information to help them in their tasks. Finally, another management issue will be to make available all the materials that the entire team may need to accomplish their duties.

Alternate collection strategy if the assets requested are not available

As mentioned previously, to monitor the activities of this group closely, it will be necessary to use drones. Special cameras can be mounted on these drones to have an aerial view of their activities. This makes it easy to have a better knowledge of the kind of preparations they make because this way, it is possible to understand their plans. The team has also requested a team of special agents from some of the elite forces in the United States.

These agents will get in contact with the terrorists and gather human intelligence (HUMINT) (McCue, 2006). However, it is a fact that this team may fail to get the requested assets because of one reason or another. In case the Special Forces are not available, then the HUMINT strategy will be eliminated because it is a very delicate strategy that has numerous risks and requires experts. In the absence of the drones, the use of imagery intelligence (IMINT) will also be affected. The team will emphasize on the use of published and internet sources to gather the needed information. A critical analysis of the terrorists’ owns publications may help monitor their activities and know their plans well in advance.

The strategy for collection in the literal intelligence disciplines

The strategy that will be used in the collection of intelligence will follow the sequence that has been described in the section above. As Dulles (2006) says, in every investigative process, it is always important to start from what is already known towards what is not yet known to the masses. For that matter, the team of investigators will gather available facts about this group from books, journal articles, newspapers, television and radio news reports, and internet sources.

The team will start by documenting when and how this terror group was founded, the initial members, their initial vision when starting this group, and the changes that have occurred over time. This initial information will help the team to understand what it should expect when it gets into the ground. After gathering information about its background, the team will then start digging facts about its every activity in recent times. These facts will then be compiled in a sequence from the oldest to the most recent. If the assets requested are available, the team will use drones to collect further information about this terror group. The final stage will be to gather human intelligence by sending agents to directly interact with them. This information can then be used by the security forces to bring down the organization.

References

Dulles, A. (2006). The Craft of Intelligence: America’s Legendary Spy Master on the Fundamentals of Intelligence Gathering for a Free World. Guilford, Conn: The Lyons Press. Web.

Gerdes, L. (2014). Espionage and Intelligence Gathering. London, England: McMillan Publishers. Web.

Goldman, J. (2014). The Central Intelligence Agency: An encyclopedia of covert ops, intelligence gathering, and spies. New York, NY: Cengage. Web.

McCue, C. (2006). Data Mining and Predictive Analysis: Intelligence Gathering and Crime Analysis. Boston, MA: Butterworth-Heinemann. Web.

Murphy, C. (2005). Competitive Intelligence: Gathering, Analysing and Putting It to Work. Aldershot, England: Gower. Web.

Tipton, S., Tipton, D., & Corroney, J. (2008). Intelligence Gathering. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons. Web.

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