Report of the 

Defense Science Board Task Force on 

Defense Intelligence 

Counterinsurgency (COIN) 

Intelligence, Surveillance, and 

Reconnaissance (ISR) Operations

  February 2011

Office of the Under Secretary of Defense 

for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics

Washington, D.C. 20301-3140 
This report is a product of the Defense Science Board (DSB). The DSB is a Federal Advisory

Committee established to provide independent advice to the Secretary of Defense.

Statements, opinions, conclusions, and recommendations in this report do not necessarily

represent the official position of the Department of Defense.  

The DSB Advisory Group on Defense Intelligence Task Force on Counter Insurgency

(COIN) Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Operations completed its

information gathering in January 2011.   

This report is UNCLASSIFIED and releasable to the public.

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE 

3140 DEFENSE PENTAGON 

WASHINGTON, DC 20301–3140 

February 23, 2011

MEMORANDUM FOR THE CHAIRMAN, DEFENSE SCIENCE BOARD

SUBJECT:  Final Report of the Defense Science Board (DSB) Task Force on Defense

Intelligence – Counterinsurgency (COIN) Intelligence, Surveillance, and

Reconnaissance (ISR) Operations

Attached is the final report of the DSB Task Force on Defense Intelligence,

Counterinsurgency (COIN) Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR)

Operations study. The Task Force was asked to identify how Department of Defense

(DoD) intelligence can most effectively support COIN operations. The principal

objective of the Terms of Reference was to influence investment decisions by

recommending appropriate intelligence capabilities to assess insurgencies,

understand a population in their environment, and support COIN operations. To

arrive at the principal objective the Terms of Reference (TOR) requested the Task

Force address five areas to include the developing role of DoD ISR in COIN

operations, to include relevant customers and their respective requirements;

allocation of DoD ISR resources to support COIN capabilities; changes to the ISR

process to improve support to COIN; immediate improvements in network agility

and information sharing across mission partners conducting COIN; and emerging

technologies and methodologies likely to provide the highest payoff.

To respond to the TOR, the Task Force reviewed existing literature and met with

more than 100 senior‐ and mid‐level officials and representatives from across DoD,

the Intelligence Community (IC), industry, non‐profit community, and academia

involved in irregular warfare, COIN, ISR, and related activities. The Task Force

examined the multi‐phase COIN challenge, which includes the need to continue to

support COIN operations in Afghanistan; prepare for emerging and urgent COIN

ISR operations that will have to be met using current resources; and building a

capability to deal with long‐term COIN scenarios using new concepts of operations

(CONOPS) and resources.  

Based on its investigation the Task Force arrived at the following observations:

 DoD lacks a common understanding of COIN

 DoD has assumed responsibility for COIN ISR by default

DEFENSE SCIENCE 

BOARD
 DoD ISR is narrowly interpreted to mean technical intelligence collection by

airborne platforms

 ISR capabilities have not been applied effectively against COIN operations

that deal with populations in part because a comprehensive set of intelligence

requirements for COIN does not exist

 The U.S. Government is not investing adequately in the development of social

and behavioral science information that is critically important to COIN

 ISR support for COIN is currently being overshadowed by counterterrorism

and force protection requirements

 Increasing the focus of ISR for COIN on incipient insurgencies would provide

more whole‐of‐government options and reduce the need for major

commitment of military forces

 New S&T solutions must address the crisis in processing, exploitation, and

dissemination (PED) and associated communications caused by the deluge of

sensor data

 New and emerging technologies and techniques can be employed to improve

our understanding of COIN environments

The attached report provides the rationale for the Task Force’s findings and

recommendations, responds to five specific TOR tasks, and notes substantial policy

guidance on aspects of COIN and ISR as well as numerous and inconsistent

definitions of key terms associated with the study.  

We appreciate the contributions made by the Department of Defense, Intelligence

Community, industry, and academia who took the time to provide us with their

knowledge and expertise; the members of this study; the Executive Secretary; the

DSB Secretariat and its military assistant.  

TABLE OF CONTENTS i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: TASKING AND KEY FINDINGS ..............................................................iv

1. INTRODUCTION, TASKING, AND STUDY STRUCTURE..................................................... 11

2. DEFINING COIN AND ISR ............................................................................................. 20

3. TOR TASKS..................................................................................................................... 25

3.1. TOR TASK 1:  WHAT IS THE DEVELOPING ROLE OF DOD ISR IN COIN

OPERATIONS; WHO ARE THE CUSTOMERS AND WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS? ............. 25

3.1.1. DEVELOPING ROLE OF DOD ISR IN COIN OPERATIONS ............................... 26

3.1.2. WHO ARE THE CUSTOMERS?............................................................................ 29

3.1.3. WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS? .................................................................... 29

3.2. TOR TASK 2: WHAT IS THE RECOMMENDED ALLOCATION AND USE OF DOD ISR

RESOURCES TO SUSTAIN COIN CAPABILITY ALONG WITH OTHER COMPETING

INTELLIGENCE REQUIREMENTS, FOR EXAMPLE CT?........................................................... 33

3.2.1. THE DIVERSITY OF INTELLIGENCE MISSION NEEDS........................................ 33

3.2.2. MISSION‐BASED NEEDS SHOULD DRIVE EFFECTS‐BASED ISR ........................ 35

3.2.3. A FORMAL APPROACH TO NEED‐BASED ANALYSIS ....................................... 37

3.3. TOR TASK 3:  WHAT CHANGES CAN BE MADE IN THE ISR PROCESS TO IMPROVE

SUPPORT TO COIN?............................................................................................................ 38

3.3.1. ISR SUPPORT TO TRADITIONAL COIN ACTIVITIES......................................... 38

3.3.2. ISR IN SUPPORT OF WHOLE‐OF‐GOVERNMENT, POPULATION‐CENTRIC COIN

INITIATIVES ..................................................................................................................... 42

3.4. TOR TASK 4: WHAT CAN BE DONE IN THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE TO IMPROVE

NETWORK AGILITY AND INFORMATION SHARING ACROSS THE BROAD SPECTRUM OF

MISSION PARTNERS CONDUCTING COIN AND DURING THE PROMOTION OF REGIONAL

STABILITY?........................................................................................................................... 49

3.4.1. THE CURRENT SITUATION ............................................................................... 49

3.4.2. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE .................................................. 50
ii COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

3.5. TOR TASK 5:  WHAT EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND METHODOLOGIES,

COMBINATIONS OF SENSORS, AND INVESTMENTS IN INFORMATION FUSION AND ANALYSIS

ARE LIKELY TO PROVIDE THE HIGHEST PAYOFF? ................................................................ 52

3.5.1. COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCES/SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS.............. 52

3.5.2. BEHAVIOR MODELING AND SIMULATION....................................................... 52

3.5.3. NATURAL RESOURCE MONITORING................................................................ 54

3.5.4. OVERHEAD VIDEO SURVEILLANCE.................................................................. 55

3.5.5. IMPROVEMENTS TO CHARACTERIZING TERRAIN ............................................ 56

3.5.6. PROCESSING, EXPLOITATION, AND DISSEMINATION (PED)........................... 56

3.5.7. HUMAN TERRAIN DATA COLLECTION AND MANAGEMENT ......................... 58

3.5.8. TERRESTRIAL SENSORWEBS ............................................................................. 58

3.5.9. BIOMETRICS ...................................................................................................... 59

3.5.10. NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING................................................................ 59

3.5.11. OPERATIONS RESEARCH .................................................................................. 59

3.5.12. CROSS DOMAIN TECHNOLOGIES ..................................................................... 60

4. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................................. 61

5. COST CONSIDERATIONS ................................................................................................. 68

APPENDIX A. TERMS OF REFERENCE...................................................................................... 69

APPENDIX B. TASK FORCE MEMBERSHIP............................................................................... 71

APPENDIX C. BRIEFINGS RECEIVED........................................................................................ 72

APPENDIX D. SOME USEFUL CANDIDATE METRICS .............................................................. 75

APPENDIX E. METRICS USED BY INSURGENTS ....................................................................... 89

APPENDIX G. DEFINITIONS .................................................................................................... 97

APPENDIX H. ACRONYMS .................................................................................................... 105

APPENDIX I. BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................. 110

   
TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

FIGURE 1. TOR AND ʺDERIVEDʺ TASKS ................................................................................. 12

FIGURE 2. STUDY CONTEXT ‐ TWO IMPERATIVES .................................................................. 15

FIGURE 3. POSSIBLE ʺCOINʺ CHALLENGES ........................................................................... 16

FIGURE 4. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF MOVING “LEFT OF BANG” .................. 17

FIGURE 5. COIN AND THE CONFLICT SPECTRUM ................................................................. 18

FIGURE 6. DESIRED CHANGE IN ISR TASKING PROCESS ....................................................... 36

FIGURE 7. EFFECTS‐BASED ISR TASKING PROCESS ................................................................ 36

TABLE 1. DEFINITIONS OF COIN ........................................................................................... 21

TABLE 2. DEFINITIONS OF ISR................................................................................................ 22

TABLE 3. SELECTED ISR SOURCES FOR IRREGULAR WARFARE.............................................. 27

TABLE 4. TRADITIONAL WARFARE VS. IRREGULAR WARFARE SURVEILLANCE.................... 28
iv COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: TASKING AND KEY FINDINGS

Why this study was conducted.   This report was conducted at the request of then Under

Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (USD(I)), The Honorable James R. Clapper, and

assigned by the Defense Science Board (DSB) to its Permanent Defense Intelligence Task

Force. This request followed the publication of Major General Michael T. Flynn’s

“blueprint” paper on intelligence support to counterinsurgency (COIN) operations in

Afghanistan. In his paper, MG Flynn provided a candid assessment of intelligence support:

Ignorant of local economics and landowners, hazy about who the powerbrokers are

and how they might be influenced, incurious about the correlations between various

development projects and the levels of cooperation among villagers, and disengaged

from people in the best position to find answers – whether aid workers or Afghan

soldiers – U.S. intelligence officers and analysts can do little but shrug in response to high

level decision‐makers seeking the knowledge...to wage a successful counterinsurgency.1  

MG Flynn’s comments come at a time when Department of Defense (DoD) resource

constraints and challenges are becoming more evident, even as the Department faces a wide

range of prospective COIN operations in the future. As a result, the Department must take

into account what it has learned in recent and current COIN operations, the need to

continue supporting current operations as effectively as possible, and the challenges of

preparing for the future. This report represents an effort to understand the balance that will

be required to meet these challenges, and to plan accordingly.

This study comes at an important moment in the evolution of United States (U.S.) national

security. A Defense Science Board 2004 Summer Study examined the need to put

capabilities in place to prepare – on a Government‐wide basis – for hostilities, as well as the

need to diminish U.S. military involvement in those activities in an orderly and effective

manner.2    The report noted the need for capabilities in “stabilization and reconstruction;

strategic communication; knowledge, understanding and intelligence; and identification,

location, and tracking for asymmetric warfare.”3  The price of not having these capabilities

in place or of not planning to use these capabilities was still unfolding as that study was

written. The enormous cost of not fielding these capabilities is clear today. It’s a price the

U.S. is paying in lives and in national treasure. The 2004 report noted the wide set of

requirements that must be met to address the full life‐cycle of hostilities. This study takes

into account the observations and recommendations of that effort, extending its

recommendations into concepts to enhance the capabilities of the U.S. Government (USG) in

                                                

1 Michael T. Flynn, Matt Pottinger, and Paul D. Batchelor, Fixing Intel:  A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant

in Afghanistan (Washington, DC: Center for a New American Security, January 2010): 7. Emphasis added.

2 Report of the Defense Science Board 2004 Summer Study on Transition to and from Hostilities (Washington, DC:

Defense Science Board, December 2004).

3 Ibid., v. Emphasis added.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY v

general, and the Intelligence Community (IC) in particular, to put in place intelligence

capabilities that support emerging requirements for COIN operations throughout the entire

life‐cycle of those operations, from planning, to exit.

Finally, the pertinence of this report is amplified by the words of Secretary of Defense

Robert Gates, who noted in an address at the United States Military Academy at West Point

that the U.S. Army and the rest of the U.S. Government need capabilities to “prevent

festering problems from growing into full‐blown crises which require costly — and

controversial — large‐scale American military intervention.”4  

As the nation builds a new national security structure that addresses both global challenges

and fiscal realities, these capabilities will be difficult to obtain. This report makes specific

recommendations regarding the ISR approaches and resources needed to gain these COIN

capabilities.

Terms of Reference (TOR). The USD(I)’s TOR for the study (Appendix A) identified five  

tasks:

 What is the developing role of DoD intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance

(ISR) in COIN operations; who are the customers and what are the requirements?

 What is the recommended allocation and use of DoD ISR resources to sustain COIN

capability along with other competing intelligence requirements, for example,

counterterrorism?

 What changes can be made to the ISR process to improve support to COIN?

 What can be done in the immediate future to improve network agility and

information sharing across the broad spectrum of mission partners conducting

COIN and during the promotion of regional stability?

 What emerging methodologies and technologies, combinations of sensors, and

investments in information fusion and analysis are likely to provide the highest

payoff?

Study Methodology. Over the last six months the Task Force conducted a comprehensive

literature review on issues relevant to the TOR, and met with more than 100 senior‐  and

mid‐level officials and representatives from across the DoD Components, the IC, industry,

academia, and the non‐profit community. These experts in COIN, irregular warfare, and ISR

included serving and retired military officers from four‐star generals to non‐commissioned

officers, field commanders, and senior civilian leaders and policymakers. The Task Force

also engaged intelligence collection and analysis experts, physical scientists, engineers,

                                                

4 Robert Gates, Speech to the United States Military Academy, West Point, NY (Washington, DC: Office of the

Assistance Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Press Release, February 25, 2011).
vi COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

social scientists, and a variety of leading think tank scholars. A complete listing of briefings

received by the Task Force can be found in Appendix C.

Key Findings. Underlying this study’s key findings is the multi‐phase COIN challenge: the

need to continue supporting COIN operations in Afghanistan; simultaneously preparing for

emerging and urgent COIN scenarios that will have to be met using existing resources; and

building a capability to deal with long‐term COIN scenarios using new Concept of

Operations (CONOPS) and resources. Key findings are presented in summary below, and in

detail in Section 4, which also provides recommendations.

1. DoD lacks a common understanding of COIN.

The lack of a single authoritative definition of COIN is impeding a common understanding

and unified approach to COIN operations within the DoD and across the USG.

Accompanying this lack of definition is a multiplicity of COIN CONOPS.

2. DoD assumed responsibility for COIN ISR by default.   

Despite a national strategy and civil‐military campaign plan that calls for a whole‐of‐

government, population‐centric approach to COIN, the USG is not employing all elements

of national power in the planning and conduct of COIN operations. DoD assumed

responsibility for virtually all COIN intelligence requirements by default. Indeed, apart

from being a signatory to the 2009 U.S. Government Counterinsurgency Guide, the Department

of State has shown little evident interest in building or supporting the partnership described

by the Guide.

5  This lack of partnership impedes progress toward a wider approach to COIN.  

3. DoD and IC officials tend to focus narrowly on airborne technical collection

capabilities and systems rather than on the wider capabilities needed to support COIN.  

This observation is supported by the fact that technical collection platforms command larger

portions of the budget and produce more immediate effects rather than longer term,

foundational information for population‐centric operations. The Task Force notes that

discussions with DoD senior officials regarding ISR for COIN turned frequently to the

subject of technical collection systems and capabilities while excluding other collection

sources (e.g. Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), Human Intelligence (HUMINT)) and

processing, exploitation, and dissemination (PED) issues. The Defense Science Board’s

Summer Study of 2010 noted that in 2009 DoD represented 62 percent of the requirements

for OSINT, but provided only 3 percent of OSINT funding.6  The lack of attention to OSINT

is buttressed by the report’s finding that in 2009 DoD had only 14 percent of the IC’s OSINT

manpower, and funded that proportion largely through Defense budget supplementals.7  

                                                

5 United States Government Counterinsurgency Guide (Washington, DC: USG, January 2009).

6 Report of the Defense Science Board 2010 Summer Study on Enhancing Adaptability of U.S. Military Forces

(Washington, DC: Defense Science Board, January 2011): 66.

7 Ibid.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY vii

Overall, these problems tend to exclude valuable sources of social and behavioral science

data, including human geography.   

4. ISR capabilities have not been applied effectively against COIN operations that deal

with populations in part because a comprehensive set of intelligence requirements for

COIN does not exist.

The defense intelligence community has not translated those aspects of commander’s intent

dealing with COIN into intelligence requirements, though the United States Government

Integrated Civilian‐Military Campaign Plan for Support to Afghanistan describes in detail the

need to focus on population security, governance, and economic development.8    The

reasons for this apparent reluctance to engage on this issue are varied, but one key reason is

that intelligence agencies, at least those in the Washington, D.C. area, tend to be reactive,

waiting for questions to be asked, rather than trying to anticipate them. This approach may

be too conservative in a period of rapid social change, promoted by instant communications.

5. The USG is not investing adequately in the development of social and behavioral

science information that is critically important for COIN.

Many, if not most, specific COIN ISR requirements are population‐centric and are not

exclusively solvable with hardware or hard, physical science scientific and technical (S&T)

solutions. One senior intelligence officer with years of field experience pointed out that 80

percent of useful operational data for COIN does not come from legacy intelligence

disciplines. Good intelligence on COIN exists outside the traditional intelligence

organizations. Anthropological, socio‐cultural, historical, human geographical, educational,

public health, and many other types of social and behavioral science data and information

are needed to develop a deep understanding of populations. Such data, collected and

analyzed using the scientific method, is vital to COIN success.

6. ISR support for COIN is currently overshadowed by counterterrorism (CT) and force

protection requirements.

In real terms, ISR support of COIN is not as high a priority for the Combatant Commands,

Military Departments, and Defense Agencies as CT and force protection, thus adversely

impacting the effectiveness of COIN operations. COIN is not necessarily an alternative to

CT; some ISR requirements are common to both kinds of operations, but COIN, particularly

population‐centric COIN, requires some ISR of its own.

7. COIN ISR has not been addressed early in the conflict spectrum and has not

sufficiently included a whole‐of‐government approach. The lack of focus on incipient

insurgencies limits options and increases risk of unrecoverable COIN problems, despite

the commitment of major military forces.

                                                

8 United States Government Integrated Civilian‐Military Campaign Plan for Support to Afghanistan (Kabul,

Afghanistan: United States Embassy – Kabul/USFOR, August 2009).
viii COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

Insurgency has been the most prevalent form of armed conflict since at least 1949.

Despite that fact, following the Vietnam War and through the balance of the Cold

War, the U.S. military establishment turned its back on insurgency, refusing to

consider operations against insurgents as anything other than a “lesser‐included

case” for forces structured for and prepared to fight two major theater wars.9

Historical studies of insurgencies over the years highlight the fact that insurgencies are

more likely if a state cannot provide fundamental services and if the population believes

they are at risk. In addition, other factors, such as the quality of leadership in a particular

country and that country’s political culture can be important factors in whether or not an

insurgency develops. The Task Force does not propose that any specific combination of

factors will result in an insurgency. Nonetheless, recent history can be instructive.

Colombia, for example, has been gripped by a tenacious insurgency, even as the drug trade

has imperiled that government’s ability to govern effectively. Colombia’s strong political

leadership, however, has made effective use of U.S. security and development assistance, as

well as the political and diplomatic support of U.S. leaders. As a result, the U.S. has not been

compelled to commit substantial U.S. forces to combat an insurgency and defend the

sovereign prerogatives of Colombia’s government. In contrast, the years leading up to 9/11

witnessed little U.S. government involvement in Afghanistan. As a result, U.S. information

sources in Afghanistan were limited, which constrained U.S. potential to help shape in

Afghanistan a situation less dangerous to U.S. interests. The events of 9/11 left the U.S. with

few options in Afghanistan; combat a regime that allowed terrorists to attack us, or live with

a dangerous status quo. The Task Force therefore judges that early intervention prior to an

insurgency taking hold would give the U.S. more options and reduce the likelihood of major

combat intervention.10

In light of this record, it is the view of the Task Force that irregular warfare and insurgencies

will continue to be an enduring challenge to regional stability and U.S. national security

interests. Emerging and enduring COIN issues need attention now. Addressing potential

insurgencies in their incipient phase (i.e., “left of bang”) will provide policymakers and

commanders more whole‐of‐government options and a better prospect for deterring or

preventing the need for combat operations. Building a collection and analytic effort “left of

bang” also provides the means for sustained, consistent, and more effective ISR support

should an insurgency become active. This makes necessary a more focused approach to

COIN intelligence support, including a National Intelligence Manager (NIM) for COIN,

intelligence requirements directed specifically to COIN (including population‐centric

knowledge), and a strategic indications and warning (I&W) model to enable early

                                                

9 Christopher Paul, Colin P. Clarke, and Beth Grill, Victory Has a Thousand Fathers: Sources of Success in

Counterinsurgency (Santa Monica, CA: The RAND Corporation, 2010): xiii.

10 The Task Force reviewed 53 case studies of insurgencies.  In every case the actions taken were reactive and

occurred after the insurgency had taken hold. See Kalev I. Sepp, “Best Practices in Counterinsurgency,” Military

Review (May‐June 2005): 8‐12.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ix

implementation of whole‐of‐government options. Some I&W indicators are probably

already available.  

a. Effective COIN, and intelligence for COIN, must reflect a whole‐of‐government effort

and whole‐of‐government capabilities.

As noted in the 2004 DSB Summer Study, the U.S. requires the means to transition into an

out of hostilities. Nowhere is this need more salient than for COIN. Addressing the entire

life‐cycle of COIN requires knowledge management capabilities that serve a wide variety of

U.S. Government departments and agencies (DoD, Department of State, the Intelligence

Community, etc.)    A NIM for COIN would be able to facilitate efficient and effective

intelligence support to COIN enabling a knowledge management capability that supports

whole‐of‐government efforts and which would encourage use of a broader range of

information sources that go beyond legacy intelligence collection.

8. The deluge of sensor data is creating a crisis in processing, exploitation, and

dissemination (PED) and associated communication, as well as an increasing need for

advanced analysis that addresses behavior of groups and the cultural framework of group

decisions.  

The insatiable demand for information and emphasis on collection is producing a deluge of

data, overwhelming the ability to provide useful, actionable intelligence in a timely manner.

This crisis in PED is exacerbated by planned and programmed collection assets and

demands new S&T solutions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of ISR support for

COIN.    

Moreover, there is a need to develop and train people to do Advanced Analysis – and this

must be done much earlier in the careers of the best analysts. This level of analysis is needed

at the very front end of any future conflict, not several years down the road. Training for

Advanced Analysis would start at the very beginning of an analyst’s career and continue

throughout his/her career. It includes language, deep cultural awareness, and select forms of

environmental training which encourages and supports analysis on the health of a region.

Analysts need to make progress to understand the culture first hand and they need to return

to critical assignments within their intelligence agency. More and more, the analysts will

need to be placed in the field in order to be best postured for intelligence operations and

conflicts as they arise.  

9. New and emerging technologies and techniques can be employed to improve

understanding of COIN environments.

Technologies are emerging to improve understanding of the physical attributes (mineral

resources, climates, geographies, including cultural geography), as well as those pertinent to

identifying pattern of life activities of groups and individuals. Technologies can relate these

attributes to incipient and real insurgencies. New analytic technologies hold the promise of

“scaling up” the ability to filter raw data, identify meaning patterns of activity, and present

analysts with material useful to understanding COIN situations, thus allowing analysts to

perform real analysis, rather than exhaust themselves culling raw data. Technology can also
x COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

be employed to understand what is “normal” in a particular environment, helping to spot

trends that represent anomalies that may portend long‐term changes and the rise of

instability.
1. INTRODUCTION, TASKING, AND STUDY STRUCTURE 11

1. INTRODUCTION, TASKING, AND STUDY STRUCTURE

This report conveys the findings and recommendations of the Permanent Defense

Intelligence Task Force (Task Force or TF) of the Defense Science Board relative to ISR in

support of COIN operations. This report is submitted in response to the Terms of Reference

of March 8, 2010, provided by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence

(OUSD(I)). A copy of the TOR is provided in Appendix A to this report.    

This study comes at an important moment in the evolution of U.S. national security. A study

published by the Defense Science Board in 2004, examined the need to put capabilities in

place to prepare – on a Government‐wide basis – for hostilities, as well as to diminish U.S.

military involvement in those activities in an orderly and effective manner. 11 The 2004

report noted the need for capabilities in “stabilization and reconstruction; strategic

communication; knowledge, understanding and intelligence; and identification, location, and

tracking for asymmetric warfare.”12 The price of not having these capabilities in place, or

planning to use these capabilities was still unfolding as that study was written. The

enormous dimensions of that price are clear today. It’s a price the U.S. is paying in lives and

in national treasure. The 2004 report noted the wide set of requirements that must be met to

address the full life‐cycle of hostilities. This study takes into account the observations and

recommendations of that report, extending its recommendations into concepts to enhance

the capabilities of the USG in general, and the IC in particular, to put in place intelligence

capabilities that support emerging requirements for COIN operations throughout the entire

life‐cycle of those operations, from planning, to exit.

The TOR directed the Task Force to provide findings that can be used to influence ISR

investment decisions as they relate to COIN. Although the TOR emphasized science and

technology given their potentially significant contribution to intelligence support to COIN,

the TOR also directed the Task Force to “assess insurgencies” and “understand a population

in their environment.” The TOR also noted that “host nation civilian sentiment critically

impacts COIN success, indicating anthropological and socio‐cultural factors must also be

addressed.” These factors, and the multi‐dimensional, coalition nature of COIN operations,

have implications for the scope of this Task Forceʹs efforts, a point made clear by the

discussions offered in Sections 3.1.2 (ʺWho are the customers?ʺ) and 3.2.1 (ʺThe diversity of

intelligence mission.ʺ), and elsewhere in Section 3.

The TOR posed five specific questions for the Task Force to address:

1. What is the developing role of DoD ISR in COIN operations; who are the customers,

and what are the requirements?

                                                

11 Report of the Defense Science Board 2004 Summer Study on Transition to and from Hostilities.

12 Ibid., v. Emphasis added.
12 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

2. What is the recommended allocation and use of DoD ISR resources to sustain COIN

capability along with other competing intelligence requirements, for example,

counterterrorism?

3. What changes can be made to the ISR process to improve support to COIN?

4. What can be done in the immediate future to improve network agility and

information sharing across the broad spectrum of mission partners conducting

COIN and during the promotion of regional stability?

5. What emerging methodologies and technologies, combinations of sensors, and

investments in information fusion and analysis are likely to provide the highest

payoff?

With the concurrence of the OUSD(I), the Task Force (members are identified in Appendix B

of this report) chose a broad interpretation of the TOR as reflected in the derived questions

shown in red in Figure 1. As the TF examined the TOR’s five specific tasks, it developed

these derived questions which it believed were necessary adjuncts to the five basic tasks.   

FIGURE 1. TOR AND ʺDERIVEDʺ TASKS

The five specific tasks in the TOR on first glance seemed straight forward.    As the Task

Force began to examine the first task (“What is the developing role of DoD ISR in COIN

ops?”), the Task Force decided to use an “authoritative” definition for each term—ISR and

COIN to establish a clear baseline for what to address in the study.  
1. INTRODUCTION, TASKING, AND STUDY STRUCTURE 13

The Task Force found several inconsistent definitions for the term COIN included in a

variety of authoritative sources, as well as differing CONOPS. These different definitions

allow DoD organizations and IC members to choose the one(s) they like best, causing

confusion and different interpretations among decision‐makers and operators. These

differences are significant when one tries to relate COIN to other military actions; e.g.,

counterterrorism, irregular warfare, and force protection.  

“DoD ISR” also has a number of definitions.   In its simplest form, “DoD ISR” is used by

most DoD and IC members to mean technical collection from manned or unmanned

airborne platforms like the MQ‐9/Reaper, RQ 4/Global Hawk, or MC‐12/Liberty. This view,

when applied to COIN, tends to exclude other traditional sources of intelligence; e.g.,

OSINT and HUMINT. It also ignores and precludes the use of other extremely valuable

sources of data and knowledge from the social sciences that have particular utility for

COIN. These terms, and a description of how the Task Force used them, are addressed in

greater detail in Section 2 of the report.   

The second part of the first task (“...who are the customers and what are the

requirements?”) also raises some very significant issues. A number of different U.S. policy

documents state the need for a whole‐of‐government approach to national security

challenges.13 For example, a number of U.S. policy documents give the Department of State

(DoS) and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) prominent COIN

responsibilities. In the preface to the 2009 U.S. Government Counterinsurgency Guide, signed

by the Secretaries of State and Defense, and the Administrator of the USAID, the Counselor

of the Department of State notes:

Irregular warfare is far more varied than conventional conflict: hence the importance

of an intellectual framework that is coherent enough to provide guidance, and

flexible enough to adapt to circumstances.  Counterinsurgency places great demands

on the ability of bureaucracies to work together, with allies, and increasingly, with

non‐governmental organizations (NGOs). That it is co‐signed by the leaders of the

Departments of State and Defense and the U.S. Agency for International

Development says a great deal about the partnership between these and other

departments that has been, and will be, required if we are to succeed in the future.

Although much of our ability to knit together lines of effort arises from the field,

there is an important role for policy‐relevant thought about first order questions.

This Guide provides that. 14

The Guide’s preface also notes:

                                                

13 See Appendix F for a more detailed explanation of the whole‐of‐government concept from the 2010 National

Security Strategy.

14 United States Government Counterinsurgency Guide.
14 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

American counterinsurgency practice rests on a number of assumptions: that the

decisive effort is rarely military (although security is the essential prerequisite for

success); that our efforts must be directed to the creation of local and national

governmental structures that will serve their populations, and, over time, replace the

efforts of foreign partners; that superior knowledge, and in particular,

understanding of the ‘human terrain’ is essential; and that we must have the

patience to persevere in what will necessarily prove long struggles.15

Despite these words, the absence of the necessary DoS and other resources and capabilities

means that the burden of conducting most COIN operations fell to the DoD by default.

Hence, the DoD acquired a series of new (or at least non‐traditional) ISR requirements for

COIN operations that may or may not match well with their capabilities and Tactics,

Techniques, and Procedures (TTP). As one looks at specific COIN ISR requirements, one can

conclude that many, if not most, are “population‐centric” and are not readily solvable with

hardware or even hard, physical science S&T solutions.

The Task Force discovered that although ISR for COIN in Afghanistan gets considerable lip

service, most senior civilian and military leaders take a fairly constrained view, concluding

that more technical collectors (e.g., Reapers or Predators) will answer the requirements.

Non‐traditional sources of military ISR get very little support in terms of funding,

manpower, or tasking priorities. In Afghanistan, the priority for DoD ISR for COIN is

overshadowed by ISR requirements for CT and force protection.

The Task Force discerned two imperatives for the near‐term and future ISR requirements for

COIN. The conflict in Afghanistan is and should be the top current priority. The TF makes a

number of near‐term recommendations to improve ISR support for COIN/CT operations in

Afghanistan. However, as the U.S. phases down combat operations and moves toward a

2014 withdrawal of most forces from Afghanistan, the TF concluded that in the post‐

Afghanistan environment, COIN will be an enduring issue for the U.S. This second priority,

“emerging COIN challenges,” should be planned for now so that a gradual shift in emphasis

can occur as operations in Afghanistan draw down. The Task Force notes, however, that

several potential COIN scenarios may require U.S. engagement with resources substantially

the same as those in use today. As witnessed in the recent Middle East unrest, these surprise

scenarios may erupt even as the U.S. undertakes the shift shown in Figure 2.   

                                                

15 Ibid.
1. INTRODUCTION, TASKING, AND STUDY STRUCTURE 15

FIGURE 2. STUDY CONTEXT ‐ TWO IMPERATIVES

The TF makes a number of recommendations with respect to these “emerging COIN

challenges,” even as the U.S. may have to deal with more urgent COIN scenarios. The Task

Force believes now is the time to consider how to address COIN intelligence requirements

for the future. As the U.S. Government Counterinsurgency Guide’s preface notes: “Whether the

United States should engage in any particular counterinsurgency is a matter of political

choice, but that it will engage in such conflicts during the decades to come is a near

certainty.16

ISR for COIN may differ from country to country, but there are some generic basic ISR

requirements (that underlie the Task Force’s findings and recommendations) that can be

identified and then modified to suit a specific country depending on current strategic

requirements. The Task Force identified, as illustrated in Figure 3, a representative list of

countries that currently pose a potential COIN challenge. Some of these countries may

represent an emerging COIN challenge, while others may become more urgent. It should be

emphasized that this list is provided for illustrative purposes and does not necessarily

represent any assessment by the DoD or the IC regarding emerging COIN situations, nor is

the list in priority order. Setting the actual priorities would be a very dynamic process based

on current national security objectives.   

                                                

16 Ibid., v.
16 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

FIGURE 3. POSSIBLE ʺCOINʺ CHALLENGES

The Task Force observed that economic crises, climate change, demographic pressures,

resource scarcity, or poor governance could cause these states (or others) to fail or become

so weak that they become targets for aggressors/insurgents. The Task Force believes that a

government’s loss of its ability to exercise sovereign prerogatives in important regions,

including border areas, allowing an insurgency to gain “critical mass,” may represent an

important COIN predictor. Instability can assume regional dimensions – rapidly.

Information, global information infrastructure, and social media can amplify the speed,

intensity, and momentum of events that challenge regime stability. The threat of the

proliferation of weapons of mass effects in the hands of more nations and non‐state actors

further complicates the matter. Such areas could become sanctuaries from which to launch

attacks on the U.S. homeland, recruit personnel, and finance, train, and supply operations.   

Therefore, in addition to S&T, the TF chose to examine the contributions that social sciences

(including anthropology and sociology) can make to ensuring effective ISR support to

COIN, as well as the investments that might be made in human resources/professional

development. The Task Force’s considerations were influenced as well by discussions that

illustrated differences among the current COIN operations (Afghanistan and Iraq), and past

and prospective COIN operations such as in Vietnam, the Horn of Africa, Lebanon, or

Mexico.   

The Task Force concluded that if U.S. policy is to deter and prevent COIN situations from

becoming major conflicts more emphasis should be placed “left of bang” (before the need to
1. INTRODUCTION, TASKING, AND STUDY STRUCTURE 17

make a major commitment of combat troops) and while the insurgency is still in its incipient

phase. As the 2011 National Military Strategy of the United States of America notes: “Preventing

wars is as important as winning them, and far less costly.” 17 There are many reasons to

consider this shift to “left of bang.” Figure 4 summarizes the key advantages and

disadvantages of making this shift.

FIGURE 4. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF MOVING “LEFT OF BANG”

Should the U.S. move to a “left of bang” approach to COIN, useful indicators to help predict

insurgency scenarios and deal with them early are needed, thus making indications and

warnings (I&W) indicators an important component of future COIN planning and

operations (see Figure 5). It is important to note that it is possible to have simultaneous

operations (e.g., COIN, CT, conventional, etc.) depending on the definition(s) chosen.   

                                                

17 The National Military Strategy of the United States of America: Redefining America’s Military Leadership

(Washington, DC: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 8 February 2011): 7.   
18 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

FIGURE 5. COIN AND THE CONFLICT SPECTRUM

During the Cold War, the U.S. was able to develop a strategic I&W model that was well‐

understood. It produced clearly defined intelligence requirements intended to prevent a

surprise nuclear attack. It drove ISR physical technologies, collection methods, and analysis;

it yielded key “indicators” (principally military in nature); and it required “activity norms”

to discover significant changes.   

It is the Task Force’s belief that a similar strategic I&W model can be designed for COIN.

This model would need new and different ISR requirements; a clear understanding of the

environment critical to determining causes/origins of problem(s); and the addition of social

sciences to the physical sciences. Key indicators will most likely be non‐military such as

political, economic, social, and loss of government sovereign prerogatives in key regions.

Such an approach would require a whole‐of‐government plan to determine requirements,

collection, analytical, and dissemination priorities.  

While a population‐centric approach to Afghanistan appears well‐suited to the village‐

based nature of Afghan society, a different approach may be required to counter

insurgencies that draw their strength from drug cartels or other motivating forces.

Nonetheless, recent COIN thinking has been influenced greatly by the population‐centric

view of COIN, one that emphasizes social, political, and cultural context as much as detailed

information about the adversary. As MG Flynn notes, “...tendency to overemphasize detailed

information about the enemy at the expense of the political, economic, and cultural environment...”18

                                                

18 Flynn, et al., Fixing Intel, 7.
1. INTRODUCTION, TASKING, AND STUDY STRUCTURE 19

This view of current COIN doctrine appears to exert more or less influence on military

leaders, depending on their orientation and experience. While this Task Force does not

express an opinion on COIN doctrine and concepts of operations, it views the social sciences

as important to understanding target populations, the role of insurgencies within and

connected to these populations, and the need to separate the interests of target populations

from those of insurgencies. The Task Force also notes that post‐World War II scientific

research included work in the development of organizational design and dynamics and

systems analysis as ways to approach results driven military operations and the efficient

allocation of resources to achieve results.   

In general, the Task Force views U.S. counterinsurgency as an effort to deny success to

insurgent movements who would use the territory they control to endanger the safety of the

United States and its allies. As a result, the scope of the Task Force’s consideration included

the wide range of potential COIN scenarios and operations; a wide variety of science,

technology, and other resources; and a view that science includes the use of the scientific

method of hypothesis generation, data collection, and analysis associated with the social

sciences. Any “left of bang” approach to COIN will require the use of social sciences in ISR,

in addition to the application of the physical sciences.
20 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

2. DEFINING COIN AND ISR

The Task Force reviewed current policy, doctrine, strategy, and plans that establish the

vision, objectives, guidelines, and responsibilities within the USG and the DoD for COIN;

other aspects of irregular warfare including CT, unconventional warfare (UW), foreign

internal defense (FID), and stability operations (SO); as well as ISR. The purpose of the

review was to establish a clear baseline for this study.

In reviewing these authoritative sources, the Task Force found that there is substantial

policy guidance on key aspects of COIN and ISR as well as numerous, and inconsistent

definitions of the key terms associated with this study. Examples of these discrepancies are

displayed in Tables 1 and 2.   
2. DEFINING COIN AND ISR 21

Counterinsurgency (COIN)

Definition Source

1 ‐ The blend of comprehensive civilian and military efforts designed to

simultaneously contain insurgency and address its root causes. Unlike

conventional warfare, non‐military means are often the most effective

elements, with military forces playing an enabling role.

U.S. Government Interagency COIN

Guide (Jan 2009)

2 ‐ Those military, paramilitary, political, economic, psychological, and civic

actions taken by a government to defeat insurgency.

Joint Publication (JP) 1‐02

Department of Defense Dictionary of

Military and Associated Terms (April

2001, amended 2010)

3 ‐ Comprehensive civilian and military efforts taken to defeat an insurgency

and to address any core grievances. JP 3‐24  COIN Operations (Oct 2009)

4 ‐ A counterinsurgency campaign is a mix of offensive, defensive, and

stability operations conducted along multiple lines of operations.

Army Field Manual (FM) 3‐ 24

Counterinsurgency (Dec 2006)

5 ‐ COIN operations include supporting a Host Nation’s military,

paramilitary, political, economic, psychological, and civic actions taken to

defeat an insurgency. Avoiding the creation of new insurgents and forcing

existing insurgents to end their participation is vital to defeating an

insurgency. COIN operations often include security assistance programs

such as foreign military sales programs, the foreign military financing

program, and international military training and education programs.

Seven key COIN Lines of Effort:  

1) Establish civil security  

2) Establish civil control  

3) Support HN security forces  

4) Support to governance  

5) Restore essential services

6) Support to economic and infrastructure development  

7) Conduct information engagement

FMI 3‐ 24.2 Tactics in COIN (March

2009)

6 ‐ Support to COIN is defined as support provided to a government in the

military, paramilitary, political, economic, psychological, and civic action it

undertakes to defeat insurgency (JP 1‐02). Implicit in this definition is a

legitimate partner nation (PN) government in power with some capacity to

direct and conduct COIN operations. Support to COIN can include indirect

support, direct support (not involving combat) and direct support (involving

combat).

Air Force Doctrine Document (AFDD)

2‐3 Irregular Warfare (August 2007)

7 ‐ The set of political, economic, social, military, law enforcement, civil and

psychological activities with the aim to defeat insurgency and address any

core grievances.  

Bi‐SC Joint Operations Guidelines

(JOG) 10/01 (NATO) (May 2010)

8 ‐ Attributes of COIN:  

• Political primacy (and a clearly‐defined political objective)

• It is a struggle for the population, not against the population

• The relevance of legitimacy

• Intelligence drives operations

• Unity of effort (the requirement of a coordinated government structure)

• Neutralize the insurgency and isolate the insurgents from their support

• Prepare for a protracted campaign

• Security under the rule of law is essential

• Hand over responsibility to the local forces as soon as practicable

• Learn and adapt quickly

Allied Joint Doctrine (AJP) 3.4.4 Joint

Doctrine for COIN (NATO pub on

COIN) (Nov 2008)

TABLE 1. DEFINITIONS OF COIN

 
22 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR)

Definition Source

1 ‐ An activity that synchronizes and integrates the planning and

operation of sensors, assets, and processing, exploitation, and

dissemination systems in direct support of current and future operations.

This is an integrated intelligence and operations function.

JP 1‐02 Dictionary of Military and

Associated Terms (April 2001,

amended 2010 )

2 ‐ Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance is an activity that

synchronizes and integrates the planning and operation of sensors,

assets, and processing, exploitation, and dissemination of systems in

direct support of current and future operations. This is an integrated

intelligence and operations function. For Army forces, this combined arms

operation focuses on priority intelligence requirements while answering

the commander’s critical information requirements. (JP 2‐01 contains ISR

doctrine.) Through ISR, commanders and staffs continuously plan, task,

and employ collection assets and forces. These collect, process, and

disseminate timely and accurate information, combat information, and

intelligence to satisfy the commander’s critical information requirements

(CCIR) and other intelligence requirements. When necessary, ISR assets

may focus on special requirements, such as information required for

personnel recovery operations. It supports full spectrum operations

through four tasks:  ISR synchronization, ISR integration, Surveillance,  

Reconnaissance.

FM 3‐0 Operations (Feb 2008)

3 ‐ The purpose of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR)

operations during a COIN is to develop the intelligence needed to address

the issues driving the insurgency. Several factors are particularly

important for ISR operations in COIN environments. These include the

following: a focus on the local populace; collection occurring at all

echelons; localized nature of insurgencies.

FM 3‐24 Counterinsurgency (Dec

2006)

4 ‐ The goal of ISR operations is to provide accurate, relevant, and timely

intelligence to decision makers. The Air Force best achieves this goal

through effective employment of ISR capabilities, and by capitalizing on

the interoperability existing among our ISR systems, as well as non‐

traditional sources, to create synergy through integration.

AFDD 2‐9 ISR (Jul 2007)

5 ‐ Surveillance and reconnaissance refer to the means by which the

information is observed. Surveillance is “systematic” observation to

collect whatever data is available, while reconnaissance is a specific

mission performed to obtain specific data.

Military Transformation:

Intelligence Surveillance, and

Reconnaissance (Jan 2003)

TABLE 2. DEFINITIONS OF ISR

As indicated previously, different definitions of terms and associated interpretations of their

meaning allow the DoD components, including the intelligence components of the military

departments and combatant commands and the combat support agencies that are part of the

IC, to choose the one(s) they prefer. This, in turn, produces a lack of clarity and causes

confusion about what is meant by both COIN and ISR.

Some defense officials, for example, neither differentiate COIN from other irregular warfare

operations such as CT nor distinguish it from traditional kinetic military operations. While

irregular warfare can be conducted independently or in combination with traditional

warfare (see Figure 5), COIN is part of a spectrum of irregular warfare activities and
2. DEFINING COIN AND ISR 23

operations including CT, UW, FID, and SO. However, real distinctions exist among

traditional warfare and irregular warfare and the failure to understand the differences

between COIN, CT, force protection, and conventional strike operations has adverse

consequences for the execution of U.S. national security policy and strategy. This failure has

a deleterious effect on the DoD and IC’s understanding of the intelligence requirements for

effective support of U.S., multinational, and coalition COIN operations.

The Task Force discovered a similar lack of clarity and confusion within and between DoD

components and the IC about the term “ISR.”   The aggregation of ISR is itself somewhat

confusing since it equates the importance of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

In fact, intelligence is the objective of ISR, and surveillance and reconnaissance are carried

out to contribute to that objective.

Moreover (and as noted previously), the Task Force found that some equate “Defense ISR”

with technical collection in general and manned and unmanned aircraft in particular. Such

misinterpretation unnecessarily constrains the view of policymakers, planners, and

warfighters to a relatively narrow set of technical collection platforms rather than the broad

array of assets resourced by the Military Intelligence Program (MIP), much less the overall

capabilities and capacity of the nation’s intelligence enterprise.

ISR for COIN (and ISR in general) includes all intelligence disciplines, all sources of

information, and all aspects of the process of collecting data and turning it into

operationally useful intelligence upon which to establish context, create knowledge, and

inform decisions and actions. It encompasses planning and direction of intelligence, mission

and collection management, tasking, human and technical collection, processing,

exploitation, production, and dissemination. Moreover, with respect to OSINT it includes

non‐traditional sources of political, socio‐cultural, behavioral, economic, and other social

science information found in the public and private sectors.

For the purposes of this study, the Task Force used the definitions found in Joint Publication

(JP)1‐02, Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms:

19

 Irregular Warfare (IW): “A violent struggle among state and non‐state actors for

legitimacy and influence over the relevant population(s). Irregular warfare favors

indirect and asymmetric approaches, though it may employ the full range of military

and other capacities, in order to erode an adversaryʹs power, influence, and will.”

(246)

 Insurgency: “The organized use of subversion or violence by a group or

movement that seeks to overthrow or force change of a governing authority.

Insurgency can also refer to the group itself.” (233)

                                                

19 JP 1‐02 Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms (Washington, DC: The Joint Staff, April

2010).
24 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

 Counterinsurgency (COIN): “Comprehensive civilian and military efforts taken

to defeat an insurgency and to address any core grievances.” (111)

 Counterterrorism (CT): “Actions taken directly against terrorist networks and

indirectly to influence and render global and regional environments inhospitable to

terrorist networks.” (113)

 Intelligence: “The product resulting from the collection, processing, integration,

evaluation, analysis, and interpretation of available information concerning foreign

nations, hostile or potentially hostile forces or elements, or areas of actual or

potential operations. The term is also applied to the activity which results in the

product and to the organizations engaged in such activity.” (234)

 Surveillance: “The systematic observation of aerospace, surface, or subsurface

areas, places, persons, or things by visual, aural, electronic, photographic, or other

means.” (456)

 Reconnaissance: “A mission undertaken to obtain, by visual observation or other

detection methods, information about the activities and resources of an enemy or

adversary, or to secure data concerning the meteorological, hydrographic, or

geographic characteristics of a particular area.” (393)

 ISR: “An activity that synchronizes and integrates the planning and operation of

sensors, assets, and processing, exploitation, and dissemination systems in direct

support of current and future operations. This is an integrated intelligence and

operations function.” ( 237)

In summary, influencing foreign governments and populations is a complex and inherently

political activity. The military role in irregular warfare campaigns in general, and COIN in

particular requires the ability to plan, conduct, and sustain integrated operations of

interagency and multinational civilian and military organizations to support a foreign

government or population threatened by irregular adversaries. In other words, it requires

the whole‐of‐government approach described by the Secretaries of State and Defense in the

U.S. Government Counterinsurgency Guide. While U.S. forces are superbly trained in the

traditional aspects of violent combat, these irregular warfare and COIN campaigns may fail

if waged by military means alone. Given that it is USG policy to deter and counter

insurgencies, then the defense intelligence community should place more emphasis on “left

of bang” – before the need for a large commitment of U.S. combat troops – while an

insurgency is still in an incipient stage of development, and that the whole‐of‐government

approach should be given the capabilities necessary to succeed. ISR should be crafted and

resourced to support this approach.
3. TOR TASKS 25

3. TOR TASKS

3.1. TOR TASK 1:  WHAT IS THE DEVELOPING ROLE OF DOD ISR IN COIN

OPERATIONS; WHO ARE THE CUSTOMERS AND WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS?

A key objective of the Task Force was to examine the developing role of defense intelligence

in COIN operations, and to identify the customers and requirements for COIN.   

The Task Force recognizes that the global security environment is complex, uncertain, and

dangerous. Threats to the United States, its allies, and regional stability may arise from

weak or failing states as well as failed states and ungoverned areas. Poor governance,

resource scarcity, economic crises, and even climate change could exacerbate such

instability. Non‐state adversaries will, of course, seek to exploit such circumstances for their

own ends. Throughout history this has always been the case. Indeed, the majority of

conflicts involved a state fighting a non‐state actor.20 As recent and ongoing conflicts in

Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan demonstrate, adversaries may choose to employ both

traditional and irregular modes of warfare concurrently to achieve their political objectives.

The DoD in general and the defense intelligence community in particular, must recognize

that irregular warfare is strategically important in an era of hybrid or multi‐modal armed

conflict. Consequently, the Task Force notes that in accordance with DoD Directive 3000.07,

Irregular Warfare, it is DoD policy to maintain capabilities and capacity so that the

Department is as effective in irregular warfare as it is in traditional warfare to ensure that,

when directed, it can:  

1. Identify and prevent or defeat irregular threats from state and non‐state actors

across operational areas and environments.    

2. Extend U.S. reach into denied areas and uncertain environments by operating with

and through indigenous foreign forces.  

3. Train, advise, and assist foreign security forces and partners at the ministerial,

service, and tactical levels to ensure security in their sovereign territory or to

contribute forces to operations elsewhere.  

4. Through direct or indirect means, and on a large scale when required, support a

foreign government or population threatened by irregular adversaries.     

5. Create a safe, secure environment in fragile states and, if required, provide

essential governmental services, emergency infrastructure restoration, and

humanitarian relief. 21

                                                

20 Sebastian L.v. Gorka and David Kilcullen, “An Actor‐centric Theory of War: Understanding the Difference

Between COIN and Counterinsurgency,” Joint Force Quarterly No. 60 (Winter 2011): 17.

21 Department of Defense Directive 3000.07: Irregular Warfare (Washington, DC: Department of Defense, 1 December

2008): 2.
26 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

The USD(I) is assigned responsibility to:  

a. Maintain standards and guide the development of capabilities and capacity for

persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and assessment of

operational areas and environments that may serve as safe havens for irregular

threats.

b. Advance intelligence and information partnerships with interagency and

international partners, as appropriate, to identify and prevent or defeat irregular

threats from state and non‐state actors across operational areas and environments.

c. In accordance with strategic guidance documents, improve all‐source collection to

identify irregular threats from state and non‐state actors. Ensure timely information

dissemination from the strategic to the tactical level, recognizing that irregular

warfare places particular reliance on releasable products to facilitate working with

foreign security partners.

d. Manage the development of appropriate analytical intelligence models, tools, and

data to provide intelligence support to U.S. Armed Forces for irregular warfare.

e. Incorporate into intelligence products information derived from social and

behavioral science sources in the public and private sectors.

f. Project activity patterns on a regional and global scale for analyzing both friendly

and adversary human networks through modeling and simulation capabilities.

g. In conjunction with the CCDRs, prioritize capabilities to identify, locate, track,

and target adversary networks, cells, and individuals in order to neutralize their

influence and operational capacity.

h. Promote intelligence and counterintelligence career paths that attract and retain

the quantity and quality of personnel with irregular warfare‐relevant skills, in

coordination with the Secretaries of the Military Departments and the Under

Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD(P&R)). 22

There is a substantial gap between the policy guidance and its implementation. This report

examines those reasons, including the exigencies of ongoing combat operations.

3.1.1. DEVELOPING ROLE OF DOD ISR IN COIN OPERATIONS

Since the end of the Cold War, the focus of the defense intelligence community has changed

to address new threats to U.S. national interests. In addition to the large formations of

relatively static targets comprising the armed forces and supporting infrastructure of an

adversarial state, the defense intelligence community must now focus on small, dispersed

targets that characterize such non‐state actors as terrorist and insurgent networks. It may

                                                

22 Ibid., 6.
3. TOR TASKS 27

also need to support whole‐of‐government COIN strategies, as well as support the efforts of

allies with which the U.S. may desire to work with in meeting COIN challenges around the

world. Section 3.4.1 notes that networks of allies and NGOs are often incompatible with U.S.

systems, thus hindering operations that require resources beyond those of the U.S.

government.  

These threats and needs do not have a common doctrine or CONOPS. They have neither big

signatures to observe nor enduring signals to intercept. They conceal themselves within the

local population and utilize global communications, finance, and telecommunications

infrastructures to help command, control, and execute their operations. These threats are

hidden, masked, and fleeting. Moreover, counteracting these threats and denying them the

ability to achieve their political‐military objectives requires new and different types and

combinations of intelligence/information.

Addressing these new threats thus requires intelligence/information not only from

traditional intelligence sources and methods, but also from all echelons of warfighters as

well as non‐traditional sources. There is no dominant or single intelligence discipline or

source of information to solve the challenges posed by COIN operations. Indeed, all‐source

and multi‐INT intelligence is essential for achieving the persistent, predictive, activity‐based

ISR required to successfully counter an insurgency as shown in Table 3.

Selected ISR Sources for IW

COMINT GMTI

ELINT Thermal Analysis

FISINT Cyber Activity

EO IMINT (e.g., PAN, MSI, FMV) HUMINT Interrogation

RADAR IMINT Source Operations

RF MASINT Debriefings

EO MASINT Biometrics

RADAR MASINT Human Geography / Terrain Analysis

Geophysical MASINT Document Exploitation (DOCEX)

Post event forensics Debriefings

Human/Cultural Geography Social Group/Network Dynamics

TABLE 3. SELECTED ISR SOURCES FOR IRREGULAR WARFARE

Unlike traditional ISR, where the focus typically is on the location of an anticipated activity,

ISR for irregular warfare must focus on discovering the unknown activity of an adversary,

characterizing it, and exploiting it. For support of COIN operations it also requires a clear

and sustained focus on population‐centric activities such as governance, development, and

local population – sometimes before the start of hostilities. This demands a thorough

understanding of historical, socio‐cultural, economic, educational, and environmental

aspects of the area of operations in addition to political and military factors and trends. This

in turn requires more basic or fundamental intelligence as well as associated social,
28 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

behavioral, and political sciences information from sources in the public and private sectors.

Table 4 compares and contrasts other aspects of ISR for traditional versus irregular warfare.

Traditional Warfare vs. Irregular Warfare Surveillance

Traditional Warfare Concepts Irregular Warfare Paradigm

War Time Horizon Relatively Short Decisive Battles Long War

Persistent ISR Unblinking Eye Smart collection management based on

the frequency of change

Persistent Surveillance Single Sensor 24/7, IMINT PED

Activity Surveillance, multi‐INT PED,

Exploitation and collection no longer

temporally synchronized

Geo‐registration Discovery to geo‐register Geo‐register to discover

Collection Focus Target driven Activities and transactions driven

Intent of collection   Find remained pieces to a puzzle Understand mysteries; Unravel

networks

Collection Period Minutes / hours Weeks / months

PED philosophy IMINT Multi‐INT

Exploitation Process 1

st

, 2

nd, 3rd phase exploitation Time phased, layered approach, Real‐

time and forensics  

PED Products IPB / BDA / Over‐watch PED may not yield a finished intelligence

product

Targets Military Order of Battle People and networks

Target Signatures Soviet style military signatures

Non‐conventional signatures such as

organizational structure,

communications, movement

Target Identifier BE Number Proper Name

Data Tagging Stovepiped within INT Metadata tagged to link sensor to

activity to geo‐reference to action

Sensor utilization Not integrated Fully integrated

Doctrine and TTPs Well Established New concepts, learning while doing

Training Single INT specialization   Multi‐INT Ops‐Intel specialization

Information sharing Need to know Need to share / multi‐INT synergy  

TABLE 4. TRADITIONAL WARFARE VS. IRREGULAR WARFARE SURVEILLANCE

As noted above, there are major gaps in ISR capabilities and capacities for COIN operations,

particularly in population‐focused collection and analysis. Moreover, there is an absence of

analytical capability that adheres to methodologies of modern social science and

psychological research techniques and assessment tools. The absence of this expertise in the

field denies analysts, planners, and operators an important “what if” tool for assessing the

consequences of plans.

To that end, the Task Force focused on how ISR can support those aspects of COIN, as

defined in the broadest sense. The Task Force appreciates the pitfalls of considering the

application of DoD ISR capabilities that go beyond traditional military operations, but there
3. TOR TASKS 29

is an implicit need to apply some ISR capabilities against aspects of COIN that are primarily

civilian in nature. If winning over the local populace is the goal, then the U.S. must employ

ISR capabilities in a population‐centric manner without, however, precluding ISR’s inherent

value in dealing with insurgents through kinetic means.  

In particular, a key developing role of Defense ISR in COIN and other irregular warfare‐

related network operations is to provide activity‐based intelligence (ABI). ABI is cross‐

discipline and multi‐INT and is applicable both to physical and non‐physical activities and

transactions, including socio‐cultural beliefs and behaviors, financial transactions, open‐

source information, and cyber activities. It lends itself to understanding “patterns of life,”

larger social networks, and unusual or suspicious activity.   

The blending of ABI with wide area surveillance, human geography, and other capabilities

appears to be a particularly promising path for DoD ISR to support COIN operations. Such

a blend will help support:

 Detection, geolocation, and characterization of transactions/activities;

 Identification and geolocation of the entities conducting transactions/activities;

 Identification and geolocation of networks among actors/entities;

 Development of patterns of life supporting I&W, predictive analysis, and counter

denial and deception; and

 Understanding the broader interactions between/among networks.

3.1.2. WHO ARE THE CUSTOMERS?

The Task Force believes that the commanders and warfighters of U.S. military forces

planning and conducting COIN operations are no longer the only customers of the DoD ISR

enterprise. In order to effectively plan, conduct, and sustain the integrated operations of

interagency and multinational civilian and military organizations in support of a foreign

government or population threatened by irregular adversaries, there must be an

understanding of the broader array of defense intelligence customers, and some customers

outside of the DoD (consistent with the approach described in the U.S. Government

Counterinsurgency Guide). Customers include other U.S. Government departments and

agencies, foreign security partners, and selected international and non‐governmental

organizations. In Afghanistan today, for example, the set of customers for defense

intelligence includes the Department of State, USAID, Provisional Reconstruction Teams

(PRTs), and a plethora of NGOs in addition to the coalition forces

3.1.3. WHAT ARE THE REQUIREMENTS?

Based on assimilated data and received briefings, the Task Force believes that ISR

capabilities in Afghanistan are primarily employed in support of force protection and CT
30 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

missions. As a result, many aspects of the COIN campaign, broadly defined, are relatively

under‐served by ISR, including intelligence that supports achieving the transformative

effects called for by the Commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)

and the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan, as well as to support to stability

operations and foreign internal defense.    

To say that ISR under‐served these aspects of COIN is not meant as a criticism of how ISR is

operating today. In many respects, ISR is enormously successful in supporting the

operations of U.S. forces to defeat terrorists and insurgents.   

Why have ISR capabilities not been applied consistently against those aspects of COIN

operations that deal with populations?   One member of the Task Force, who interviewed

intelligence managers, collection managers, and intelligence analysts at three of the regional

commands in late 2010, concluded that:

The United States Government Integrated Civilian‐Military Campaign Plan for Support to

Afghanistan had not been widely read, dissected, and mapped into specific

intelligence requirements or translated into integrated concepts of operation.

Intelligence shops had not yet received a demand signal from commanders in the

field for this type of data and analysis. Competing needs for force protection and the

find, fix, and finish mission made reallocation of intelligence resources against the

broader COIN missions problematic.

ISR in COIN has always been a tough job, and it becomes nearly impossible to do well if

support to kinetic missions is not balanced with support to efforts focused on population

security, economic development, and governance.

There are many intelligence requirements on the books pertinent to supporting the broad

missions of COIN, but few examples of how intelligence collection and analysis are actually

targeted to answer these questions. There are fewer that describe the direct and indirect

signatures that should be collected and analyzed, and none at all that propose

improvements in ISR operations. In a similar vein, ISR requirements “left of bang” and for

whole‐of‐government efforts have yet to be well described.

One set of requirements that could be used as a point of departure for guiding future ISR

operations are the detailed tasks outlined in the United States Government Integrated Civilian‐

Military Campaign Plan for Support to Afghanistan (also cited as the McChrystal/Eikenberry

campaign plan). There are 116 such tasks (called Main Efforts) that are associated with the

Transformative Effects called for in the plan. Each of these tasks could be mapped into

specific observables, both direct and indirect, that would become part of an ISR collection

and analysis plan. To illustrate how this might be done, the Task Force considered the key

issue of population security.
3. TOR TASKS 31

Achieving security of the population is the first step in a COIN campaign. In Afghanistan, as

in any region subject to an insurgency, the people must feel free from violence and coercion

by insurgents, criminals, and terrorists, and must come to trust the security forces of the

government to protect them. The challenges to achieving this level of security in

Afghanistan are substantial:   

 There are insufficient forces present (Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and

ISAF) to secure population centers.  

 Afghan National Police (ANP) development has lagged due to corruption and abuse,

poor quality and ethnic balance of recruits, high casualty rates, attrition, inadequate

logistics, poor leadership, insufficient ANSF cooperation, and under‐resourcing and

mentoring.  

 International military action resulting in civilian casualties exacerbated popular

insecurity and increased alienation.

To remedy these shortfalls and create a secure environment for the population, the

McChrystal/Eikenberry campaign plan called for twelve tasks to be executed:

Community Level Tasks:

 Establish basing and conduct operations for security presence in critical areas.

 Reduce civilian casualties and other acts that create opposition among the

population.

 Reform and mentor ANP units to protect communities and establish rule of law.

 Ensure equal access to ANP recruitment for all population groups through political

outreach.

 Mobilize support and trust for ANSF efforts.

Provincial Level Tasks:

 Build and mentor COIN‐capable Afghan National Army (ANA) to defeat internal

threats and support the ANP as necessary.

 Improve ANSF interoperability, coordination, cooperation, and mutual support,

particularly ANA in support of the ANP in contested areas.

 Place Afghans in charge of operations working towards transfer of lead security

responsibility.

National Level Tasks:

 Develop Ministry of Defense (MOD), ANA and Ministry of the Interior (MOI)

capacity for accountability, interoperability, and oversight.
32 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

 Develop strategies and incentives to mitigate high levels of ANSF attrition.

Tasks at all Levels:

 Support reduction of ANSF corruption and abuse.

 Improve border security efforts to stem cross border flow of insurgents and

insurgent logistics. 23

Each of these tasks implies designing a set of ISR tasks. For example, the first two tasks at

the Community Level call for establishing basing and a security presence in critical areas

and reducing civilian casualties (presumably from both insurgents and coalition forces). ISR

support would require such basic data as physical assessments of terrain, lines of sight, and

access to key infrastructure. Equally important would be the evaluation of normal

population movement patterns and activities, characterization of changes in patterns, and

an understanding of how activities vary in the course of a day or week.

Reducing population casualties would entail determining the proximity of insurgent

activities to civilian homes and businesses. However, it might also mean developing an ISR

strategy to proactively detect threats against key local leaders and representatives of local

government, warning criteria for transmitting threats to Afghans who are targeted, the

capability to track local leaders during threat periods, and procedures for search and rescue

of locals. Such an effort would need to be worked out with local Afghan police.

ISR operational planning will need to take into account protection of sources and methods,

sharing policies, and operational limitations in the local environment. While each of these

issues will require a dedicated effort to resolve, the most important point in this example is

that ISR use should be balanced between “find, fix, and finish” (F3) missions and direct

support to monitor the security of populations and key individuals.

                                                

23 United States Integrated Civilian‐Military Campaign Plan for Support to Afghanistan, 5.
3. TOR TASKS 33

3.2. TOR TASK 2: WHAT IS THE RECOMMENDED ALLOCATION AND USE OF DOD

ISR RESOURCES TO SUSTAIN COIN CAPABILITY ALONG WITH OTHER

COMPETING INTELLIGENCE REQUIREMENTS, FOR EXAMPLE CT?

3.2.1. THE DIVERSITY OF INTELLIGENCE MISSION NEEDS

As long as the U.S. has on‐going combat operations and the need to interdict terrorist

operations against U.S. forces and the homeland, then CT is the highest priority. Yet the case

for balancing the intelligence needs of a COIN or population‐centric plan with those focused

on counterterrorism is laid out clearly in the ISAF Commander’s Counterinsurgency Guidance.

The Guidance focuses on explaining why conventional military operations cannot defeat the

insurgency in Afghanistan. GEN McChrystal wrote that the math doesn’t add up:   

From a conventional standpoint, the killing of two insurgents in a group of ten

leaves eight remaining: 10‐2=8. From the insurgent standpoint, those two killed were

likely related to many others who will want vengeance. If civilian casualties

occurred, that number will be much higher. Therefore, the death of two creates more

willing recruits: 10 minus 2 equals 20 (or more) rather than 8. 24

For this basic reason, GEN McChrystal called for military and civilian officials to take a

different, more population‐centric path. With this approach, coalition troops must become,

and be seen as providing a positive force in the community, shielding the people from harm,

and fostering stability. This means putting less emphasis not only on using force but also on

force protection measures (such as body armor and heavily armored vehicles), which

distance the security forces from the population. It also entails placing a much higher degree

of intelligence support on the protection of critical local leaders and key individuals to

ensure they can survive and execute the political and economic goals associated with

countering the insurgents.

In addition to these tactical reasons, putting more emphasis on COIN operations is

strategically important as it creates the potential for creating “left of bang” detection and

effects which may preclude or minimize the necessity of future kinetic operations and create

more options for senior leaders to curb progression toward conflict.   

More generally, the diversity of intelligence needs is a consequence of COIN’s presence

within the spectrum of irregular warfare operations the DoD must be prepared to conduct.

CT, COIN, and Counter‐Improvised Explosive Device (C‐IED) efforts are all counter‐

network operations. The mission objectives of each are distinct and their associated

information needs are different, yet overlapping. Planned and executed properly, the

different types of counter‐network operations will produce synergistic benefits. Conversely,

                                                

24 Stanley A. McChrystal and Michael T. Hall, ISAF Commander’s Counterinsurgency Guidance (Kabul,

Afghanistan: International Security Assistance Force/U.S. Forces‐Afghanistan, August 2009), 2.
34 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

they will create problems if planned and conducted without regard for the relationships

among COIN, CT, and C‐IED operations.

The complexity of COIN and other counter‐network operations requires a strategic rather

than ad hoc approach to ISR mission management. The intelligence requirements to support

a population‐centric COIN strategy are different from those to counter terrorist networks. In

particular, the scale and granularity of information required to assess patterns of behavior at

local, tribal, and societal levels and comprehend that activity are different. An array of

collection assets and sensor phenomenology as well as associated tasking, processing,

exploitation, and dissemination capabilities are being employed to obtain and understand

pertinent data and information. These capabilities are typically not being orchestrated in a

way to ensure that critical questions about the COIN campaign can be answered.

Unfortunately, the COIN campaign appears to be a secondary, or perhaps tertiary, priority

for ISR, behind force protection and CT. COIN undertaken “left of bang” however, offers

the potential to diminish the need for subsequent force protection and even CT operations.

As the 2011 National Military Strategy notes: “While such [CT] operations disrupt in the

short‐term, they cannot be decisive and do not constitute a viable long‐term strategy for

combating extremism.” 25

The Task Force’s investigation of ISR operations today found a high degree of emphasis on

missions that involve the rapid defeat of terrorist networks through the effective application

of F3 tactics. The Task Force did not find a clear articulation of the desired balance between

those missions and the missions that are specified in the McChrystal/Eikenberry campaign

plan.

26  

The defense intelligence culture is evolving slowly to meet the demands of supporting

multi‐modal, hybrid operations (and whole‐of‐government operations). That culture is

primarily focused on “targeteering” and “weaponeering” to enable U.S. military forces to

destroy enemy combatants and their war‐making capacity. In addition, DoD tradecraft and

culture separate targeteers and general analysts. There is insufficient attention to the need to

provide intelligence support of complex operations and counteract hybrid, multi‐modal

conflict. As the COIN problem becomes more strategic and prevalent, the expertise of

operators needs to be more closely coupled with the general analyst and with analysts in

fields ranging from target analysis and mission planning to the social sciences.

Finally, the need to address COIN counterintelligence requirements requires more

emphasis. Hard lessons in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention other environments (from

Algeria to Lebanon) underscore the sophisticated intelligence capabilities of insurgent

movements. These capabilities provide insurgents the means to infiltrate government

entities “left of bang,” to anticipate the military operations of the governments they fight,

                                                

25 The National Military Strategy of the United States of America, 6.   

26 United States Government Integrated Civilian‐Military Campaign Plan for Support to Afghanistan.
3. TOR TASKS 35

and to deploy technologies (including signals intelligence and imagery) in support of their

own objectives. U.S. forces in Afghanistan have witnessed first‐hand the ability of

insurgents to conduct human intelligence operations. Press reports suggest that Hezbollah

forces in Lebanon received Iranian Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and may have

received Iranian support in their operation. Given these developments, U.S. COIN

operations must include the ability to counter insurgency intelligence capabilities and

maintain a sustained information advantage throughout all phases of COIN operations.

3.2.2. MISSION‐BASED NEEDS SHOULD DRIVE EFFECTS‐BASED ISR

Conventional operations and CT generally require a more simple approach to intelligence

than COIN. With kinetic‐centric operations, it is important to identify the target, develop

precise coordinates and use an appropriate weapon to minimize collateral damage. With

COIN, the intelligence problem is more complex and drives a more subtle strategic plan that

seeks an overall effect where the population impact of an action is important: how will the

population react to the target’s elimination, will they react differently to the method (e.g.,

more sensitive to drone missile strikes than sniper fire), will the operation negatively impact

a local political balance, how will it affect future HUMINT information gathering

relationships?    COIN ISR does not have an identifiable end‐point in terms of collection.

With CT, ISR assets are re‐allocated once the target is identified and engaged upon. With

COIN, ISR continues over an indefinite period of time to understand the behavior of an

individual, group, or population and assess how behavior changes as the COIN campaign

unfolds.27  This patterns‐of‐life development is an intelligence‐intensive effort. Furthermore,

the range of intelligence needed to be effective is drastically broader for COIN, including

intelligence dependent on cultural factors that cannot be provided by overhead sensors

alone.

As the commander’s emphasis shifts from conventional operations to CT and to COIN, ISR

needs to shift from target collection management to effects‐based management. With COIN,

ISR becomes more complex and the analyst is required to understand and merge more and

more diverse data sources to fully understand the impacts and consequence of a COIN

operation.

Further, intelligence analysis is driven toward a population‐centric approach where the

centers of gravity, as perceived by the population, must be identified and understood in

order to assess the true impact of an emergent event to derive meaningful information to

inform decision‐makers. To accomplish this, Collection Management (and, ultimately

Mission Management) needs to shift toward meeting need‐based requirements where users

describe a need to the intelligence enterprise that it is tied directly to security, governance,

or economic components of a COIN campaign plan and where Collection Managers then

                                                

27 The Task Force observes that “group” can denote different entities.   For example, while groups in Iraq are

often characterized in terms of religious and ethnic affiliation, village groups in Afghanistan appear more

relevant to population analysis.
36 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

plan a coordinated ISR strategy for achieving a desired effect, that is, the needed knowledge

to execute a component of the COIN plan. This shift forces a more dynamic relationship

between the user, enterprise, and collection platform, and drives a coordinated effort across

intelligence agencies that goes beyond simple targeting missions that can typically be

described as the F3 mission of CT. Figure 6 below illustrates this difference and how that

leads to a different set of questions that must be answered by the intelligence collector and

analyst. The process flow on the left is used more commonly and the flow on the right is

what the Task Force views as needed particularly in a complex COIN context.

FIGURE 6. DESIRED CHANGE IN ISR TASKING PROCESS

Figure 6 captures the key changes needed but is simplistic. A more desired end state is

illustrated in Figure 7.

FIGURE 7. EFFECTS‐BASED ISR TASKING PROCESS

By focusing efforts toward achieving an effect, multi‐platform collection strategies will be

refined, the intent of the user will be satisfied, and inappropriate ISR requests caused by

lack of user knowledge on ISR capabilities is nullified. Effects‐based ISR enables analysts to

be more innovative and creative in developing collection strategies and fusing multi‐INT
3. TOR TASKS 37

data streams. To free up the analyst to problem‐solve and strategically plan, automated

methods must be developed (or improved) to focus the analyst more quickly on

questionable activity and automated tools built to accomplish routine bookkeeping tasks.  

A feedback mechanism is critical to successful effects‐based ISR to assure user intent is met.

Ideally, this feedback mechanism involves a real‐time communications link between the

user, analyst, and collector to facilitate immediate re‐attack of a target deck while the

platform is still in the area of interest. This real‐time collaboration also allows the folding in

of emergent opportunities of higher priority to the user.

3.2.3. A FORMAL APPROACH TO NEED‐BASED ANALYSIS

It is important to allocate ISR resources based on a rigorous portfolio management process

that balances desired operational needs today and those anticipated in the future. COIN ISR

requirements should be seen in the context of the full spectrum of irregular warfare ISR

requirements. In addition, COIN ISR requirements should be seen in the context of the ISR

requirements for hybrid, multi‐modal security operations. The Task Force believes that

there is substantial overlap in the ISR resources required along this spectrum. However, the

budget process has failed to recognize COIN operations as distinct from CT, C‐IED and

other irregular warfare requirements. This caused the ISR requirements process to skew

against, and in some cases, overlook important COIN‐related ISR capabilities, resulting in

an underinvestment of Phase 0 and Phase 1 COIN operation ISR requirements as they relate

to incipient insurgencies and population‐centric security operations. Applying a formal

portfolio management approach would ensure a more rigorous and transparent process by

which ISR resource allocations can be made in support of COIN and all other inter‐related

modes of security operations.

Such a process can be applied at a number of echelons from, for example, a specific ISR

mission plan, to the PED process, to the overall ISR mission architecture, or to strategy level

for major ISR acquisition decisions. In each case, the key is to start with the objectives and

determine the best option rather than the more tempting practice of starting with the

familiar option. As noted in a previous DSB report, the use of formal decision‐support

approaches (including systems analysis and operations research) can aid in the

development of an ISR portfolio, as well as in the selection of specific resources to achieve

specific purposes. 28  

Following such an approach will help ensure that the complexity of COIN ISR requirements

is fully appreciated, and that these requirements are given proper attention in the resource

allocation process. Such an approach can help balance COIN and other requirements, and

allow ISR resources to be acquired and managed in the context of the wider requirements of

a more complex, whole‐of‐government approach.   

                                                

28 Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Intelligence – Operations Research Applications for Intelligence,

Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (Washington, DC: Defense Science Board, January 2009).
38 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

3.3. TOR TASK 3:  WHAT CHANGES CAN BE MADE IN THE ISR PROCESS TO

IMPROVE SUPPORT TO COIN?

As noted previously, there exists an increasing emphasis on the use of a population‐centric

approach to defeating insurgencies and improving the likelihood that the governments the

U.S. supports will gain the respect and allegiance of the populations they intend to govern.

However, the current ISR process does not reflect this approach, focusing instead on the

need to achieve kinetic effects.

This current, traditional approach will continue to be an important part of the nation’s

approach to COIN. At the same time, ISR approaches and resources must also address the

need to support population‐centric strategies to COIN. The Task Force’s recommendations

include the need to better balance ISR resources between both missions, where priority is

given to troops in combat and then shifts back to the population‐centric aspects of COIN

when combat ends. If more resources are applied to COIN “left of bang,” fewer resources

might be needed later for both approaches.

Consequently, the Task Force’s response to this TOR question is framed in two ways:

 Discussions that relate to physical phenomenology associated with traditional

counterinsurgency operations as practiced today in Afghanistan; and

 Discussions that relate to the application of social sciences, largely in the context of

whole‐of‐government, population‐centric approaches to COIN.

3.3.1. ISR SUPPORT TO TRADITIONAL COIN ACTIVITIES

There appears to be no effective overarching, inter‐agency COIN strategy, commitment, or

coordination mechanism, despite the mandate by government leaders to adopt a whole‐of‐

government approach. COIN operations appear to be assigned to DoD because of its greater

capacity to meet the COIN challenge than other government agencies. Other USG entities

(e.g., DoS, USAID, Treasury, Commerce) do not have the resources to carry out this mission

today; nor do they have the perception that COIN is among their primary responsibilities.

The Task Force raises these points to describe the environment in which the IC finds itself

and the nature of the customer demands placed on it.

One of the implications of this situation is that there exists a lack of defense intelligence

emphasis on operations planning and support for Phase 0 shaping and deterrence activities

(see the earlier discussion on the phases of insurgencies in Section 3.2.3). The defense

intelligence community is understandably focused on support of ongoing combat

operations. Intelligence resources are allocated to support current operational priorities

rather than Phase 0 shaping and deterrence activities in other areas of the world.

Operational planning that drives intellectual effort and capability requirements for future
3. TOR TASKS 39

contingencies was deemphasized because of the demands of current operations and a

planning process that does not focus on the prevention of insurgencies.

The relatively low priorities assigned to covering the early phases of insurgencies (when

insurgents are establishing their domination of a local population or establishing themselves

at the expense of a government’s sovereign prerogatives) have had a very real impact on the

effectiveness of intelligence to warn of insurgent threats. For example, if an analyst has an

innovative idea on how ISR might be applied to identify the early stages of an insurgency

where “not much is happening,” the analyst must first link the concept to an existing

Commander’s CONOP; otherwise nothing will get done. In the field, ISR assets are so scarce

that they are allocated to locations where things are known, rather than places where things

are relatively unknown. Intelligence analysts discovered through painful experience that the

lack of activity in an area does not mean there is nothing of interest about which to be

concerned. In 2004‐2005, for example, United States Central Command (CENTCOM)

intelligence analysts were providing all‐source analytical support to the Combined Joint

Task Force (CJTF)‐76. Two brigades were deployed in the east of Afghanistan (one north

and one south). The Taliban attacked every night in the east, so all of the limited ISR assets

were allocated to track the enemy there. This meant that the interior of the country went

largely uncovered, and as a result, during this period analysts missed how the insurgents

were rebuilding themselves there.

To help remedy this problem, regional commands should set aside some portion of assets to

focus on strategic changes that might be underway in regions where insurgencies are

starting to take hold, even if there are few direct observations indicating that this is

happening. The Task Force learned that those components of the IC responsible for COIN

are constantly struggling to have some ISR resources available to track trends that are

evolving over long periods of time as well as for discovering emerging threats (as opposed

to only supporting tactical operations and force protection). Mission managers need to

dedicate at least some resources to this strategic function and design a campaign plan that

explains how these ISR assets would be used to inform the strategic components of the

COIN fight, even if most of the resources are aligned with the tactical fight.

Even if the problem of allocating collection assets to strategic issues is solved, the

overarching problem of understanding collection requirements will remain, as a

requirements template for COIN ISR does not appear to exist. The Task Force found that

within the IC there was no formalized set of ISR requirements for COIN (specifically in

Afghanistan) nor was there an attempt to disaggregate and assign them, identify the gaps,

develop metrics, allocate resources, and address progress. It appears that the USG Integrated

Civilian‐Military Campaign Plan for Support to Afghanistan was not formally addressed by the

IC as an ISR requirements document, and ISR resources were not allocated necessarily to

support it. More generally, the IC appears to have no structured requirements acceptance

and management process for assessing, negotiating, acting upon, and overseeing a specific

customer’s intelligence needs when they are expressed in terms customers understand,
40 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

rather than in terms familiar to the IC; that is, they are articulated in customer‐speak rather

than IC‐speak. Some customers do not know how to communicate formally with the IC to

ensure their requirements are addressed. As a result, COIN intelligence requirements are

not materially impacting ISR collections. As evidence, the Task Force notes that the defense

intelligence community has not translated the commander’s intent as stated in the USG

Integrated Civilian‐Military Campaign Plan for Support to Afghanistan into intelligence

requirements to support COIN operations. Although this plan was promulgated to

articulate the strategy and tasks required to achieve U.S. and allied COIN objectives, there is

no associated set of intelligence requirements derived to support execution of the plan. Nor

is there a standing template of intelligence requirements to support COIN operations in

general.

Looking at the problem from the IC’s perspective, there are no mechanisms for

systematically recording and following up on the satisfaction of intelligence requirements as

they pertain to the different components of a COIN campaign. For example, the

requirements database called COLISEUM does not provide the context behind requests for

information. As a result, most requirements are levied outside the COLISEUM process

through one‐on‐one discussions and emails.

To remedy this situation, the Task Force recommends that the DNI and the USD(I)

undertake a comprehensive inventory of intelligence requirements as they pertain to COIN,

including who originated the requirements, how they are recorded and distributed to the

IC, the priority, and an assessment of how well the IC is servicing those requirements. Such

an inventory should serve as the first step in developing a comprehensive, systematic

process for guiding IC collection and analysis to support customer needs with respect to

COIN.

The information needs of COIN and other complex operations require a mix of collection

capabilities from many intelligence disciplines. Current methods for planning and financing

future conflicts are largely driven by planning for Major Combat Operations (MCOs). This

leads to an imbalance of future investment weighted toward large collection systems. This

includes wide area persistent surveillance capabilities, full motion video (FMV), signals

intelligence (SIGINT), ground moving target indication (GMTI), laser detection and ranging,

computer network exploitation, financial intelligence (FININT), document exploitation,

HUMINT, and biometrics. DoD fielded and programmed a vast array of technical collection

capabilities that can be employed effectively to meet the traditional COIN challenge.

HUMINT and Special Operations Forces (SOF) that are assigned in a particular country or

region over an extended period of time are particularly valuable assets for collecting

information to support COIN operations. Case officers and Special Forces personnel who

are immersed in the language and culture of a particular society are critical sources for

collecting information to keep a finger on the pulse of a population and support COIN

operations. For example, the Marine Corps Expeditionary Intelligence Road Map (now in draft)
3. TOR TASKS 41

highlights the need for archiving and modeling social dynamics within particular cultures;

effectively bringing together the work of hundreds of analysts for use by the United States

Marine Corps (USMC). This work must be encouraged and allowed to grow. But often this

is not happening. One senior intelligence officer with years of field experience pointed out

that mid level managers at major intelligence agencies do not encourage language training

or tours in the field, and in some cases discourage these altogether. The Task Force outlined

throughout this report some recommendations, which if implemented in a sustained

manner, will help improve the IC’s ability to understand and report on local cultures.   

In recent years the DoD’s ISR collection investment necessarily focused on meeting the

requirements of the current conflict, resulting in the procurement of a suite of sensors and

platforms that are optimized for collection in desert and mountainous terrains. Moreover,

these sensors are largely designed (and employed) to support F3 operations that are

necessary for conducting CT and combat operations. This emphasis leaves DoD potentially

short in the ability to collect in other types of terrain. (e.g. jungle) as well as other phases of

the COIN mission (e.g., where insurgents may be starting to “turn” a population group). In

addition, the mass of data being collected by the platforms and sensors currently in use is

forcing the need to build a more effective PED capability, one that provides swifter forensics

to examine and analyze antecedent activities, allows for all‐source analysis, and makes

better use of bandwidth and communication capabilities. Substantial efforts of DoD’s ISR

Task Force are underway to address this problem, but new PED systems and TTPs must be

employed to handle the flood of new collection data. This will necessitate massive changes

in culture to permit more automation, the discarding of less useful data, and the acceptance

of new formats of ISR reporting.

Within the current operational environment, there are few effective, temporally‐acceptable

methodologies for the integration (or fusion) of current levels of data streaming from the

many space‐based, airborne, mobile, in situ, and terrestrial remote sensors, let alone real‐

time integration. This impedes DoD’s ability to leverage multiple, networked

sensor/platform combinations in a timely fashion to achieve dominant situational

awareness. This fusion problem will only be exacerbated by the flood of data from new

collection systems about to be fielded.

Efforts are underway to correct the massive problems of data access. The Information

Sharing Integrated Product Team (IPT), established under the auspices of the USD(I), for the

purpose of synchronizing information sharing initiatives in support of ISAF requirements

and United States forces in Afghanistan, made substantial progress. However, the ISR Task

Force should visit each of the main dissemination nodes (such as the Distributed Common

Ground Station (DCGS)) to determine the extent to which analysts there have the necessary

tools to execute their basic COIN mission and make necessary “quick fix” investments to

remedy shortfalls.   

In addition, the portfolio analysis approach described in the previous section would also

help establish a better, short‐term portfolio and balance of ISR resources for current COIN
42 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

operations. Over time, expanded simulation, gaming, and field testing should be employed

to support assessments of how ISR collection and analysis can be improved as it applies to a

COIN campaign. For example, collection geometries of target areas are different for each

region where insurgencies exist or could take root. For instance, Afghanistan is

predominately rural, with high elevations, widely dispersed long and narrow settlements,

and few vehicles; while Iraq has one large densely‐populated urban area, where vehicles are

attractive targets for tracking.

To facilitate this simulation effort, DoD might consider modifying or constructing a test

range in mountainous terrain designed to assess COIN issues. Such a range might include

widely‐dispersed “villages” to facilitate and evaluate new collection and sampling

strategies, as well as to test alternative security CONOPS and policies.  

Finally, there is no apparent formal IC process for assessing IC performance against a

customer’s all‐source requirements (i.e., metrics) – specifically for COIN – and measuring

the opportunity cost for implementing such new requirements.29    Further, metrics that

evaluate progress of the insurgency, as seen from the viewpoint of the insurgent leadership,

are a critical and often overlooked intelligence requirement.30    This “red” perspective

analysis must draw upon a deep understanding of the values and goals of insurgent

leadership. A review of potential metrics for intelligence support to COIN should be

undertaken by USD(I) (and perhaps the DNI) as part of an overall audit of intelligence

requirements.   

3.3.2. ISR IN SUPPORT OF WHOLE‐OF‐GOVERNMENT, POPULATION‐CENTRIC COIN

INITIATIVES

Almost all definitions of COIN operations call for the involvement and constructive

participation of the whole‐of‐government, with civilian agencies in the lead and the military

in a supporting role – an approach outlined by the 2009 U.S. Government Counterinsurgency

Guide. The active and constructive participation and leadership of allies, NGOs, a target

nation’s legitimate government, and the affected population, as well as the military,

working together based on a coherent strategy is the most likely path to achieving U.S.

COIN objectives. DoD leaders should make the case for such a strategy and work with

leaders of other agencies to create the capacity for a whole‐of‐government approach. ISR

resource planning should take into account the needs of a whole‐of‐government approach,

and the need to support DoD and non‐DoD components.

In a similar vein, ISR resource planning should accommodate emerging population‐centric

concepts as well. DoD has taken some steps in this direction. Studies on patterns‐of‐life and

                                                

29 See Appendix E for examples of such metrics.

30 See Appendix F for some examples of insurgent metrics.   
3. TOR TASKS 43

the use of human terrain intelligence yielded operational benefits in recent COIN

campaigns. A Defense Science Board 2006 Summer Study noted:

Human terrain preparation will enable U.S. forces to better understand how

individuals, groups, societies and nations behave, and then use this information to

(1) improve the performance of U.S. forces and (2) understand and shape behaviors

of others in pre‐, intra‐, and post‐conflict situations. 31

The DSB’s 2006 report, MG Flynn’s observations concerning Afghanistan, and GEN

McChrystal’s efforts to bolster the use of these concepts underscore the need for more

aggressive adoption throughout the DoD. The 2006 DSB report noted that Human Terrain

Preparation should receive priority attention as well as a “continuous learning environment

for training and professional military education.”32  In spite of these recurring observations

about the criticality of this kind of intelligence most DoD ISR assts remain ill‐suited to this

kind of cultural, linguistically‐based sociological, anthropological collection and reporting.

In some quarters, there exists resistance to the recognition that population‐centric

approaches are useful, and that the social sciences necessary to enable these approaches can

effectively contribute to COIN. In this regard, the following discussion addresses some of

the needs and challenges facing DoD’s ISR enterprise if it uses social sciences to more

effectively address some of these unfulfilled requirements.   

To be clear, research and analysis in the social sciences is far different from the legacy F3

missions normally associated with ISR. However, if DoD ISR is not prepared to support this

research and analysis, how will it get done?  And, if there is a need for getting out in front of

insurgencies before they take root, should there not be a process in place to identify regional

problems before they become full blown and require the massive cost of a military

intervention?  

Seen in this light, investments in ISR analytical capabilities that employ the social sciences

seem reasonable. However, the DoD has a long way to go before it has a meaningful

analytic cadre that can produce these assessments. An informal survey at one agency

revealed that analysts operated largely by induction, studying and gaining familiarity with

a country/region, and specific instances of an event and its analogues. Very little, if any

deductive analyses using standard research techniques from social science, anthropological,

or psychological disciplines were employed.  

If DoD places a new emphasis on understanding socio‐psychological and anthropological

phenomena among societies affected or targeted by insurgencies, analysts will have to

operate with a better balance of regional knowledge and theoretical/methodological

                                                

31 Report of the Defense Science Board 2006 Summer Study on 21st Century Strategic Technology Vectors (Washington,

DC; Defense Science Board, 2006), xii.

32 Ibid., 13.
44 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

competence. The regional expertise will continue to be essential, but will have to grow more

specific and deeper as a basis for understanding the customs, culture, values, and semiotics

of a society to see the insurgents and insurgency—as well as coalition forces and actions—

through the populations’ eyes. The masterful and rigorous use of theory (e.g., of social

adaptation, of governance and democratization, economic development, and group

dynamics) will be necessary to help analysts understand and predict events beyond what is

familiar or covered in their experience.  

If the IC wants to augment its expertise in social science and anthropological research

techniques for use in COIN campaigns, it must rely on colleges and universities to train

future analysts in how to ethically gather and process data from populations that are subject

to insurgencies. However, academia is ill‐equipped to do this and is likely to be pre‐

disposed to look at this mission with ambivalence.    

Academic ambivalence in military matters has deep roots. The American Anthropological

Association (AAA) and other elements of the social sciences disciplines tend to avoid efforts

in which their research is used to enable coercive activities, such as military operations. As a

result, social scientists tend to avoid situations in which their work may be structured

explicitly to support those operations. The AAA appears aware, however, of the potential

utility of the work of social scientists in understanding environments important to U.S.

national security. This study recognizes the importance of social scientists’ research and the

utility of that research to help planners understand the environments in which they operate.

The nature of the debate taking place among social scientists was highlighted by the work of

the Commission on the Engagement of Anthropology with the U.S. Security and Intelligence

Communities. The Commission looked at the work of the Army’s Human Terrain System

(HTS) and concluded that:  

While we stress that constructive engagement between anthropology and the

military is possible, (the Commission) suggests that the AAA emphasize the

incompatibility of HTS with disciplinary ethics and practice for job seekers and that

it further recognize the problem of allowing HTS to define the meaning of

ʺanthropologyʺ within DoD.33

Additional engagement between social science practitioners and the IC will be necessary if

COIN is to gain further benefit from the use of these disciplines.   

In addition, a University Department Head noted to the Task Force that most colleges and

universities are no longer interested in supporting social science, anthropological, economic,

or even political science research on those regions in which insurgencies take root.  Today,

academic interests are on the consequences of globalization, on applying models based on

                                                

33 Final Report on the Army’s Human Terrain System Proof of Concept Program (Arlington, VA: American

Anthropological Association – Commission on the Engagement of Anthropology with the U.S. Security and

Intelligence Communities, 14 October 2009), 4.
3. TOR TASKS 45

rational choice (decisions that are based on economic interests), and on the relationship

between state and non‐state actors. Area studies departments have largely been closed

down, in part because funding dried up and in part because models of human behavior that

are currently in favor treat cultural, religious, or regional affiliations as largely irrelevant. 34  

The lack of academic disciplines with a regional‐focus is a major reason why MG Flynn

issued a call for the intelligence equivalent of DoD’s Afghan Hands Program.35

Enlisting the aid of nationally recognized experts in psychological assessment of individual

differences, the DoD and the IC could assess their analytic corps on these dimensions for the

purpose of selecting and assigning analysts to the COIN missions. By a similar token,

educational psychologists and training professionals might aid in designing curricula and

training modules to help analysts develop and enhance these capabilities. They could also

design curricula for training intelligence analysts in cultural assessment using the latest

scientific findings on cultural dynamics and comparative cultures.

Colleges and universities have yet to sense a “demand signal” from the DoD (or the USG

generally) for a major investment in area studies, whether on Afghanistan, Somalia,

Indonesia, Mali, the Philippines or even those parts of India that are home to the Naxalite

insurgents. At best, academia has created “virtual” area programs that represent a hodge‐

podge of courses from existing departments (Economics, Social Science, Political Science,

and the like), coupled to language training. This is not nearly enough. The absence of

academic support for research and analysis on regional problems that could lead to future

insurgencies poses a credible vulnerability to U.S. national security posture.  

Nonetheless, there exist pockets of excellence throughout DoD (e.g., the Defense Language

Institute, USMC University) that provide very high quality and relevant training and

education in the areas of language skill and cultural awareness for military personnel that

are preparing for deployment or focusing on immediate defense priorities. That said, DoD

and its primary feeder, academia, lack the capacity to meet the demand for people with

advanced language skills and cultural awareness for the current conflict. The shortcomings

are even greater for the many languages and areas of the world where the next COIN

situation might occur.  

The Task Force recognizes that the U.S. Army has made great efforts to incorporate social

science and behavioral science into COIN planning via the HTS. The HTS was developed in

response to gaps in commanders’ and staffs’ understanding of the local population and

culture, and its impact on operational decisions; and poor transfer of socio‐cultural

knowledge to follow‐on units. The HTS approach is to place the expertise and experience of

social scientists and regional experts, coupled with reach‐back, open‐source research,

                                                

34 China area studies are the typical exception to this rule.

35 AFPAK Hands (APH) program is located within the Joint Staff Pakistan‐Afghanistan Coordinating Cell

(PACC).  The purpose of the program is to develop a cadre of AFPAK subject matter experts.  
46 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

directly in support of deployed units engaging in full‐spectrum operations. This program is

the first instance in which social science research, analysis, and advising has been done

systematically, on a large scale, and at the operational level. Human Terrain Teams advise

brigades on economic development, political systems, and tribal structures; train brigades as

requested; and conduct research on topics of interest to the brigade staff. However, further

development and application of ISR capabilities rooted in the social sciences will require a

better understanding of the concerns of practitioners in these fields, ways to address their

concerns, and more rigorous analysis of data gathered in the field.

As good as these initiatives are, the IC still has a long way to go to prepare its analysts to

answer the questions pertaining to COIN that are asked of them. The Task Force found that

intelligence components in the field often adhere to preferences in analytic tradecraft that

can get in the way of addressing population‐focused COIN issues. Some of these tradecraft

preferences include:  

 Placing more stock in quantitative methodological rigor over qualitative local

knowledge;

 A tendency to misinterpret culturally‐coded signals within the broader intelligence

chatter;

 A preference for input metrics rather than results‐oriented output metrics; and

 Implicitly accepting Western concepts of state‐building, which prompts a focus on

top‐down institutional structures rather than a bottom‐up approach of societal

indicators.

Each of these preferences is familiar in one degree or another to the seasoned intelligence

officer and in many ways is perfectly reasonable given, for example, the experience that

analysts bring to the job and the understandable desire to rely on specific, quantifiable data

in order to “get it right.”  But these preferences can lead to very real shortfalls in preparing

assessments that address the population‐centric issues of COIN. Understanding population

behavior and determining who has power and who does not often has an historical basis

that requires a greater depth of knowledge of a village, district, or province than can be

acquired through the “snapshots” of village life gleaned from traditional intelligence

sources. Something more is needed.   

As useful as the HTS was in supporting operations directed against the insurgents, it was

less useful in those missions focused on security requirements of local villagers, governance

issues, and social control, particularly in Afghanistan’s village‐centric environment. What

seems to be missing is a structured approach to documenting and analyzing trends in the

behavior of population groups at the local level and understanding how villagers organize

to govern themselves—in effect using social control assessments to explain how each

political actor influences the behavior of population groups to support both attack planning
3. TOR TASKS 47

and civil initiatives; and to measure and affect a government’s capacity to govern

legitimately at the local level. This problem is particularly evident in Afghanistan.

This shortfall was illuminated by one scholar who conducted extensive field research in

Afghanistan, identifying and diagnosing the inherent tensions between Community

Development Councils (CDCs) and customary organizations at the village level (village

elders, mullahs, and government representatives). CDCs, which are promoted at the

national level by the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, facilitate the flow of

resources at the local level. However, they also can have the effect of creating parallel

structures of governmental control that may not be accepted by the local population. This

researcher concluded that decentralized state building, not under the control of a national

ministry, would actually improve the prospect for state development and would provide a

more effective path for countering insurgents.

Despite best efforts, critical gaps remain in the USG’s knowledge about why people join

insurgencies and why they choose to leave. This critical question of “why” requires the USG

to develop a deeper understanding of cultural dynamics that can only come through field

research done on a systematic basis with social science techniques and procedures.

The DoD needs to understand how to gather information on local attitudes and beliefs.

Polling firms know how to do this. The DoD should understand how they go about

gathering information, how they understand and assess the environment, and their process

for sharing that data. The DoD can reach out to private sector firms as well as social science

researchers in academia (a good model for doing this is, for example, the Rich Contextual

Understanding Project sponsored by Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for

Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (AT&L)).

A foundation on which to build does exist. The Foreign Area Officer (FAO) program

represents a resource that merits additional investment. FAOs can bring to COIN operations

in all phases, deep understanding of the populations and geographic elements subject to

insurgent and COIN operations. FAOs, however, are seen to suffer from a lack of career

prospects, given their deep specialization. Effective COIN planning and ISR would benefit

significantly from a strengthened FAO cadre, one that rewards sustained specialization in

regions and countries in which U.S. interests are at stake.

All of this will take time, but some important steps can and should be taken in the near

term. To that end, the Task Force proposes a measured approach that would help lay the

framework for moving toward a whole‐of‐government solution:

 The USD(I), in collaboration with the DNI, should develop a strategic plan for  

developing links and processes to both the academic community and the USG

civilian agencies, specifically to rally resources for population‐centric

counterinsurgency efforts intended to forestall active insurgencies. This strategic

plan would have as its top priority the following goals:
48 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

o DoD and the government generally should increase investment in social science

disciplines (anthropology, ethnography, human geography, sociology, social‐

psychology, political science, and economics) to inform a whole‐of‐government

approach to understanding local cultures and customs and to support future

COIN campaigns.

o Similar investments should be made in both basic and applied field research,

following the guidelines of the specific academic discipline.

o In the near term, improve cultural intelligence by adopting best practices across

DoD intelligence components. The USD(I) should take a detailed look at the

Marine Corps Expeditionary Intelligence Road Map (and other, similar initiatives) to

determine which elements of cultural training, social science modeling, and

database archiving could be adopted by the larger IC.

o DoD should establish a long term commitment to grow area studies expertise by

funding programs and endowing area studies chairs at academic institutions

nationwide. This recommendation will be even more effective if it is

accompanied by a supporting infrastructure that provides field researchers with

the tools and techniques to assess local governance and economic conditions and

to interact effectively with local populations.

   
3. TOR TASKS 49

3.4. TOR TASK 4: WHAT CAN BE DONE IN THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE TO IMPROVE

NETWORK AGILITY AND INFORMATION SHARING ACROSS THE BROAD

SPECTRUM OF MISSION PARTNERS CONDUCTING COIN AND DURING THE

PROMOTION OF REGIONAL STABILITY?

3.4.1. THE CURRENT SITUATION

A multiplicity of ISR platforms supports U.S. intelligence collection activities around the

globe today. The numbers and variety of sensors and platforms are steadily increasing,

especially in Afghanistan. Moreover, DoD has fielded and programmed acquisition of a vast

array of technical collection platforms and capabilities that can be employed effectively to

address collection support for irregular warfare. Because of the immediacy and criticality of

the current conflicts, DoD has not balanced technical collection capabilities with the PED

required to more broadly make sense of the data and employ it effectively to support the

operational level planning and execution across all phases of  COIN operations.    

The DoD is also seeing a dramatic growth in the variety, velocity, and volume of data

collected by defense ISR platforms. However, the rapid increase of collected data will not be

operationally useful without the ability to store, process, exploit, and disseminate this data.

The programmed expansion of broad area, full motion video and other advanced sensors

will further exacerbate this problem. Communications bandwidth remains an operational

constraint both for pushing intelligence out to the tactical edge and for reach back from the

theater of operations. Current collection generates data that greatly exceeds the ability to

organize, store, and process it. Moreover, this PED gap will grow quickly as new platforms

and sensors come into use.   

This deficiency results in serious missed opportunities for the nation. First, these processing

shortfalls limit the Department’s ability to use that data to answer a commander’s existing

Priority Intelligence Requirements (PIRs) and other important requirements, especially for

historical and trend analysis, and for any questions that would benefit from automated (or

even semi‐automated) fusion of massive, noisy, data. Second, these massive data are

collected around the world using a wide range of observational phenomenon. It is entirely

possible that the data that ends up “on the floor” could be used to improve the U.S.’s ability

to generate foundation data around the globe.  

Another major impediment in the current processing shortfall is the shortage of cleared

personnel proficient in the languages and cultures of interest. The shortfall becomes more

pronounced when considering high risk regions that are not currently the center of

attention. In consequence, the defense intelligence community does not have the foreign

language and culture depth and breadth necessary to plan and support COIN operations.

Foreign language proficiency is essential to gain perspective and comprehend the thinking

and values of foreign political cultures. The shortage of foreign language skills adversely
50 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

affects, among other things, the exploitation of HUMINT, SIGINT, and document

exploitation. The DoD is only beginning to make investments in enterprise level planning

and execution of the intelligence information infrastructure so that oversight is provided

and Services are held to standards. The recently created Defense Intelligence Information

Enterprise (DI2E) is a step in the right direction. In addition, Service‐specific data sharing

networks must become interoperable with other networks and data must be discoverable.   

Finally, data on COIN collected by intelligence systems are not accessible sufficiently by the

civilian and coalition components that need it. At the policy level, security rules and

classification of information prevent sharing. At the technical level, the networks of allies

and NGOs are often incompatible with U.S. systems, thereby limiting connectivity even

when policy challenges are overcome. The USD(I) Information Sharing IPT has outlined

some 400 specific findings that should be translated into action in areas that cover

dissemination and discovery, using metadata to facilitate information sharing, achieving

common security standards, supporting a Battlefield Information, Collection, and

Exploitation System (BICES), augmenting support to foreign disclosure procedures, and

improving knowledge management resources. One specific positive example of information

sharing that is being put into place under USD(I) auspices is UnityNet. UnityNet seeks to

encourage a self‐sustaining, open sharing environment that provides open source data

sharing for NGOs, coalition partners, and intelligence analysts alike. UnityNet is an

environment where unclassified information can be pushed and shared without the

constraints of classified networks. It also affords a mechanism to reach out to populations

subject to insurgencies and provide them access to the global community via the Internet,

thereby adding a measure of stability to afflicted regions.   

The need for information sharing is challenged by recent experience with information

releases through WikiLeaks. Nonetheless, better security measures (including the use of

stronger cybersecurity techniques and counterintelligence practices) can enable wider

information sharing without exposing sensitive information to unauthorized dissemination

and exposure; complex COIN operations simply cannot succeed without rich information

sharing.  

3.4.2. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE

It is important to recognize the intensity of the resource limitations under which the DoD is

operating, the growing severity of these limitations, and the enormous costs to sustain

current operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. The Task Force is aware of the

demands of operational commanders for additional support in terms of more and more

collection platforms and sensor systems. Given these intense pressures, it is difficult to

imagine undertaking fundamentally new initiatives in the immediate future. However,

improvements modest in their cost can be undertaken immediately. These improvements

include more use of systems analysis, operations research, and planning efforts to improve

the efficiencies of TTPs and limited ISR resources, and better inter‐Service coordination to
3. TOR TASKS 51

achieve efficiencies in interoperability of Service‐specific systems. The Task Force strongly

endorses the work of the ISR Task Force in improving the PED situation in the light of the

coming enormous growth in collection data, and in responding as best they can to the

demands of operational commanders. Training of ISR personnel – particularly interactive

training wherein trainers can learn efficiencies from students who have relevant practical

experience – can also be used to improve performance with current or fewer resources.   

ISR commanders should reassess the balance between “need to know” and “need to share”

in their own commands to ensure that the right intelligence is placed in the hands of all the

people who need it, and arbitrary security restrictions are waived locally when required for

successful completion of the mission.

The Task Force recognizes that dealing with insurgencies will also require access to a wide

range of information that typically is not derived from traditional intelligence sources. These

sources of information would include, for example, social science data developed from field

research, data collected by civilian reconstruction teams that are deployed as part of a COIN

effort, or data published in open source or by third parties (medical personnel, religious

leaders, local business leaders, law enforcement, etc.). Mechanisms to collect, store, process,

and share these data will be needed to enable COIN missions.

Finally, to whatever degree is possible in the near‐term, ISR officers should take the time

and expand their efforts to become more knowledgeable in the human terrain and cultural

features of their areas of responsibility in order to be more responsive to operational

commanders. This knowledge will enable them to provide those supported commanders a

richer understanding of the situation ‐ an understanding that includes the context in which

decision must be made as well as the numbers of things in the area.

   
52 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

3.5. TOR TASK 5:  WHAT EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AND METHODOLOGIES,

COMBINATIONS OF SENSORS, AND INVESTMENTS IN INFORMATION FUSION

AND ANALYSIS ARE LIKELY TO PROVIDE THE HIGHEST PAYOFF?

Section 1 of this report provides an illustrative list of countries that represent a wide

spectrum of different potential COIN environments. When considering the ISR capabilities

needed for population‐centric operations (to include CT, COIN, FID, SO, and UW), planners

must take into account this wide range of different environments. Nevertheless, there are a

number of ISR‐related technologies, methodologies and bodies of scientific knowledge that

prove useful in support of different TTPs, at different operational phases, over different

geographies, and in very different kinds of population‐centric operations. The opportunities

to advance these capabilities by expanding scientific and technical frontiers would

ultimately yield benefits just as widely.

3.5.1. COMPUTATIONAL SOCIAL SCIENCES/SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS

All population‐centric operations require not only the ability to positively identify

individuals within the population, but also to understand social structure in terms of the

social relationships among the population. In the process of protecting the population from

nefarious actors, various counter‐network operations must be undertaken. In order to

conduct these efficiently, and without unnecessary collateral damage, social network

analysis driven by the computational social sciences is critical. Advancing the frontiers of

social science and technology through additional investment would have high leverage.

While these social networks can be derived in many ways, and through many different

methodologies, increasingly the Internet and social media are critical sources of social

network analysis data in societies that are not only literate, but also connected to the

Internet. Monitoring the blogosphere and other social media across many different cultures

and languages is emerging as a critical dimension of the computational social sciences and

social network analysis. Investment in such activities is warranted in order to be prepared to

deal with population‐centric operations. It is important to note, however, that the usefulness

of this data is linked to the ability to employ the social sciences for its analysis, to spot

meaningful trends, and to derive valid hypothesis pertinent to COIN challenges.

3.5.2. BEHAVIOR MODELING AND SIMULATION

There is a major shortfall in the availability and maturity of modeling and simulation

capabilities that support the planning, rehearsal, execution, and evaluation of population‐

centric operations. This shortfall crosses every dimension of the modeling and simulation

value chain. The biggest gaps exist in the analysis tools that would support plan

development for Phase 0 operations. These tools include valid models that emphasize the

economic, diplomatic, and social interventions that could prevent a nascent insurgency from
3. TOR TASKS 53

maturing. Social simulations such as multi‐agent simulations show promise in this area but

require further investment. Required investments should include foundation data on

populations, human networks, geography, and other economic and social characteristics.36

Human‐in‐the‐loop simulations are beginning to be fielded to support very basic cultural

training in support of the current conflict. However, these simulations do not generalize to

other environments and require further investment to make them useful for the next

potential conflict.

The key characteristic of COIN is its population‐centric orientation. One tool to better

understand and anticipate the actions of a population is behavioral modeling and

simulation. The key challenges to this are:

1) “Modeling strategy ‐ matching the problem to the real world: Difficulties in this area are

created either by inattention to the real world being modeled or by unrealistic

expectation about how much of the world can be modeled and how close a match

between the model and world is feasible.

2) Verification, validation, and accreditation: These important functions often are made

more difficult by expectations that verification, validation, and accreditation (VV&A)

– as it has been defined for the validation of models of physical systems – can be

usefully applied.

3) Modeling tactics – designing the internal structure of the model: Problems are sometimes

generated by unwarranted assumptions about the nature of the social,

organizational, cultural, and individual behavior domains, and sometimes by a

failure to deliberately and thoughtfully match the scope of the model to the scope of

the phenomena to be modeled.

4) Differences between modeling physical phenomena and human behavior – dealing with

uncertainty and adaption: Problems arise from unrealistic expectation of how much

uncertainty reduction is plausible in modeling human and organization behavior, as

well as from poor choices in handling the changing nature of human structures and

processes.

5) Combining components and federating models: Problems arise from the way in which

linkages within and across levels of analysis change the nature of system operation.

They occur when creating multilevel models and when linking together more

specialized models of behavior into a federation of models.” 37

                                                

36 Andreas Tolk and Lakhmi C. Jain, eds., Studies in Computational Intelligence, Vol. 168, Complex Systems in

Knowledge‐Based Environments: Theory, Models and Applications, “Principles for Effectively Representing

Heterogeneous Populations in Multi‐Agent Simulations,” by Daniel T. Maxwell and Kathleen M. Carley (New

York, NY: Springer, 2009): 199‐228.

37 Greg L. Zacharias, Jean MacMillan, and Susan B. Van Hemel, eds., Behavioral Modeling and Simulations: From

Individuals to Societies (Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2008): 3.
54 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

The Department would benefit from more basic and applied research in automated tools

and techniques that reason with massive amounts of data including unstructured text. Such

work would support the creation of a “social radar” sensor whose output could be fused

with more traditional sensor outputs to more efficiently and effectively improve population

focused situational awareness. There are a number of efforts currently underway that show

promise in this area. Two examples, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

(DARPA) Integrated Crisis Early Warning System (ICEWS) and the Office of Naval

Research’s (ONR) Human Social Culture Behavioral Modeling Program (HSCB) represent

attempts to exploit unstructured data.38  Although these efforts and others do not yet meet

immediate operational needs, they represent the promise this data may hold in addressing

the COIN challenge, both in the near future and in the long term.

Finally, technology can also be employed to understand what is normal in a particular

environment, thus helping spot trends that represent anomalies that may portend long‐term

changes and the rise of instability.   

3.5.3. NATURAL RESOURCE MONITORING

Increasingly, population‐centric operations will be needed in nascent resource conflicts,

whether based on water crises, agricultural stress, environmental stress, or rents to be

achieved from precious mineral resources. Understanding agricultural and hydrological

dynamics via remote sensing, terrestrial monitoring and predictive modeling could be

essential to understanding incipient or stabilizing social dynamics. A crop failure or a water

crisis could precipitate insurgency, or undermine hard won stabilization efforts.

Environmental distress that could undermine traditional industry (dependent on fishing,

and the like) could do the same. To foresee such crises allows commanders and decision‐

makers to allocate resources that might prevent a wide‐spread population crisis and

resultant insurgency.

Such crises, of course, are often driven by rapidly growing populations which outgrow the

natural carrying capacity of the land they occupy. Population bulges are being observed in

many unstable geographies as a key factor in driving instability. Monitoring population

demographics as an organic part of the natural resource framework is key in anticipating

difficult security situations before they happen.

Also, understanding mineral deposits within a region is critical. They must be understood in

terms of the global mineral/mining industry’s understanding, as they establish the market

and market price for such resources. They must also be understood in terms of the local

power‐broker’s understanding, as they could be used to instigate security crises that

provide them tactical advantage over such resources. Rare earth minerals could be

geopolitical flashpoints in regions of the world where vulnerable populations are used as

                                                

38  Michael Maybury, “Social Sensing,” Human Social Culture Behavioral Modeling Program (Summer 2010): 6.
3. TOR TASKS 55

pawns. Monitoring such minerals, and even the impact of their mining, on the larger natural

resources/population dynamics framework is critical to ward off unnecessary population‐

centric operations.

3.5.4. OVERHEAD VIDEO SURVEILLANCE

Overhead video surveillance is one capability that is widely applicable across the entire

spectrum of population‐centric operations. However, it is clear that technological challenges

related to persistence, spatio‐temporally coincident multi‐phenomenological collection, and

real‐time PED (including communication) limit the effectiveness of overhead video

surveillance with regard to particular classes of population‐centric requirements.

Not all overhead FMV is the same, certainly in terms of its applicability to population‐

centric operations. Different combinations of sensors, platforms, communications, and PED

can provide different fields of view, different resolutions (both natively and at the point of

exploitation), different geo‐locational accuracies, different phenomenological cross‐sections

(Electro‐Optical (EO), Infrared (IR), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)/GMTI, Spectral,

SIGINT, etc.), different levels of persistence, and different degrees of timeliness. Earlier

forms of FMV offered a narrow field of view, moderate resolution, poor geo‐locational

accuracy, phenomenologically simple (EO only) data, with little persistence, but with real‐

time data downlink. This constellation of capability required that multiple FMV assets be

coordinated, either to maintain persistence as each platform completed its feasible on‐

station dwell time, or to track multiple targets dispersing from a given surveillance location.

Whether dealing with targeted kill/capture operations, or monitoring human dynamics

within a population, commanders are demanding longer persistence, wider field of view,

better resolution, better geo‐locational accuracy, and multiple phenomenologies, all with

real‐time downlink.   

Capabilities such as DARPA’s Argus are certainly moving in this direction. However, Argus

is a platform‐agnostic sensor package, which has observational characteristics that are

bound to the achievement of airborne persistence at a certain altitude. Persistence, then,

requires advancement in airborne platforms that offer the kind of size, weight and power

(SWaP) characteristics needed to achieve long dwell. Persistence of such a capability (or

even of more than one such capability in a given airspace) also then requires high

bandwidth communications solutions that fall outside of the traditional RF domain, as

battlefield spectrum is increasingly saturated. Persistence over such a wide area field of

view requires computer‐assisted tracking of both vehicles and dismounts, as otherwise the

exploitation of this data will be human‐intensive, and will not scale.

Consensus appears to exist for the achievement of such a persistent, wide field of view,

high‐resolution, geospatially‐accurate, multi‐phenomenology, real‐time downlinked

overhead surveillance capability with a computer‐aided tracking solution. This capability

would be of use across operational phases and across different kinds of population‐centric

operations. Yet, it would require not only substantial technological leaps, but also the
56 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

commoditization of such technology, if the defense and intelligence communities are to

effectively (and cost‐effectively) field the needed number of combat air patrols (CAPs) of

such a capability.

3.5.5. IMPROVEMENTS TO CHARACTERIZING TERRAIN

When conducting population‐centric operations, mission planning, rehearsal, and execution

all depend upon the availability of human‐scale terrain data – particularly when operations

are arrayed over urban and complex terrain. Both LiDAR and SAR technologies have been

harnessed in order to generate large volumes of terrain data of such scales, though many

scientific and technical limitations prevent such terrain data from becoming ubiquitous.

Older photogrammetric techniques are still viable when stereo imagery is available, but

achieving human‐scale terrain models of useful post spacing or better is still a technical

challenge with commercial satellite imagery.

Such terrain data is of great value in augmenting full motion video processing, which often

requires high‐resolution base imagery and terrain data in order to be properly registered. It

is also critical to effectively geo‐locating SIGINT at a human scale.

Technologies for extracting 3D features from such high resolution terrain data have been

developed under DARPA and Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD)

efforts, but there are still considerable technological hurdles to be overcome before a LiDAR

or SAR collect can be transformed in near‐real time into an actionable mission‐planning,

rehearsal, and execution dataset. The management of such data (for instance the LiDAR .las

point cloud with gridded terrain surfaces, 3D feature data, and behavioral data must be

imputed to these features, e.g., door movements) is a technological frontier itself, which will

require considerable work.  

In the end, the realization of a force structure capable of succeeding at the full spectrum of

population‐centric operations will require the existence of high resolution 3D terrain data

over the extent of this population, and any adjacent havens for nefarious actors.

The value conveyed by traditional ISR phenomenologies is highly dependent upon the

availability of foundational data of the requisite scale, over which the ISR data can be

arrayed. In the case of COIN ISR, this foundational data includes human‐scale data of the

physical and built terrain. In general, the ability of ISR assets to successfully support COIN

depends on the availability of such foundational data, which is often collected not by the IC,

but by the topographic engineering community.  

3.5.6. PROCESSING, EXPLOITATION, AND DISSEMINATION (PED)

Too often, PED is used as a monolithic catchall category to address everything beyond a

sensor and platform. This often serves to obscure the actual technology, policy, and

tradecraft challenges that face the effective use of a particular sensor for a particular
3. TOR TASKS 57

mission. Often, the term PED is narrowly applied to the realms of imagery intelligence

(IMINT) (including FMV) and SIGINT, providing inadequate focus to the challenges posed

by a truly cross‐organization, multi‐mission, multi‐INT requirement.

Different aspects of PED and some persistent technical challenges in the realm of PED are

addressed below.

3.5.6.1    PED – Cloud Computing

Within the DoD and IC, there exists a lack of cloud computing capability (e.g., processing

and storage) available on the key warfighting networks (e.g., SIPRNet, JWICS) for the

deployment of ISR PED both at the tactical edge and within back‐office datacenter

environments. Cloud computing offers the potential to gain resource efficiencies in a

number of services (storage, processing, analytic applications). Secure cloud architectures

are emerging that may merit deployment by the DoD and IC.

3.5.6.2    PED – Spatio‐Temporal  

The critical process of data fusion fundamentally requires a consistent spatio‐temporal

framework for organizing and indexing the data flowing from each intelligence and

operational data source. While it is now widely recognized that SIGINT is made much more

powerful when geolocated and exploited with the coincident geospatial intelligence

(GEOINT) (e.g., IMINT, FMV, Mapping, Charting, and Geodesy (MC&G), human

geography, etc.), it unfortunately has not been recognized that data from all INTs and

operational sources would be much more valuable (particularly in support of population‐

centric operations) when managed and fused within a common spatio‐temporal context. All

data and analytic products should be discoverable, browsable, and accessible both spatially

and temporally. This would provide a PED that offers critical context to operators and

analysts attempting to make sense of new incoming streams of data. Only then can PED

infrastructures help operators and analysts to understand the “story.”

3.5.6.3    PED – Cross‐Domain and Classification   

There is an unhealthy redundancy with which data is hosted across the national security

community. Data is being over‐classified by placing it on networks of a higher classification

than the data. Combat commanders are invested with the authority and discretion to adjust

the classification of data as needed in support of operational exigencies, however the

complexity and rigidity of their information systems make it difficult to get electronic copies

of these data from one domain to the other. The Unified Cross Domain Management Office

(UCDMO) was established to mainstream Intelligence Community Directive (ICD) 503 PL4

and PL5 cross domain solutions that could reduce unnecessary redundancy and generate
58 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

more efficient data release/declassification.39  However, the UCDMO has had less impact on

the cross‐domain capability of everyday networks then is needed, and further effort and

priority should be applied in this area.

3.5.7. HUMAN TERRAIN DATA COLLECTION AND MANAGEMENT

There are still enormous challenges in the realm of human terrain data management.

Standardized and well‐accepted data schemas have yet to be developed for use in various

deployed capabilities, particularly schemas that are temporally‐enabled, allowing operators

and analysts to track change over time, and even to understand historical dynamics that are

relevant to present data human dynamics. Perhaps most importantly, human terrain data is

largely not managed geospatially. Spatio‐temporal management of human terrain data is

key to effective commander decision‐support. Mission planning, rehearsal and execution of

population‐centric operations fundamentally requires that the human terrain be arrayed

across the high resolution 3D physical and built terrain. Without this, military commanders

and other USG leaders cannot expect to successfully engage in an Intelligence Preparation of

the Battlefield (IPB)‐like process that could support population‐centric operations.  

Other social science frameworks, such as behavioral theories from anthropology and

sentiment observation strategies (from polling and survey disciplines) also have important

implications for the development of human terrain data management solutions. In the end,

however, all such social science frameworks must support spatio‐temporal encoding and

analysis if it is to realize its potential to commanders, operators, and decision‐makers.

3.5.8. TERRESTRIAL SENSORWEBS

In population‐centric operations of all kinds, it is important to closely monitor what is going

on over large tracts of land. However, in some cases, the achievement of persistence over a

particular environment may not be feasible. Even if feasible, there is additional

observational power that can be drawn from the deployment of distributed sensorwebs of

mobile, in situ, and remote terrestrial sensors arrayed across a landscape.40   

While defense/intelligence research and development (R&D) investment resulted in

standards‐based frameworks, such as the Open Geospatial Consortium’s Sensor Web

Enablement (OGC SWE) web services architecture, relatively little investment has been

                                                

39 Intelligence Community Directive Number 503: Intelligence Community Information Technology Systems Security, Risk

Management, Certification and Accreditation (Washington, DC: Office of the Director of National Intelligence,

September 15, 2008).

40 The 2004 Summer Study dedicated an entire chapter to identification, location, and tracking in asymmetric

warfare (153), which noted that surveillance of people, things, and activities required to populate the databases

needed for identification, location, and tracking will require persistence beyond that typical of many of today’s

ISR sensors.  
3. TOR TASKS 59

made in ensuring that all Tasking, Collection, Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination

(TCPED) have implemented OGC SWE interoperability specifications, in addition to legacy

Application Program Interfaces (APIs). The achievement of OGC interoperability in general,

and OGC SWE interoperability in particular, would have enormous mission benefits,

ensuring that each space‐based, airborne, mobile, in situ, and terrestrial remote sensor could

be accessed as web‐accessible services which can flexibly be re‐deployed and re‐

orchestrated in support of new mission challenges. As population‐centric operations must

adapt as the people adapt their behavior, it is important to have all kinds of ISR assets

available for use outside of their particular TCPED stovepipes. Interoperability of each

sensor at the network level is important, but interoperability of each sensor as a web‐

accessible service that complies with international, industry‐driven, government‐sponsored

technical standards such as OGC SWE is even more vital.

3.5.9. BIOMETRICS  

In all phases of dealing with insurgencies, positive identification is necessary to effectively

separate insurgents from the regular population. Historically, such positive identification

was achieved by provisioning identification documents which were easily forged until the

inclusion of rudimentary biometrics such as a finger print and/or photograph. As various

forms of biometric technology emerged, positive identification has come to depend upon

multiple forms of biometric authentication such as fingerprints, retina scans, and DNA

samples. Great strides have been made in the realm of biometric measurement, storage and

recall. However, distributing multi‐form biometric authentication technologies to the point

of service of the most basic administrative processes has yet to take hold, undermining

positive identification at critical junctures. In some cases, biometric enrollment has been

used, but identification cards have not been provisioned based on this biometric enrollment.

Moreover, there is often a lack of a larger identification infrastructure which might tie

identity to all an individual’s transactions. Only when each individual entity can be

resolved, and all transactions are tied back to each unique entity, can the necessary positive

identification be available for the conduct of population‐centric operations.

3.5.10. NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING

In literate societies, and particularly in connected societies, analysts and operators will often

be faced with large volumes of textual data that they must tackle in the course of their

operations. The more connected they are, the more likely this data will come in digital form.

While natural language processing technologies for thematic clustering and entity extraction

have become quite mature for English, they are less mature in many of the languages used

in areas of the world that are likely candidates for population‐centric operations.

3.5.11. OPERATIONS RESEARCH

As COIN intelligence requirements are defined, enormous challenges emerge as to their

realization. How can ISR resources be optimized against such a dynamic challenge?  
60 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

Operations Research (OR) is the application of advanced analytical methods to help make

better decisions.41  OR has contributed to military and ISR issues since its inception. As early

as 1942, the first president of the Institute for Operations Research and Management

Sciences (INFORMS), Phillip Morse, organized the Anti‐submarine Warfare Operations

Research Group (ASWORG) for the US Navy who were faced with the problem of Nazi

German U‐boat attacks on transatlantic shipping.  ʺThat Morse’s group was an important

factor in winning the war is fairly obvious to everyone who knows anything about the

inside of the war,ʺ wrote historian John Burchard.42

While the current challenges are certainly unique, one must draw upon the lessons learned

on how to apply OR to ISR challenges. Previous deliberations of the Intelligence Task Force

of the Defense Science Board on just this subject found that “Operations Research represents

a powerful tool to help improve the quality of investment decision making by illuminating

key issues, assumptions, and sources of information” yet “Operations Research is applied

inconsistently throughout the Defense and ISR communities and each lacks standard OR

processes and practices, and consistent organizational models or commitments.”43   This is

still the case.

3.5.12. CROSS DOMAIN TECHNOLOGIES

Though it is often stated that information sharing is more of a policy, cultural or leadership

issue, and less of a technical issue, the DoD and Intelligence Community is still very anemic

in its use of ICD 503 PL5 cross domain security technologies that would allow data to flow

more readily across security domains (of course, based on security markings). Mission

environments are still dominated by colliding networks, each of which has slightly different

security caveats that prevent information sharing, or make it prohibitively difficult. In

recent years, substantial technical leaps have been made in cross domain technologies,

removing the traditional bandwidth bottlenecks. Interesting implementations of such

technologies have enabled email from multiple security domains to arrive in a single high‐

side inbox, even with the ability to seamlessly reply. The widespread application of such

cross domain technologies would vastly improve information sharing, and has the potential

for vast cost savings in the area of network expenditures.

                                                

41 For a summary of operations research as a field of practice, see: http://www.informs.org/About‐

INFORMS/About‐Operations‐Research.

42 John Burchard, Q.E.D: MIT in World War II (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1948): 92.

43 Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Intelligence – Operations Research Applications to Intelligence,

Surveillance, and Reconnaissance, 3.
4. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 61

4. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Section 3 conveys detailed observations and findings concerning a wide range of issues.

This section provides the Task Force’s most significant summary findings, as well as

pertinent recommendations.

1. DoD lacks a common understanding of COIN.     

The lack of a single authoritative definition of COIN is impeding a common understanding

and unified approach to COIN operations within the DoD and across the USG.

Accompanying this lack of definition is a multiplicity of COIN CONOPS.

Recommendation   

The Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (USD(P)), in coordination with the Chairman,

Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), should promulgate a joint definition of COIN and use it to create

a common understanding across the DoD Components and the USG. As a starting point,

USD(P) should consider the 2009 U.S. Government Counterinsurgency Guide, signed by the

Secretaries of State and Defense, and the Administrator of the USAID.

2. DoD has assumed responsibility for COIN ISR by default.   

Despite a national strategy and civil‐military campaign plan that calls for a whole‐of‐

government, population‐centric approach to COIN, the USG is not employing all elements

of national power in the planning and conduct of COIN operations. DoD has assumed

responsibility for virtually all COIN intelligence requirements by default. Indeed, apart

from being a signatory to the 2009 U.S. Government Counterinsurgency Guide, the Department

of State has shown little evident interest in building or supporting the partnership described

by the Guide. This lack of partnership impedes progress toward wider approach to COIN.

Recommendation   

The Secretary of Defense and the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff should advocate the need

for a comprehensive, whole‐of‐government approach to COIN with the National Security

Council (NSC). The Secretary of Defense should look to the 2009 U.S. Government Guide to

Counterinsurgency as a starting point for this approach.

The (USD(I)) should work with the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to provide

policy, guidance, and resources that enhance national and departmental IC support for

COIN.

3. DoD and IC officials tend to focus narrowly on airborne technical collection

capabilities and systems rather than on the wider capabilities needed to support COIN.  

This observation is supported by the fact that technical collection platforms command larger

portions of the budget and produce more immediate effects rather than longer term,

foundational information for population‐centric operations. The Task Force notes that
62 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

discussions with DoD senior officials regarding ISR for COIN turned frequently to the

subject of technical collection systems and capabilities while excluding other collection

sources (e.g. OSINT, HUMINT) and PED issues. The Defense Science Board’s Summer

Study of 2010 noted that in 2009 DoD represented 62 percent of the requirements for OSINT,

but provided only 3 percent of OSINT funding.44 The lack of attention to OSINT is

buttressed by the report’s finding that in 2009 DoD had only 14 percent of the IC’s OSINT

manpower, and funded that proportion largely through Defense budget supplementals.45

Overall, these problems tend to exclude valuable sources of social and behavioral science

data, including human geography.

Recommendation   

The USD(I), in coordination with the Directors of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA),

National Security Agency (NSA), National Geospatial‐Intelligence Agency (NGA), and

National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and the Service intelligence chiefs, should ensure

policymakers, planners, warfighters and other users understand the breadth and depth of

defense ISR requirements, shortfalls, and capabilities necessary to support COIN operations

more effectively. This recommendation could be best implemented by a single authority, for

example the proposed National Intelligence Manager (NIM) for Irregular Warfare/COIN.

4 ISR capabilities have not been applied effectively against COIN operations that deal

with populations in part because a comprehensive set of intelligence requirements for

COIN does not exist.

The defense intelligence community has not translated those aspects of commander’s intent

dealing with COIN into intelligence requirements, though the United States Government

Integrated Civilian‐Military Campaign Plan for Support to Afghanistan describes in detail the

need to focus on population security, governance, and economic development. The reasons

for this apparent reluctance to engage on this issue are varied, but one key reason is that

intelligence agencies, at least those in the Washington D.C. area, tend to be reactive, waiting

for questions to be asked, rather than trying to anticipate them. This approach may be too

conservative in a period of rapid social change, promoted by instant communications.

Recommendation

The defense intelligence community should develop a set of high‐level intelligence

requirements for COIN that encompass the need to support current and near‐term

operations, as well as population‐centric and whole‐of‐government approaches to COIN. In

doing so, the defense intelligence community should look to the 2009 U.S. Government

Counterinsurgency Guide, as a starting point for doctrine that can be used to drive high‐level

                                                

44 Report of the Defense Science Board 2010 Summer Study on Enhancing Adaptability of U.S. Military Forces, 66.

45 Ibid.
4. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 63

requirements. This recommendation could be best implemented by a single authority, for

example the proposed NIM for Irregular Warfare/COIN.  

In addition, senior intelligence managers should have the necessary experience to anticipate

the needs of their customers. So as part of this recommendation, the Task Force suggests

that senior intelligence officers (SES, O‐6) serve forward for a period of time as, for example,

a Deputy J2 or a Fusion Cell Director. Even if for only shorter deployments (i.e., 3 to 4

months at a time) this would be worth doing. These officers, having had this experience,

would be able to drive intelligence analysis and support back in Washington, DC to

anticipate problems and find creative solutions. The DoD should be prepared to do this on a

consistent basis over prolonged periods of time (years if necessary).

5. The USG is not investing adequately in the development of social and behavioral

science information that is critically important for COIN.

Many, if not most, specific COIN ISR requirements are population‐centric and are not

exclusively solvable with hardware or hard, physical science S&T solutions. One senior

intelligence officer with years of field experience pointed out that 80 percent of useful

operational data for COIN does not come from legacy intelligence disciplines. Good

intelligence on COIN exists outside the traditional intelligence organizations.

Anthropological, socio‐cultural, historical, human geographical, educational, public health,

and many other types of social and behavioral science data and information are needed to

develop a deep understanding of populations. Such data, collected and analyzed using the

scientific method, is vital to COIN success.

Recommendation

The DoD and IC should undertake discussions with authoritative representatives of the

social sciences (e.g., the American Anthropological Association) to develop concepts by

which the social sciences can be employed to gain sufficient understanding of the

environments in which COIN operations might take place. DoD and the IC should develop

and implement a program to support academic institutions nationwide in building research

capabilities regarding countries and regions in which COIN operations might take place.

DoD should build a stronger Foreign Area Officer program and more favorable career

prospects for officers who engage in sustained country‐ and region‐specific specialization.

The USD(I), USD(P), USD(AT&L), and the DNI should jointly develop this capability.

6. ISR support for COIN is currently overshadowed by CT and force protection

requirements

In real terms, ISR support of COIN is not as high a priority for the Combatant Commands,

Military Departments, and Defense Agencies as CT and force protection, adversely

impacting the effectiveness of COIN operations. COIN is not necessarily an alternative to

CT; some ISR requirements are common to both kinds of operations, but COIN, particularly

population‐centric COIN, requires some ISR of its own.
64 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

Recommendation   

The USD(I) should ensure the Military Intelligence Program (MIP) and National Intelligence

Program (NIP) intelligence resources are allocated to enhance support of COIN.   

The USD(I), in coordination with the USD(AT&L), USD Comptroller (C), Assistant Secretary

of Defense for Special Operations / Low‐Intensity Conflict and Interdependent Capabilities

(SOLIC&IC), and the DNI should ensure that the Military Departments, Defense Agencies,

and the U.S Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) are acquiring the ISR capabilities

identified in this study to support COIN.

7. COIN ISR has not been addressed early in the conflict spectrum and has not

sufficiently included a whole‐of‐government approach. The lack of focus on incipient

insurgencies limits options and increases risk of unrecoverable COIN problems, despite

the commitment of major military forces.

Insurgency has been the most prevalent form of armed conflict since at least 1949.

Despite that fact, following the Vietnam War and through the balance of the Cold

War, the U.S. military establishment turned its back on insurgency, refusing to

consider operations against insurgents as anything other than a “lesser‐included

case” for forces structured for and prepared to fight two major theater wars.46

Historical studies of insurgencies over the years highlight the fact that insurgencies are

more likely if a state cannot provide fundamental services and if the population believes

they are at risk. In addition, other factors, such as the quality of leadership in a particular

country and that country’s political culture can be important factors in whether or not an

insurgency develops. The Task Force does not propose that any specific combination of

factors will result in an insurgency. Nonetheless, recent history can be instructive.

Colombia, for example, has been gripped by a tenacious insurgency, and the drug trade has

imperiled that government’s ability to govern effectively. Colombia’s strong political

leadership, however, has made effective use of U.S. security and development assistance, as

well as the political and diplomatic support of U.S. leaders. As a result, the U.S. has not been

compelled to commit substantial U.S. forces to combat an insurgency and defend the

sovereign prerogatives of Colombia’s government. In contrast, the years leading up to 9/11

witnessed little U.S. government involvement in Afghanistan. As a result, U.S. information

sources in Afghanistan were limited, which constrained U.S. potential to help shape in

Afghanistan a situation less dangerous to U.S. interests. The events of 9/11 left the U.S. with

few options in Afghanistan; combat a regime that allowed the terrorists to attack, or live

with a dangerous status quo. The Task Force therefore judges that early intervention prior to

an insurgency taking hold would give the U.S. more options and reduce the likelihood of

major combat intervention.47

                                                

46 Paul, et al., Victory Has a Thousand Fathers.

47 See Kalev I.Sepp, “Best Practices in Counterinsurgency,” Military Review (May‐June 2005).
4. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 65

In light of this record it is the view of the Task Force that irregular warfare and insurgencies

will be an enduring challenge to regional stability and U.S. national security interests.

Emerging and enduring COIN issues need attention now. Addressing potential

insurgencies in their incipient phase (i.e., “left of bang”) will provide policymakers and

commanders more whole‐of‐government options and a better prospect for deterring or

preventing the need for combat operations. Building a collection and analytic effort “left of

bang” also provides the means for sustained, consistent, and more effective ISR support

should an insurgency become active. This makes necessary a more focused approach to

COIN intelligence support, including a NIM for COIN, intelligence requirements directed

specifically to COIN (including population‐centric knowledge), and a strategic indications

and warning (I&W) model to enable early implementation of whole‐of‐government options.

Some I&W indicators are probably already available.  

Recommendation   

The USD(I) should work with the DNI to create a NIM for Irregular Warfare (including

COIN)

USD(I), in coordination with the DNI, develop a comprehensive Indications and Warning

system for COIN

a. Effective COIN, and intelligence for COIN, must reflect a whole‐of‐government effort

and whole‐of‐government capabilities.

As noted in the 2004 DSB Summer Study, the U.S. requires the means to transition into an

out of hostilities. Nowhere is this need more salient than for COIN. Addressing the entire

life‐cycle of COIN requires knowledge management capabilities that serve a wide variety of

U.S. Government departments and agencies (DoD, Department of State, the Intelligence

Community, etc.)    A NIM for COIN would be able to facilitate efficient and effective

intelligence support to COIN enabling a knowledge management capability that supports

whole‐of‐government efforts and which would encourage use of a broader range of

information sources that go beyond legacy intelligence collection.

Recommendation

There exists little appetite for new government departments and agencies, despite the need

to build and employ capabilities for COIN the U.S. does not yet possess. However, building

a whole‐of‐government intelligence capability for COIN (and other COIN capabilities) can

be facilitated by creating a virtual community of COIN experts from throughout the

government, and possibly beyond the government to the academic world. Information

technology exists today to build virtual communities of experts. Such technology can be

used to build a community of COIN experts that could constitute, a Government‐wide,

critical mass of planning and intelligence experts. Building such a virtual community would

also provide a wider group of experts to identify I&W pertaining to COIN scenarios more

swiftly than is possible today. Some of these technologies have already been employed by

the ODNI. The use of these technologies would be a swift way to assemble the critical mass
66 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

of experts needed in a manner consistent with the government’s emphasis on using

enterprise information technology to make more effective and rational government

components. The NIM for COIN could start this virtual community, given access to

sufficient enterprise information technologies and infrastructure. In doing so, however, the

NIM should include the widest possible community of potential experts throughout the IC,

and at all levels. As a further step the NIM could advocate the stand‐up of an Institute of

Intelligence for Behavioral Analysis that focuses on performing advanced analysis of group

and social networks in regions susceptible to insurgencies.

The Task Force recognizes the importance and merit of organizational and process solutions

that would integrate all departments of government to support COIN campaigns as

recommended in the 2004 DSB Summer Study. The Task Force applauds this goal, and in

light of the painful experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, sees the need as more urgent than

ever. The Task Force also recognize however, it is beyond the its charter which focuses on

improvements to ISR for COIN.48

8. The deluge of sensor data is creating a crisis in processing, exploitation, and

dissemination (PED) and associated communication, as well as an increasing need for

advanced analysis that addresses behavior of groups and the cultural framework of group

decisions.  

The insatiable demand for information and emphasis on collection is producing a deluge of

data, overwhelming the ability to provide useful, actionable intelligence in a timely manner.

This crisis in PED is being exacerbated by planned and programmed collection assets and

demands new S&T solutions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of ISR support for

COIN.   

Moreover, there is a need to develop and train people to do Advanced Analysis – and this

must be done much earlier in the careers of the best analysts. This level of analysis is needed

at the very front end of any future conflict, not several years down the road. Training for

Advanced Analysis would start at the very beginning of an analyst’s career and continue

throughout his/her career. It includes language, deep cultural awareness, and select forms of

environmental training which encourages and supports analysis on the health of a region.

Analysts need to make progress to understand the culture first hand and they need to return

to critical assignments within their intelligence agency. More and more, the analysts will

need to be placed in the field in order to be best postured for intelligence operations and

conflicts as they arise.  

                                                

48 The Task Force also considered the recommendations of the 2009 DSB study on human dynamics. See: Report of

the Defense Science Board Task Force on Understanding Human Dynamics (Washington, DC: Defense Science Board,

March 2009).
4. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 67

Recommendation   

The USD(I), in coordination with USD(AT&L), Military Departments, Defense Agencies,

and DNI should create a focused PED initiative to make more effective its use of the

increasing velocity, volume, and variety of data.   

At the very start of any new collection program, the USD(I) and the DNI should ensure that

PED requirements are fully understood and funded as part of the overall program initiative.

A number of technologies, ranging from better use of communication bandwidth to cloud

computing, are available to support this recommendation.

Moreover, the USD(I) and the DNI should implement a plan to develop and train the best

people to do Advanced Analysis. Training for Advanced Analysis would start at the very

beginning of an analyst’s career and continue throughout the career. It should encompass

language, deep cultural awareness, and select forms of environmental training which

encourages and supports analysis on the health of a region. Analysts in this program would

go forward to understand a culture first hand and then return to critical assignments within

their intelligence agency, posturing the IC for intelligence operations and conflicts as they

arise.

9. New and emerging technologies and techniques can be employed to improve

understanding of COIN environments.

Technologies are emerging, for example, to improve understanding of the physical

attributes (mineral resources, climates, geographies, including cultural geography) as well

as those pertinent to identifying pattern of life activities of groups and individuals, and

relate these attributes to incipient and real insurgencies. New analytic technologies hold the

promise of “scaling up” the ability to filter raw data, identify meaning patterns of activity,

and present analysts with material useful to understanding COIN situations, thus allowing

analysts to perform real analysis, rather than exhaust themselves culling raw data.

Technology can also be employed to understand what is “normal” in a particular

environment, helping to spot trends that represent anomalies that may portend long‐term

changes and the rise of instability.  

Recommendation

The USD(I), through the ISR Task Force, should undertake acquisition of these technologies

and integrate these technologies into whole‐of‐government approaches to COIN. The

USD(I) should focus on the acquisition of those technologies for which development has

already occurred or has already advanced significantly. The USD(I) should also employ new

technologies for data fusion, natural language processing, and information sharing to build

a more holistic approach to understanding and analyzing COIN environments.
68 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

5. COST CONSIDERATIONS

The adjustments associated with the findings and recommendations described in Section 4

represent a significant change in the manner in which intelligence support to COIN

operations is considered. These adjustments give additional emphasis to building the

infrastructure associated with regional‐  and country‐specific research and the social

sciences. Such costs, while not negligible, would be hardly material in comparison to the

costs associated with technical collection systems.

Nonetheless, this report does not represent a rigorous effort to derive the costs of

implementing these recommendations, nor does it attempt to enter the “trade space” in

which investment in these capabilities would be offset by savings associated with cuts to

current capabilities. Although there exists broad recognition that COIN represents a whole‐

of‐government and population‐centric challenge, specific intelligence requirements

associated with meeting this challenge have yet to be developed. The notional list of

countries provided in Section 1 represents a possible starting point for crafting a transition

in intelligence requirements from today’s approach to COIN to the emerging population‐

centric approach advocated by MG Flynn and others. At the core of that transition lays the

change in requirements that would make possible a more precise estimate of costs.

However, cost savings are almost certain. Population‐centric approaches (that rely on

population‐centric intelligence) would significantly reduce the likelihood of costly, major

combat operations. Building a national infrastructure of country‐  and region‐specific

experts, reinvigorating the Foreign Area Officer program, and establishing COIN

intelligence programs within the major intelligence agencies would represent a fraction of

the cost of a major military intervention to counter a future insurgency. The costs associated

with improving portions of PED are also relatively modest. Cloud computing and

virtualization technologies are now available commercially, and the IC is already

experimenting with these technologies, as well as with commercial data center technologies.

Indeed, a Federal effort underway now to consolidate data centers may prove instructive

toward consolidating and rationalizing the use of information technology for information

sharing and collaboration.  
APPENDIX A. TERMS OF REFERENCE 69

APPENDIX A. TERMS OF REFERENCE

   
70 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  
APPENDIX B. TASK FORCE MEMBERSHIP 71

APPENDIX B. TASK FORCE MEMBERSHIP

CO‐CHAIRMEN

Dr. Robert Lucky Private Consultant

Maj. Gen. Richard O’Lear, USAF (Ret.) Private Consultant

MEMBERS

Mr. Tom Behling Centra Technologies, Inc

Mr. Marc Berkowitz Lockheed Martin

Mr. Jack Keane JHU/APL

Mr. Keith Masback U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation

Dr. Dan Maxwell KaDSCI, LLC

Mr. Keith May Glimmerglass Networks

Mr. Ken McGruther Private Consultant

Mr. Howard Schue Technology Strategies & Alliances

Dr. Les Servi MITRE Corporation

Dr. Chris Tucker Private Consultant

Mr. Samuel S. Visner CSC

SENIOR REVIEWERS

Dr. Ruth David ANSER

Dr. Bill Schneider Private Consultant

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

Col. John ‘JScott’ Winstead, USAF OUSD(I)/PP&R, ISR Programs

DSB SECRETARIAT

Mr. Brian Hughes Defense Science Board

Maj. Mike Warner, USAF Defense Science Board

SUPPORT STAFF

Mr. Jimmy Hyatt OUSD(I)/PP&R, ISR Programs (Scitor)

Ms. Tammy‐jean Beatty SAIC

Ms. Amely Moore SAIC

   
72 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

APPENDIX C. BRIEFINGS RECEIVED

Briefer Organization

Mr. Collin Agee National Geospatial‐Intelligence Agency (NGA)

Mr. Don Alexander Lockheed Martin

The Honorable Charlie Allen

Col Fritz Barth, USMC National Security Agency (NSA)

Mr. Chris Baumgart The Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Lab

(JHU/APL)

Mr. Winston Beauchamp National Geospatial‐Intelligence Agency (NGA)

Mr. Bert Berliey National Geospatial‐Intelligence Agency (NGA)

Dr. Jennifer Brick‐Murtazashvili Graduate School of Public and International Affairs,

University of Pittsburgh

Mr. Larry Burgess Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, HUMINT,

Counterintelligence, & Security, USD(I)

LTG Ronald Burgess Director, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)

Dr. Kathleen Carley Carnegie Mellon University

Mr. Mark Clark Director, Intelligence Analysis, Collection and Operations

Chief of Naval Operations

Mr. Robert Clemens Air Force Research Lab (AFRL)

Mr. Rich Comfort National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC)

Mr. Joe Czika Security Strategies and Applications International, LLC

Ms. Davi D’Agostino U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)

Mr. Al  Di Leonardo SKOPE

Mr. Thomas Ferguson Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (Acting)

MG Michael Flynn, USA Awaiting Assignment at ODNI

Dr. Kerry Fosher USMC Center for Advanced Operational Culture

Learning

Mr. Alex Gliksman Security Strategies and Applications International, LLC

Mr. Jeff Green OSD General Counsel

Mr. Jimmy Greene National Geospatial‐Intelligence Agency (NGA)
APPENDIX C. BRIEFINGS RECEIVED 73

Briefer Organization

CAPT James Hamblet, USN Joint Staff Pakistan Afghanistan Coordination Cell

COL Sharon Hamilton Director Human Terrain Systems  TRADOC G2

COL Derek Harvey, USA (Ret.) Director of the Afghanistan‐Pakistan Center of Excellence

at U.S. Central Command

Mr. Rich Haver

Mr. Chuck Havener Security Strategies and Applications International, LLC

Gen. Mike Hayden, USAF (Ret.)

MAJ Trevor Hough, USA Director, SKOPE

Prof. Karl Jackson Director, Asian Studies and Director, Southeast Asia

Studies at Johns Hopkins

Dr. Dan Kaufman Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

Mr. Denis Kaufman Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)

Mr. Tim Kelly Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy

(OUSD(P))

Lt. Gen. Craig Koziol, USAF Director, ISR Task Force

Mr. Howard Larrabee National Security Agency (NSA)

Dr. Bobby Laurine National Geospatial‐Intelligence Agency (NGA)

Director Letitia Long Director, National Geospatial‐Intelligence Agency (NGA)

Mr. Edward Loxtercamp ISR Task Force

Mr. Jim Martin Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Portfolio,

Programs and Resources(ADUSD(PP&R))

Dr. Mark Maybury MITRE

GEN Stanley McChrystal, USA (Ret.)

Mr. Tom McCormick National Geospatial‐Intelligence Agency (NGA)

Mr. Kevin P. Meiners Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (acting) for Portfolio,

Programs & Resources, Office of the Under Secretary of

Defense (Intelligence)

Mr. Paul Meinshausen National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC)

Mr. Orrin Mills National Geospatial‐Intelligence Agency (NGA)

LTC John Nagl, USA (Ret.) Center for a New American Security
74 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

Briefer Organization

Mr. Randolph Nunes National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC)

Mr. Sean O’Brien DARPA

Mr. John Orem Director, ISR Programs Division OSD(CA&PE)

Mr. John Oswald National Geospatial‐Intelligence Agency (NGA)

Maj. Gen. Jim Poss, USAF Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, USAF Intelligence,

Surveillance, and Reconnaissance

Dr. Richard Rees CENTRA Technology, Inc.

Lt. Col. Frank Ruggeri, USAF ISR Task Force

Dr. Pete Rustan National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)

Mr. John Scali National Geospatial‐Intelligence Agency (NGA)

Ms. Jean Shepherd National Geospatial‐Intelligence Agency (NGA)

Ms. Lisa Spuria National Geospatial‐Intelligence Agency (NGA)

Dr. Larry Stotts Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

Mr. Neil Tipton ISR Task Force

The Honorable Mike Vickers Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low

Intensity Conflict, and Interdependent Capabilities

Mr. Patrick Warfle National Geospatial‐Intelligence Agency (NGA)

Mr. Paul Weise National Geospatial‐Intelligence Agency (NGA)

Dr. Linton Wells National Defense University (NDU)

Dr. Michael Wertheimer National Security Agency (NSA)

Ms. Michele Weslander Quaid ISR Task Force

Mr. Kevin West Defense Intel Info Enterprise (DIIE)

Mr. Shaun Wheeler National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC)

Mr. Jeffrey White National Security Agency (NSA)

Ms. Lynn Wright Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)

Mr. Ryan Yoho ISR Task Force

LTG Richard Zahner, USA U.S. Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G‐2

   
APPENDIX D. SOME USEFUL CANDIDATE METRICS 75

APPENDIX D. SOME USEFUL CANDIDATE METRICS49

Metrics for understanding progress in a COIN campaign can be divided into four

categories, based on the four key elements in any counterinsurgency: the population, the

supported (host nation) government, the security forces (military and police), and the

enemy. A selection of possible metrics includes the following:

Population‐related indicators

 Voluntary reporting. The number of unsolicited tip‐offs from the population, in

relation to insurgent activity, can indicate popular confidence in the security forces

and willingness to support the government. This indicator must be verified by

assessing the percentage of tip‐offs that prove to be accurate.

 IEDs reported versus IEDs found. Reporting of IEDs is an important subset of the

voluntary reporting metric, because accurate reporting indicates that the population

is willing to act voluntarily to protect the security forces. Improvised Explosive

Devices (IEDs) account for roughly 50% of ISAF casualties in Afghanistan. Yet

approximately 80% of IEDs discovered are spotted through a basic visual check,

often by an Afghan. Variations in the percentage of IEDs accurately reported by

Afghans may therefore correlate with local support for ISAF and the government.  

 Price of exotic vegetables. Afghanistan is an agricultural economy, and crop

diversity varies markedly across the country. Given the free‐market economics of

agricultural production in Afghanistan, risk and cost factors – the opportunity cost

of growing a crop, the risk of transporting it across insecure roads, the risk of selling

it at market and of transporting money home again – tend to be automatically priced

in to the cost of fruits and vegetables. Thus fluctuations in overall market prices may

be a surrogate metric for general popular confidence and security. In particular,

exotic vegetables – those grown outside a particular district and that have to be

transported further at greater risk in order to be sold in that district – can be a useful

tell‐tale marker.

 Transportation prices. Again, Afghanistan’s trucking companies tend to price risk

and cost – the risk of insurgent attack, IED risk, kidnapping or robbery risk, and the

costs of bribes, kickbacks and other forms of corruption – into the cost of

transportation on the country’s roads. Thus, variations over time in the cost of

transporting a standard load on a given route can indicate the level of public

perception of security, and the level of corruption and criminality, along that route.

                                                

49 David Kilkullen, “Measuring Progress in Afghanistan,” (Kabul, Afghanistan: December 2009): 6‐18,

http://humanterrainsystem.army.mil/Documents/Measuring%20Progress%20Afghanistan%20%282%29.pdf
76 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

Like all other indicators, variations over time are more significant than the absolute

cost.

 Progress of NGO construction projects. Numerous NGOs are engaged in

construction projects across Afghanistan, using local materials and labor. Unlike

government projects (which the insurgents may attack on principle), NGO projects

tend to go well when they have access to low‐cost materials and an adequate labor

supply, and they tend to suffer when costs rise due to insecurity. Thus, NGOs

running multiple projects at different points across the country may have a fairly

clear idea of security conditions and confidence levels, based on the degree of

progress in their projects.

 Influence of Taliban versus government courts. Taliban mobile courts operate across

much of the south and east of the country, providing dispute resolution, mediation

and Sharia‐based rule of law services to the local population, making judgments that

are enforced by local Taliban vigilante cells that operate much like insurgent

“police”. Rule of law and local‐level governance has developed into a major

insurgent focus over the past two years. Public willingness to seek, accept and abide

by judgments from Taliban courts may indicate popular support for the insurgents,

or it may simply reflect a default choice in the absence of an alternative – for

example, in districts where there are no local government courts (most of the south)

or where traditional tribal courts have been displaced. The range of movement and

number of cases heard by Taliban courts, compared against the number of cases

brought in local government courts, may indicate whether the population sees the

government or the insurgents as fairer, swifter or more able to solve their problems.

 Participation rate in programs. More generally, both the government and the

insurgents run a range of community programs, economic programs and political

activities that seek popular participation. The rate of participation in programs varies

between villages and, within the same village, over time. While it is generally

difficult to gauge participation in enemy programs with great precision,

participation in Afghan government or coalition programs is easier to track and may

indicate the degree to which the local community perceives the Afghan government

as a legitimate actor with the ability to address its problems.

 Taxation collection. A classical counterinsurgency metric is taxation collection,

specifically the compliance rate with government taxation programs versus the rate

of payment of insurgent taxes. In Afghanistan, while the insurgents have a robust,

predictable taxation system across most of the country, the government does not and

collects hardly any taxes at the local level. By contrast, corrupt officials and police

collect illegal tolls and taxes at checkpoints. Thus there is a three‐way comparison:

between insurgent taxation (where a high degree of local compliance indicates a

high degree of insurgent control), government taxation (where the emergence of any

fair and predictable system would represent an improvement in government
APPENDIX D. SOME USEFUL CANDIDATE METRICS 77

effectiveness) and illegal extortion (which indicates the level of corruption of key

local officials and may correlate to popular rage and discontent).

 Afghan‐on‐Afghan violence. Unlike statistics that track violence against the

coalition, Afghan‐on‐Afghan violence (whether caused by insurgent action, the

actions of government officials and security forces, or criminality) is a good indicator

of public security. In areas where there is a high level of Afghan‐on‐Afghan violence

the population is very unlikely to feel safe enough to put their weapons down and

join in peaceful negotiation or support for the government. Likewise, a spike in

Afghan‐on‐Afghan violence in a particular area probably correlates to a drop in

public confidence.

 Rate of new business formation and loan repayment. The number of new local

businesses being formed each month, along with the rate of loan repayment to local

moneylenders, can be an indicator of public confidence and economic growth. In

Afghanistan the rate of small‐business formation is typically low, while the rate of

repayment is usually fairly high. Both indicators, however, fluctuate in line with

availability of capital and confidence in the future of Afghanistan. They also tend to

vary markedly between urban and rural areas, and the contrasting numbers may

serve as a measure of how public perceptions differ in the cities and larger towns,

compared to smaller villages. The urban/rural divide is a longstanding social

cleavage in Afghanistan, one that the Taliban has exploited in the past, and is worth

tracking closely.

 Urban construction new‐start rate. Especially in urban areas, the rate of new starts

on construction projects (especially residential housing and markets) can be an

important surrogate indicator for popular confidence in the future. People who lack

a sense of security and an expectation that the future will be better than the past tend

to be less willing to invest in major construction projects. Like other indicators,

fluctuations in the new‐start rate over time may be more telling than the absolute

number of new starts in any given area at any one time.

 Percentage of local people with secure title to their house and land.  Land reform is a

longstanding issue in many parts of Afghanistan. Land ownership was a major

flashpoint in the Soviet‐Afghan war, and back into the nineteenth century. In many

areas there are complicated land disputes that are exploited by corrupt

powerbrokers. The Taliban have sometimes acted as mediators and sought to resolve

these disputes justly in order to further their influence, while at other times they

have deliberately exacerbated and exploited land disputes to gain the allegiance of

local people on one side of the dispute. A key part of public confidence and

perception of stability is having secure title to land and other property. Therefore the

percentage of people in a given district who have secure title to their property can be

an indication of stability, whereas a large number of unresolved or power‐locked

land or title disputes can indicate potential for instability and insurgent exploitation.
78 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

Host Nation Government indicators

 Assassination and kidnapping rate. The assassination and kidnapping rate of local

officials, tribal elders, district notables and ordinary people in a district can be an

indicator of instability. For example, a province where local sub‐district governors,

police officials or other government representatives are frequently assassinated, or

where there is a high turnover in local people in positions of authority, may be

experiencing a concerted insurgent push to displace or destroy a local elite. In

general terms, a high rate of this type also indicates a high degree of instability, even

in the absence of overt insurgent activity. Conversely however, a low assassination

or kidnapping rate does not necessarily indicate that a district is pro‐government – a

district with a low assassination rate, that also produces low levels of voluntary

reporting and has a low violence level, may simply be an enemy district that is stable

under insurgent control.

 Civilian accessibility. While military accessibility (discussed above) is not a good

indicator of insurgent activity, civilian accessibility is a better measure. If local

officials are unable to travel or work in a given area, or must do so with an escort, or

are frequently kidnapped or assassinated, or the local population avoids an area, this

tends to indicate insurgent or criminal presence. Even in the absence of insurgent

violence directed at coalition forces or Afghan security forces, “no‐go areas” for

civilian government officials tend to indicate a high degree of insurgent control.

 Where local officials sleep. A large proportion of Afghan government officials

currently do not sleep in the districts for which they are responsible – district

governors may sleep in the provincial capital, while some provincial governors sleep

in Kabul or in their home districts in other provinces. In some cases, when a local

official does not sleep in his assigned district, this may indicate a lack of security and

high threat, in which case the district is likely to be heavily insurgent‐contested or

even insurgent‐controlled. In other cases, the official may sleep with his own kin

group in a different district out of personal preference, indicating that he may be

acting as an “absentee governor” or may have been appointed as an outsider to

control the district, rather than representing it. In either case the official in question is

less likely to be seen as legitimate and effective by the local population. Thus

changes in this indicator may indicate changes in local perceptions of the

government.

 Officials’ business interests. It is often useful to map officials’ business interests and

those of their relatives and tribal kinship groups (ownership of companies, bids for

coalition or Afghan contracts, control of local production resources) against incidents

of violence and unrest in districts for which they are responsible. Determining these

interests can be difficult (though the local population usually knows them) but can
APPENDIX D. SOME USEFUL CANDIDATE METRICS 79

be revealing – incidents of violence against USAID construction projects, for

example, may be insurgent‐inspired, or may simply reflect the efforts of an official,

who owns a rival company, to undermine a project with a view to eventually taking

it over. An official whose tribe or family is a party to a land or water dispute, or who

has business interests in a particular piece of land, may also be an illegitimate broker

in the eyes of the local population, who may turn to the Taliban for relief.  Likewise,

officials who engage energetically in counternarcotics operations but simultaneously

own substantial poppy fields in other parts of the country may simply be eliminating

their rivals’ crops to further their own interests. A district‐based “register of officials’

assets”, regularly updated, can therefore be a very useful tool for interpreting

incidents of violence.

 Percentage of officials purchasing their positions. Many local government officials in

parts of Afghanistan gain their official positions through an informal (and illegal)

system of patronage and nepotism, where they purchase their positions for a

substantial sum, paid to a higher‐level official, often a relative. This system creates

incentives for corruption, since these officials must now recoup their investment

through extorting money from the population, and may have to pass kickbacks to

their patron. They have essentially purchased a “license to exploit”, and over time

government positions come to be seen as opportunities to fleece the population,

rather than to serve Afghanistan. Obviously, this creates enormous opportunities for

the insurgents to exploit. In a given district, therefore, a high percentage of officials

owing their positions to the illegal purchase system tends to correlate with a high

degree of corruption, and may correlate with higher‐than‐normal willingness by the

population to collaborate with the insurgents.

 Budget execution. The rate of budget execution (how much of their allocated budget

line ministries, provincial and central government officials, and local councils are

actually able to spend) is a potential indicator for government effectiveness. Districts

where allocated funds are being spent in a timely manner are more likely to be

receiving an adequate level of government services, local officials are likely to be

more capable managers, the absorptive capacity of the local economy is likely to be

higher, and corruption may be lower. Conversely, districts that do not execute their

budget effectively may be suffering from poor‐quality officials, lack of economic

capacity, and a lesser degree of essential services. Coalition units may also be at fault

– the tendency to dump CERP funds on underperforming districts through block

grants can generate the appearance of a short‐term “quick fix,” but can also have an

addictive effect that causes local officials to sit on their own funds while letting the

foreigners spend, and may create habits of dependency that ultimately undermine

the effectiveness of the local economy.

 Capital Flight. During the period of intense uncertainty in late 2009, as Afghans

anxiously awaited the U.S. decision on which strategy to select and whether or not to

reinforce the effort, we saw millions of dollars leaving the country on a weekly basis,
80 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

as Afghans shifted their assets outside the country in expectation of instability and

possible civil war. When this type of behavior spikes, as it did in late 2009, this may

indicate a significant lack of confidence in the future and public uncertainty.

Changes in the rate of capital movement outside the country may track closely with

changes in public confidence, and hence in the credibility and legitimacy of Afghan

government and international community efforts in the eyes of local elites.

 Rate of anti‐insurgent lashkar formation. Districts that are opposed to the insurgents

but also distrustful of the government tend to have a high rate of formation of

lashkars (tribal or district militias) that seek to protect the community against all

comers. Thus, the formation of anti‐insurgent militias in a given area may indicate

that the population distrusts both the government and the insurgents, and is a

possible indicator of “swing voter” behavior or autarkic “a plague on all your

houses” attitudes on the part of local community leaders.

 Public safety function. The side that performs the public safety function – protecting

the population from crime and violence – tends to be seen as the more legitimate and

effective. Given the high level of police corruption and abuse in some parts of

Afghanistan, many of our interlocutors scoff at the idea of going to the police for

protection. By contrast, the Taliban have been carefully building a reputation for

swift, harsh, but fair punishment of criminals, and for protecting local people from

abuse. The Taliban maintain a published legal code, the layeha, which binds both

Taliban units and populations to a set of standards enforced by local Taliban cells. In

Kandahar and some other centers, the Taliban maintain a public safety hotline (akin

to a 911 call center) that local people can call in an emergency, to confirm or deny

Taliban involvement in an incident, or seek Taliban assistance. These behaviors,

coupled with a moderate to high level of abuse by local officials and police, may

indicate that the local population sees the insurgents as more legitimate and effective

than the government in a given area.  

Security Force indicators

 Kill ratio. While raw body count is a poor indicator, kill ratio (the ratio between

casualties inflicted and casualties suffered) can be a useful indicator of a unit’s

confidence, aggression and willingness to close with the enemy. However, in

assessing this metric it is essential to control for civilian casualties, escalation‐of‐fire

(EOF) incidents, and other possible indicators (discussed below) that a given unit is

engaging in brutality or abuse. Kills resulting from indirect fires (artillery or

mortars), air strikes, or kills by supporting coalition units also do not count. The only

data relevant to this indicator are confirmed kills/captures, directly inflicted by the

unit in question, on positively identified insurgents actually engaging in combat

operations. Like many metrics, the absolute number of kills or captures at any given

moment is less important than second‐order data relating to trends over time. If a

unit’s kill ratio is improving, this may indicate greater confidence, better dominance
APPENDIX D. SOME USEFUL CANDIDATE METRICS 81

over a given area and better intelligence, and possibly a closer relationship with local

populations. But like other indicators, kill ratio must be interpreted in relation to

other data before this can be known.

 Win/loss ratio. At the most general level, units that consistently win their

engagements – inflicting more losses than they suffer, retaining possession of

disputed ground and protecting key population groups – are usually performing

better than units that consistently lose. In practice, however, most security force

units win most engagements against insurgents, so that changes in the win‐loss ratio

over time are more significant than the absolute proportion of wins to losses. Again,

in calculating this ratio, it is essential to control for engagements won due to

artillery/air support or coalition force intervention, as these do not count in assessing

the unit itself.

 Kill versus wound/capture ratio. In a standard combat engagement, for every one

enemy killed, we expect to see 3 to 5 enemy wounded or captured. This is of course

simply a general guideline, but some Afghan security force units consistently kill

four or five enemy to one wounded or captured.  This abnormal kill‐to‐wound ratio

bears closer investigation. It may be that the enemy always fights to the death, or

that Afghan units have a remarkably high level of marksmanship, though field

observation and anecdotal evidence suggests neither of these is the case. It may also

be that these units are relying on airpower and artillery and that this is generating

this anomalous ratio.   Alternatively, a kill‐to‐wound ratio of 4‐5:1 (rather than the

normal 1:3‐5) may indicate that units are engaging in extra‐judicial killings, or

posthumously deeming dead civilians to be “enemy.” There is insufficient evidence

at this time to be certain, but as an indicator of possible security force brutality this

needs to be closely tracked.  

 Detainee guilt ratio. A unit’s detainee guilt ratio is the proportion of individuals

detained who, on subsequent investigation, turn out to be closely and genuinely

linked to the insurgency. A unit that has a low detainee guilt ratio may be arresting

lots of local military‐age males, but if most of these are innocent it can be having a

sharply negative effect on local support, and may even be producing insurgents as

innocent detainees become radicalized in temporary detention. Conversely, a unit

that has a high detainee guilt ratio is detaining mainly individuals who are

genuinely linked to the insurgency, and this is a surrogate indicator that its

intelligence is high quality, its methods are showing appropriate restraint, and it is

probably gaining the confidence of the local population by developing a reputation

for accuracy and effectiveness.

 Recruitment versus desertion rates. In order to grow Afghan security forces, huge

efforts have been made in recruitment and retention. Yet desertion rates are also

high – so high, for example, that in RC‐South between June and September, total

ANP numbers actually shrank when police killed, wounded, missing and absent
82 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

without leave (AWOL) were taken into account.  In general, when an organization’s

recruitment rates are higher than its desertion rates, morale can be said to be

functionally adequate. When desertion rates rise, along with other indicators like

increased sickness rates and short‐term AWOL, organizational morale is likely to be

dropping. Short‐term AWOL is not a reliable indicator in itself, however, because in

countries like Afghanistan where recruits have little or no access to a banking

system, they tend to go AWOL after payday to take their pay home.  

 Proportion of ghost employees. Most Afghan military and police units have a

proportion of “ghost employees” on their books. These are fictional employees

whose pay the unit commander claims from higher headquarters, but then puts

aside for his personal use. In most cases, these ghost employees generate corrupt

income for senior officers. While this practice is unlikely to be stamped out any time

soon, the proportion of ghost employees in a unit, and the way this number changes

over time, may indicate the degree of corruption of the commanders concerned. It

does not necessarily indicate poor morale – it may do so if unit members feel they

are being exploited, but in some cases they see the practice as legitimate: in a society

without robust social security or veterans pensions, some units use ghost employees

to create a pool of funds that go to the welfare of incapacitated police or soldiers and

the families of those killed in action.

 Location at start of firefight. Every firefight in Afghanistan is played out in front of

an audience, and has a political and military meaning in the eyes of that audience.  

Afghan elders frequently call coalition commanders at the end of an engagement in

order to offer their play‐by‐play commentary on a firefight that has just ended. One

of the key elements in how the population interprets a firefight is the location of

opposing forces. For example, if security forces are located in a population center,

standing with the population at the start of an engagement, and the enemy attacks

down from the hills, then the population frequently seems to interpret the insurgents

as the aggressors and security forces as their protectors. Thus, even if the insurgents

win the firefight, they may lose politically by pushing the population into our arms.

Conversely, when security forces attack into a village or valley, even if acting on

solid intelligence, the population sometimes perceives them as the aggressors, and

may side with the insurgents. This is especially so in night attacks, surprise attacks,

or engagements in remote terrain where rural populations are traditionally

suspicious of strangers. If a unit is consistently located in close proximity to

protected populations at the start of firefights, and consistently wins those firefights,

this may indicate that the unit is gaining credibility and legitimacy in the eyes of the

population.

 EOF incidents and CIVCAS. Units that consistently get involved in escalation‐of‐

force incidents (where troops fire on civilians who fail to stop at roadblocks, drive

too close to convoys or otherwise appear threatening), or inflict significant numbers

of civilian casualties (CIVCAS) may have an overly aggressive attitude to the local
APPENDIX D. SOME USEFUL CANDIDATE METRICS 83

population and may be placing too little emphasis on protecting civilians. They may

also be overly nervous and frightened of their environment, making them trigger‐

happy. Almost certainly, units that frequently kill or wound civilians lack a close

relationship with the local population, lack viable local partners and lack a good

information network, making them more vulnerable to insurgent attacks.

 Duration of operations. Single‐day operations, where a unit sleeps every night in its

fortified base and only goes out in the daylight, tend to indicate lack of confidence,

lack of energy, or the existence of a tacit (or possibly even explicit) live‐and‐let‐live

deal with the insurgents. Single day, large‐unit sweep operations (daylight search

operations, cordon‐and‐knock sweeps or short‐duration raiding operations) may

also be having a negative effect in their own right. A unit that consistently conducts

multi‐day operations, up to several weeks at a time, and lives in its area of

responsibility rather than merely visiting it, tends over time to develop a closer

rapport with the local population, becomes more familiar with local enemy groups,

and protects its population while dominating its area more effectively.

 Night operations. If a given unit frequently operates by night, or stays out for several

nights on operations, this may indicate that the unit is dominating its area of

operations, is confident in its environment, and has the upper hand. In particular, if

night operations tend to be protective (e.g. ambushing potential enemy routes used

to infiltrate population centers and intimidate government‐aligned population

groups) then they may contribute to a popular feeling of safety and normality, and

hence may bring the local population to the government side. On the other hand, if

night operations are aggressive (raiding, hard‐knock search operations, or use of air

strikes and indirect fires to “deny” areas to insurgents) the same operations may

actually contribute to a feeling of insecurity on the part of the population, and hence

may have a de‐stabilizing effect on the district.

 Small‐unit operations. Units that mount a larger number of smaller unit operations

(at squad, platoon or company level, depending on the local threat profile) tend to

cover a greater area within their area of responsibility, with greater thoroughness.

Willingness to conduct multiple small‐unit operations also indicates a greater degree

of confidence and an expectation of defeating the enemy if encountered.  

 Combined action operations. Operations involving combined action – where

coalition units intimately partner with local military, police, civilian authorities and

coalition civilian agencies down to small‐unit level – tend to indicate improved

performance by all partners in the action. Coalition forces tend to perform better

because they have access to local knowledge, language skills and situational

awareness.    Local military forces can access coalition fires, intelligence, mobility,

medical support and other enablers, and have a constant professional exemplar in

the presence of coalition troops. Local police are relieved of the burden of direct

combat with main‐force insurgents and can focus on their policing role, and they are
84 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

constantly monitored, reducing the risk of corrupt or abusive behavior. Local and

coalition civilian authorities and agencies are able to operate in higher‐threat

environments as part of a combined action team, giving them greater reach and

endurance, better protection, and the ability to demonstrate responsible leadership

and deliver essential services to the population.  

 Dismounted operations. If a unit frequently operates on foot, this may be an

indicator that it is more confident in its environment, has greater reach across its area

of responsibility (much of which, in Afghanistan, may be out of reach of the road

system), and has a better rapport with local populations. Anecdotal evidence and

data from other campaigns suggests that units that operate dismounted may also be

less vulnerable to roadside IEDs, though this is yet to be confirmed in the Afghan

context.    Conversely, units that always operate from the supposed safety of road‐

bound armored vehicles may be predictable (due to always following a limited

number of roads), may be easily ambushed, and may lack rapport with the

population, which may see them as alien, strange or cowardly. The roadside IED is

clearly a military weapon, but it is also a political weapon used by the insurgents to

separate the security forces from the population.  Dismounted operations can redress

this separation. In practice, due to the size of Afghanistan and the lack of friendly

troops, almost all operations commence with a road or air move to a jumping‐off

point, from which units may proceed dismounted. The positive effects of

dismounted operations may improve the relationship between the unit and the

population across its whole area of responsibility, however, not just in the actual

areas where it operates dismounted.

 Driving technique. The driving style of a unit – whether drivers push civilian

vehicles out of their way, whether they wait their turn in traffic, how aggressively

they force civilian cars back from convoys, whether or not they illuminate passing

traffic with laser sights, whether they hog the center lane of the road or drive in lane

– is a good atmospheric indicator of a unit’s attitude to the population, and hence of

the population’s likely attitude to that unit. Units that drive rudely, alienate the

population and disrupt traffic and commerce with aggressive driving techniques

usually have poor community rapport.

 Reliance on air and artillery support. If a unit relies too heavily on air strikes,

artillery and mortar fire, and other forms of non‐organic support in most of its

engagements, this may indicate lack of confidence and unwillingness to engage with

the enemy or the local population. It also creates conditions that may lead to

increased CIVCAS or collateral property damage, as the unit is employing area

weapons that it does not control, rather than organic direct‐fire weapons. This

tendency can be assessed by comparing the size of units engaged in a given series of

combat actions with how often they call on non‐organic fires: if a unit consistently

draws on indirect fire even when engaging much smaller enemy groups, it may have

a confidence problem. Conversely, if the unit regularly gets into situations where its
APPENDIX D. SOME USEFUL CANDIDATE METRICS 85

small units encounter large enemy groups and have to be rescued by indirect fire, it

may be over‐reaching, or may be overmatched in its area of operations and require

reinforcement.

 Pattern‐setting and telegraphing moves to the enemy. Units that set patterns –

always moving on set routes, always leaving or entering bases from the same

direction at the same time, selecting the same overwatch positions on patrol after

patrol, or developing standard ambush positions or observation posts – tend to

become more vulnerable to insurgent ambushes, IEDs and attacks. Likewise, if a unit

has a tendency to accidentally telegraph its moves to the enemy (say, by always

massing helicopters in the same way before a raid) it may be more vulnerable to

being out‐maneuvered by the insurgents. On the other hand, telegraphing moves to

the population is often appropriate in Afghanistan: even the Taliban rarely move

from one valley or village to another without seeking community permission, and

coalition units can message local populations – “we are coming into your valley next

month, you have ten days to expel the enemy from your villages or we will be forced

to mount a clearance operation” – in order to force the enemy to move without

fighting. This does not always work, but it is a technique that is familiar to Afghans

as it is often used in their traditional forms of conflict, and may have a positive effect

in some circumstances.

 Possession of the high ground at dawn. The Afghan campaign, in addition to being a

counterinsurgency, a stabilization operation and a competition for governance, is

also a classic mountain warfare campaign, especially in RC‐North, RC‐East and

some parts of RCs‐South, ‐West and ‐Capital.  As such the basic tenets of mountain

warfare tactics apply, including control of the high ground, maintenance of wide

fields of observation from key terrain, dominance of peaks overlooking key routes,

ability to bring plunging fire onto identified enemy positions and ability to move on

the high ground at night. Units that consistently hold the high ground at dawn tend

to demonstrate a mastery of this form of warfare, while units that are consistently

overlooked by the enemy at first light tend to struggle in this environment.

Enemy indicators

 High‐technology inserts. The Taliban are generally a low‐tech guerrilla force, but

they do possess and deploy some high‐technology capabilities: satellite phones,

accurized weapons, sniper optics, and (in some parts of the country) high‐tech

components for improvised explosive devices. Presence of these high‐tech inserts in

a given insurgent group may indicate that it has access to better funding or greater

support from external sponsors, and such a unit is more likely to be a full‐time main

force Taliban column, rather than a local (Tier 2) guerrilla group.

 Insurgent medical health. The health of individual insurgent detainees is also an

indicator of the nature of the insurgent organization in a given area. Local guerrillas
86 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

tend to suffer numerous health problems ranging from malnutrition through

malaria, tuberculosis, leishmaniasis and other parasitic diseases, to diabetes,

respiratory tract infections and other chronic health problems. Their health problems

tend to track those of the local population in a given area. Main force units, on the

other hand, often have a better general level of health and insurgents based in

Pakistan or directly sponsored by external agencies may have received inoculations

or other medical support – in both cases, the healthier an insurgent the more likely

he is to have received external assistance.

 Presence of specialist teams and foreign advisers. Some Taliban main‐force units

work with specialist teams – snipers, heavy machine‐gun and mortar teams, rocket

teams, specialized reconnaissance teams, intelligence teams, media/propaganda

teams, and so on. They also often include foreigners (i.e. of non‐Afghan origin) and

occasionally foreign advisors (usually Pakistani or central Asian in origin). The

presence of these specialized teams, and especially of foreign advisers, in a given

district may indicate that a main‐force enemy column is working in the district.

 Insurgent village‐of‐origin. There is an extremely important difference between

insurgents who originate from villages within the same district where they fight

(local guerrillas) and insurgents who fight outside their district‐of‐origin. Local

guerrillas are often part‐time fighters, they frequently switch sides in the conflict

based on local (tribal or economic) motivation, and more generally are part of the

fabric of local society. If a security force unit is to stabilize a given district, it needs to

defeat these local guerrillas but it must also emphasize reintegration, reconciliation,

and winning over these groups, which after all represent key members of society the

unit is trying to stabilize. Thus, attempts to destroy local guerrillas outright can

backfire by alienating communities, creating blood feuds that perpetuate the conflict.  

On the other hand, insurgents who operate outside their district‐of‐origin, or even

originate from outside the country, can be deemed “foreign fighters” in the eyes of

the community.    They often lack tribal ties or rapport with the community, and

should be targeted with maximum lethality, as ruthlessly as legally permissible. As a

foreign body within local society, these fighters can be killed and captured

intensively (as long as targeting is accurate and avoids innocent civilians) without

disrupting our relationship with the locals. Indeed, local communities may actually

feel safer and may partner more closely with units that ruthlessly target foreign‐

origin insurgents, while seeking to reintegrate and reconcile with local guerrillas.

 First‐to‐fire ratio. The first‐to‐fire ratio is a key indicator of which side controls the

initiation of firefights, and is a useful surrogate metric to determine which side

possesses the tactical initiative. If our side fires first in most firefights, this likely

indicates that we are ambushing the enemy (or mounting pre‐planned attacks) more

frequently than we are being ambushed. This in turn may indicate that our side has

better situational awareness and access to intelligence on enemy movements than the

insurgents, and it certainly indicates that we have the initiative and the enemy may
APPENDIX D. SOME USEFUL CANDIDATE METRICS 87

be reacting to us. Most importantly, the side that initiates the majority of firefights

tends to control the loss rate, and this can be checked by mapping insurgent losses

against which side fired first in the engagements where those losses were suffered –

if the insurgents are losing most of their casualties in firefights they initiate

themselves, then they are in control of their own loss rate and can simply stop

picking fights if their losses become unsustainable, and re‐start operations once they

recover. If they are losing most of their casualties in engagements we initiate, then

we control their loss rate and can force them below replenishment level and

ultimately destroy the network in question.

 Price of black‐market weapons and ammunition. Afghanistan has a substantial black

market in weapons, ammunition, explosives and other military equipment. As in

any other free market, the price of weaponry on this black market reflects supply

(availability of weapons) and demand (the rate of arming or rearming among

population groups and the insurgent requirements for weapons to support their

operations). Thus price fluctuations over time – especially in standard weapons such

as Chinese or Romanian AKs, or in commodities such as 7.62mm short AK rounds –

can indicate changes in insurgent operational tempo, an increase in community

demand (due to insecurity) or a drop in supply due to improved interdiction.   

 Insurgent kill/capture versus surrender ratio. A larger number of defectors, deserters

or surrenders on the part of an insurgent group may indicate a drop in that unit’s

morale. Conversely, unwillingness to surrender – fighting until killed or captured –

on the part of insurgent fighters can indicate high motivation. Analysts can seek

indications of an insurgent network’s morale by comparing changes over time in the

insurgent kill/capture rate with changes in the surrender/desertion rate. These ratios

should also be considered in relation to the insurgent recruitment and retention rate

– if a unit’s loss rate is high but it has no difficulty obtaining local recruits then it is

likely to be experiencing a high degree of local support.  

 Mid‐level insurgent casualties. The insurgents’ loss rate is also a useful indicator,

especially in relation to losses in the middle tiers of the insurgent organization – the

level below the senior leadership group, comprising planners, operational

facilitators, technical specialists, trainers, recruiters, financiers, and lower‐level

operational commanders. Killing senior leaders may not actually damage the

insurgency particularly, especially if senior leaders who are killed are simply

replaced by younger, hungrier, more radical and more operationally experienced

leaders from the next generation. Likewise, the insurgents can (and do) expect to lose

a significant number of foot‐soldiers, and to replace them relatively easily with

minimum disruption. On the other hand, killing or capturing the insurgent “middle

management” tier can do significant damage to the organization, while leaving

senior leaders intact and perhaps even convincing them over time that their

campaign is futile, and without killing large numbers of lower‐tier fighters and

sympathizers who may be good candidates for reintegration. Thus the insurgent loss
88 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

rate at the middle level of the network is an especially important indicator of the

network’s health and resilience.
APPENDIX E. METRICS USED BY INSURGENTS 89

APPENDIX E. METRICS USED BY INSURGENTS50

Metric 1:  Victory can be understood as the Perpetuity of Fighting.  

The influential Saudi militant, the late Yusuf al‐’Uyayree, elucidates this long‐term

perspective in his works Meanings of Victory and Loss in Jihaad and The Future of Iraq and

the Arabian Peninsula. This understanding is a cultural pillar of the global jihadi trend,

which, based on its interpretation of the sacred sources, sees itself as the true, victorious sect

that will fight until the end of days. This idea of victory is also apparent in the Creed of the

Global Islamic Media Front, a primary outlet of the global jihadi movement: We believe that

the victorious sect will be the sect of learning and jihad. We believe that jihad will continue

until the Day of Judgment, with every pious man or wrongdoer, in every time and place,

with an imam or without an imam. It will continue with a single individual or more. No

tyrant’s injustice or naysayer’s discouragement will halt it. We believe that jihad in God’s

way is the legitimate and sound way that will enable the Ummah to resume an Islamic life

and establish a well‐guided caliphate according to the program of the Prophet.

Metric 2:  Victory is Found in Obeying the Obligation to Fight Islam’s Enemies,

Not in the Outcome of Battle.

Anwar al‐Awlaki—formerly associated with an Islamic center in Falls Church, Virginia, and

a past chaplain at George Washington University—delivered a lecture on al‐’Uyayree’s

works in which he explained this understanding in poignant terms. In the transcription of

his lecture, titled “Constants on the Path of Jihad,” al‐Awlaki stated: Victory is not what we

are accountable for; we are accountable for whether or not we are doing what Allah

commands. We fight Jihad because it is hard [obligatory] on us; we are not fighting to win

or loose [sic]. If we broaden our perspective, we will come to realize that whoever rides the

peak of Islam (Jihad) [parentheses and emphasis in original] can never loose [sic] and will

always win but not always win in physical victory. This definition has implications

for jihadis at the collective and individual levels. At the collective level, adhering to this

duty results in overt obedience to and therefore guidance by Allah. When

mujahideen (those who believe they are fighting in God’s path) embrace this obligation and

absorb this guidance, tangible strategic success for the ummah—the global Muslim

community—is believed to follow. The establishment of the state of Israel and regional

regimes is generally viewed by jihadis as a byproduct of neglecting this obligation.  At the

individual level, a rational decision to exchange love for worldly comforts for the love of

battle and to overcome Satan and those who hinder one from fighting represents more than

simple obedience: it is a purifying, ennobling act. One hour of jihad in Allah’s path,

according to a famous hadith beloved by Abdullah Azzam, architect of the Afghan jihad, is

                                                

50 Jeffrey B. Cozzens, “Victory from the Prism of Jihadi Culture,” Joint Forces Quarterly No. 52 (Winter 2009): 86‐

91.
90 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

better than 60 years of praying. As case studies of jihadis in the United Kingdom and

elsewhere attest, some young Islamists also see jihad as a social rite of passage.

Metric 3:  The Institutionalization of a Culture of Martyrdom Is a Victory.  

According to exponents of global jihad such as Abu Ayman al‐Hilali, martyrdom is the

greatest victory a mujahid can have. Al‐Hilali and others argue that martyrdom operations

offer a direct route to Paradise, the most effective means to strike adversaries, and the

loftiest form of witness. And as illustrated by West Point’s Sinjar Records, a collection of

nearly 700 foreign fighter biographies from Iraq, the idea that martyrdom is synonymous

with victory for many jihadis goes well beyond theory. When al Qaeda in Iraq

“bureaucrats” queried foreign fighters as to why they came to Iraq, or what duty they

hoped to perform, 217 of the 389 who responded (56.3 percent) indicated a desire

for martyrdom, whereas 166 projected their roles as “fighter” (or something similar).

Metric 4:   Victory Comes by Pinpointing Islam’s Enemies through the Refining

Process of Jihad, and Thus Maintaining Its Identity.

Sayf‐ad‐Din al‐Ansari, another online jihadi strategist, argued this point explicitly in a 2002

essay on the 9/11 attacks: Our Islamic community has been subjected to a dangerous process

of narcosis. As a result, it has lost the vigilance that comes from faith and fallen into a deep

slumber. The most dangerous consequence of this is that most Muslims can no longer

distinguish between their enemies and their friends. The fallout from choosing peace and

normalization has caused a great confusion of ideas. The resultant situation poses a genuine

threat to our very identity.  [The 9/11 attacks] came to move this war from the shadows out

into the open, to make the community aware of the enemy. It revealed the perils that

surround us in a way that everyone can understand. The attacks succeeded in laying bare

the enemy’s soul and talk of a new crusade with all the historical baggage the phrase entails.

It became clear to everyone that this is a campaign against Muslims more than a war against

the mujahidin. Islam itself is the target. The raid showed just how fragile is the supposed

coexistence of Muslims and Crusaders. Fighting, al‐Ansari argues, is equivalent to

maintaining the ummah’s identity against internal and external threats; it is the

ultimate means to enjoin the good and forbid the evil. As the ever‐popular jihadi author

Muhammad al‐Maqdisi contends in The Religion of Abraham, it is simply not enough to

renounce tyrants verbally.  

Metric 5:    Establishing Pride, Brotherhood, and Unity in the Face of Threats to

the Ummah Is a Form of Victory.  

Abu Ubayd al‐ Qirshi, another popular militant “strategist” who wrote a pseudo‐scholarly

essay complete with notes, “The Impossible Becomes Possible,” advances this point

forcefully: With the New York and Washington raids, al‐ Qa’ida established a model of a

proud Islamic mentality. This outlook does not view anything as impossible.    Al‐Qa’ida
APPENDIX E. METRICS USED BY INSURGENTS 91

embodies Islamic unity. Blood from all the countries of the Islamic community has mixed

together in the jihad that al‐Qa’ida leads with no distinction between Arab and non‐Arab. In

and of itself, this is a step on the road to Islamic unity and the destruction of the colonialist

treaties that have torn the body of the Islamic community apart.   [W]ith absolute trust in

God, a willingness to die in God’s path, patience, and generosity of spirit these qualities

undoubtedly lead to victory. While generally a pragmatic author concerned more with

“jihadi strategic studies” than theology, al‐Qirshi’s view of brotherhood and unity echoes

the perspectives of many salafis, militant or otherwise: preserving the integrity and purity of

Islam in the face of contemporary intra‐Islamic strife (fitnah), syncretistic practices, and

external threats is of paramount importance. None of these can be confronted apart from a

unified and self sacrificial methodology (the latter of which al‐Qirshi and al Qaeda believe

to be associated with violence and martyrdom).  

Metric 6:    Creating a Parity of Suffering with Islam’s Enemies—Especially the

Jews and Crusaders—Is a Victory.  

According to Saudi cleric Nasr al‐Fahd and al Qaeda spokesman Suleiman Abu Geith

(among others), upholding the shari’a principle of “repayment in kind” (al‐mu’amala bil‐

mithl) not only justifies but also demands the murder of millions of al Qaeda’s enemies to

avenge the millions of Muslims killed at their hands. Al‐Fahd— whose well‐known fatawa

(religious opinions) concerning the “legitimacy” of the Taliban regime and the destruction

of the Buddha statues in Afghanistan were widely circulated online—published on May 21,

2003, a fatwa justifying the use of nuclear weapons (as well as other weapons of mass

destruction) against the “enemies of Islam.” Al‐Fahd wrote: The attack against it by WMD

[which al‐Fahd explicitly defined as “nuclear, chemical, or biological”] is accepted, since

Allah said: “If you are attacked you should attack your aggressor by identical force.”

Whoever looks at the American aggression against the Muslims and their lands in recent

decades concludes that it is permissible. They have killed about ten million Muslims, and

destroyed countless lands. If they would be bombed in a way that would kill ten millions of

them and destroy their lands—it is obviously permitted, with no need for evidence.

Terrorism—including that involving WMD—is seen by authors such as Abu Geith and al‐

Fahd as being among the most expedient methods for achieving the reciprocal suffering

(and thus, victory) for which their reading of Islamic law calls.

Metric 7:    Victory Is Seen in the Maladies Afflicting God’s Enemies,

Especially Economic Recession and Natural Disasters.  

Al‐’Uyayree writes that economic hardships among Allah’s enemies are sure signs of

His favor upon the mujahideen and harbingers of their impending victory. Furthermore,

we see in the writings of other extremists that natural disasters such as Hurricane

Katrina are believed to foreshadow the imminent collapse of the West and victory for the

Islamic vanguard over the unbelievers.  
92 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

Metric 8:    The Presence of Miracles in Jihad Foretells of Victory for the

Mujahideen.  

Abdullah Azzam’s book on miracles in the Afghan jihad, The Signs of Rahmaan in

the Jihaad of the Afghan—a “most viewed” publication on the extremist‐leaning

Makhtabah.net online bookseller—illustrates this point, as does a mountain of online jihadi

writings covering the “miraculous events” of the battle of Fallujah, and the supernatural in

contemporary Afghanistan.

Metric 9:  The Promotion of the Heroic Template Is Itself Victory.  

The jihadi literature reminds us ad nauseam that victory does not depend on individual

leaders; those who trust in men rather than Allah will eventually suffer moral, if not

material, defeat. Instead, victory comes by emulating the “heroes” of fighting—those who

leave everything behind to make their blood cheap for the ummah— and by enduring the

temporary and refining trial of their absence. We are reminded that jihadi leaders

themselves aspire to martyrdom when Allah wills it. As a testament to this notion, we see

the wills, elegies, and eulogies of jihadis published and distributed on an almost industrial

scale. Their message is consistent: Obey Allah as I did, avenge the ummah, and enter

Paradise. .
APPENDIX F. SELECTED EXTRACTS REGARDING WHOLE‐OF‐GOVERNMENT 93

APPENDIX F. SELECTED EXTRACTS REGARDING WHOLE‐OF‐GOVERNMENT

APPROACH FROM “NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY, MAY 2010”51

“To succeed, we must balance and integrate all elements of American power and update our

national security capacity for the 21st century. We must maintain our military’s

conventional superiority, while enhancing its capacity to defeat asymmetric threats. Our

diplomacy and development capabilities must be modernized, and our civilian

expeditionary capacity strengthened, to support the full breadth of our priorities. Our

intelligence and homeland security efforts must be integrated with our national security

policies, and those of our allies and partners. And our ability to synchronize our actions

while communicating effectively with foreign publics must be enhanced to sustain global

support.”  

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ 

Successful engagement will depend upon the effective use and integration of different

elements of American power. Our diplomacy and development capabilities must help

prevent conflict, spur economic growth, strengthen weak and failing states, lift people out

of poverty, combat climate change and epidemic disease, and strengthen institutions of

democratic governance. Our military will continue strengthening its capacity to partner

with foreign counterparts, train and assist security forces, and pursue military‐to‐military

ties with a broad range of governments. We will continue to foster economic and financial

transactions to advance our shared prosperity. And our intelligence and law enforcement

agencies must cooperate effectively with foreign governments to anticipate events, respond

to crises, and provide safety and security.

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ 

Strengthening National Capacity—A Whole‐of‐Government Approach

To succeed, we must update, balance, and integrate all of the tools of American power and

work with our allies and partners to do the same. Our military must maintain its

conventional superiority and, as long as nuclear weapons exist, our nuclear deterrent

capability, while continuing to enhance its capacity to defeat asymmetric threats, preserve

access to the global commons, and strengthen partners. We must invest in diplomacy and

development capabilities and institutions in a way that complements and reinforces our

global partners. Our intelligence capabilities must continuously evolve to identify and

characterize conventional and asymmetric threats and provide timely insight. And we must

integrate our approach to homeland security with our broader national security approach.

We are improving the integration of skills and capabilities within our military and civilian

institutions, so they complement each other and operate seamlessly. We are also improving

                                                

51 Emphasis added.
94 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

coordinated planning and policymaking and must build our capacity in key areas where we

fall short. This requires close cooperation with Congress and a deliberate and inclusive

interagency process, so that we achieve integration of our efforts to implement and monitor

operations, policies, and strategies. To initiate this effort, the White House merged the staffs

of the National Security Council and Homeland Security Council.

However, work remains to foster coordination across departments and agencies. Key steps

include more effectively ensuring alignment of resources with our national security

strategy, adapting the education and training of national security professionals to equip

them to meet modern challenges, reviewing authorities and mechanisms to implement and

coordinate assistance programs, and other policies and programs that strengthen

coordination.

Defense:  We are strengthening our military to ensure that it can prevail in today’s wars; to

prevent and deter threats against the United States, its interests, and our allies and partners;

and prepare to defend the United States in a wide range of contingencies against state and

non‐state actors. We will continue to rebalance our military capabilities to excel at

counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, stability operations, and meeting increasingly

sophisticated security threats, while ensuring our force is ready to address the full range of

military operations. This includes preparing for increasingly sophisticated    adversaries,

deterring and defeating aggression in anti‐access environments, and defending the United

States and supporting civil authorities at home. The most valuable component of our

national defense is the men and women who make up America’s all‐volunteer force. They

have shown tremendous resilience, adaptability, and capacity for innovation, and we will

provide our service members with the resources that they need to succeed and rededicate

ourselves to providing support and care for wounded warriors, veterans, and military

families. We must set the force on a path to sustainable deployment cycles and preserve and

enhance the long‐term viability of our force through successful recruitment, retention, and

recognition of those who serve.

Diplomacy:  Diplomacy is as fundamental to our national security as our defense capability.

Our diplomats are the first line of engagement, listening to our partners, learning from

them, building respect for one another, and seeking common ground. Diplomats,

development experts, and others in the United

States Government must be able to work side by side to support a common agenda. New

skills are needed to foster effective interaction to convene, connect, and mobilize not only

other governments and international organizations, but also non‐state actors such as

corporations, foundations, nongovernmental organizations, universities, think tanks, and

faith‐based organizations, all of whom increasingly have a distinct role to play on both

diplomatic and development issues. To accomplish these goals our diplomatic personnel

and missions must be expanded at home and abroad to support the increasingly

transnational nature of 21st century security challenges. And we must provide the
APPENDIX F. SELECTED EXTRACTS REGARDING WHOLE‐OF‐GOVERNMENT 95

appropriate authorities and mechanisms to implement and coordinate assistance programs

and grow the civilian expeditionary capacity required to assist governments on a diverse

array of issues.

Economic:  Our economic institutions are crucial components of our national capacity and

our economic instruments are the bedrock of sustainable national growth, prosperity and

influence. The Office of Management and Budget, Departments of the Treasury, State,

Commerce, Energy, and Agriculture, United States Trade Representative, Federal Reserve

Board, and other institutions help manage our currency, trade, foreign investment, deficit,

inflation, productivity, and national competitiveness. Remaining a vibrant 21st century

economic power also requires close cooperation between and among developed nations and

emerging markets because of the interdependent nature of the global economy. America—

like other nations—is dependent upon overseas markets to sell its exports and maintain

access to scarce commodities and resources. Thus, finding overlapping mutual economic

interests with other nations and maintaining those economic relationships are key elements

of our national security strategy.

Development:    Development is a strategic, economic, and moral imperative. We are

focusing on assisting developing countries and their people to manage security threats, reap

the benefits of global economic expansion, and set in place accountable and democratic

institutions that serve basic human needs. Through an aggressive and affirmative

development agenda and commensurate resources, we can strengthen the regional partners

we need to help us stop conflicts and counter global criminal networks; build a stable,

inclusive global economy with new sources of prosperity; advance democracy and human

rights; and ultimately position ourselves to better address key global challenges by growing

the ranks of prosperous, capable, and democratic states that can be our partners in the

decades ahead. To do this, we are expanding our civilian development capability; engaging

with international financial institutions that leverage our resources and advance our

objectives; pursuing a development budget that more deliberately reflects our policies and

our strategy, not sector earmarks; and ensuring that our policy instruments are aligned in

support of development objectives.

Homeland Security:  Homeland security traces its roots to traditional and historic functions

of government and society, such as civil defense, emergency response, law enforcement,

customs, border patrol, and immigration. In the aftermath of 9/11 and the foundation of the

Department of Homeland Security, these functions have taken on new organization and

urgency. Homeland security, therefore, strives to adapt these traditional functions to

confront new threats and evolving hazards. It is not simply about government action alone,

but rather about the collective strength of the entire country. Our approach relies on our

shared efforts to identify and interdict threats; deny hostile actors the ability to operate

within our borders; maintain effective control of our physical borders; safeguard lawful

trade and travel into and out of the United States; disrupt and dismantle transnational

terrorist, and criminal organizations; and ensure our national resilience in the face of the
96 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

threat and hazards. Taken together, these efforts must support a homeland that is safe and

secure from terrorism and other hazards and in which American interests, aspirations, and

way of life can thrive.

Intelligence:  Our country’s safety and prosperity depend on the quality of the intelligence

we collect and the analysis we produce, our ability to evaluate and share this information

in a timely manner, and our ability to counter intelligence threats. This is as true for the

strategic intelligence that informs executive decisions as it is for intelligence support to

homeland security, state, local, and tribal governments, our troops, and critical national

missions. We are working to better integrate the Intelligence Community, while also

enhancing the capabilities of our Intelligence Community members. We are strengthening

our partnerships with foreign intelligence services and sustaining strong ties with our close

allies. And we continue to invest in the men and women of the Intelligence Community.

Strategic Communications: Across all of our efforts, effective strategic communications are

essential to sustaining global legitimacy and supporting our policy aims. Aligning our

actions with our words is a shared responsibility that must be fostered by a culture of

communication throughout government. We must also be more effective in our deliberate

communication and engagement and do a better job understanding the attitudes, opinions,

grievances, and concerns of peoples—not just elites—around the world. Doing so allows us

to convey credible, consistent messages and to develop effective plans, while better

understanding how our actions will be perceived. We must also use a broad range of

methods for communicating with foreign publics, including new media.

The American People and the Private Sector: The ideas, values, energy, creativity, and

resilience of our citizens are America’s greatest resource. We will support the development

of prepared, vigilant, and engaged communities and underscore that our citizens are the

heart of a resilient country. And we must tap the ingenuity outside government through

strategic partnerships with the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, foundations,

and community‐based organizations. Such partnerships are critical to U.S. success at home

and abroad, and we will support them through enhanced opportunities for engagement,

coordination, transparency, and information sharing.
APPENDIX G. DEFINITIONS 97

APPENDIX G. DEFINITIONS

Irregular Warfare (IW) Operations and Activities

(Joint Operating Concept (JOC) v 1.0 (Sept 2007))

Term Definition

Irregular Warfare

A violent struggle among state and non‐state actors for legitimacy and

influence over the relevant population(s). Irregular warfare favors indirect and

asymmetric approaches, though it may employ the full range of military and

other capacities, in order to erode an adversary’s power, influence, and will.

(Joint Publication (JP) 1‐02; JP 1)

Insurgency

1. An organized movement aimed at the overthrow of a constituted

government through use of subversion and armed conflict. (JP 1‐02)    2. An

organized, armed political struggle whose goal may be the seizure of power

through revolutionary takeover and replacement of the existing government.

However, insurgencies’ goals may be more limited. Insurgencies generally

follow a revolutionary doctrine and use armed force as an instrument of policy.

(FM 100‐20, 1990) 3. An organized movement aimed at the overthrow of an

established government or societal structure, or the expulsion of a foreign

military presence, through the use of subversion and armed conflict. (Proposed

by U.S. Special Operations Command)  

2. The organized use of subversion and violence by a group or movement that

seeks to overthrow or force change of a governing authority. Insurgency can

also refer to the group itself. (JP 3‐24, 2009)

Counterinsurgency (COIN) See Table 1. Definitions of COIN.

Unconventional Warfare

(UW)

A broad spectrum of military and paramilitary operations, normally of long

duration, predominantly conducted through, with, or by indigenous or

surrogate forces who are organized, trained, equipped, supported, and directed

in varying degrees by an external source. It includes, but is not limited to,

guerrilla warfare, subversion, sabotage, intelligence activities, and

unconventional assisted recovery. Also called UW. (JP 1‐02; JP 3‐05)

Terrorism

1. The calculated use or threat of unlawful political violence against

noncombatants, intended to coerce or intimidate governments or societies

through fear. (Proposed)

2. The calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to

inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in

the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological. (JP 1‐

02; JP 3‐07.2)

Counterterrorism (CT)

Actions taken directly against terrorist networks and indirectly to influence and

render global and regional environments inhospitable to terrorist networks.

Also called CT. See also antiterrorism; combating terrorism; terrorism. (JP 3‐26)

Foreign internal defense

(FID)

Participation by civilian and military agencies of a government in any of the

action programs taken by another government or other designated

organization to free and protect its society from subversion, lawlessness, and

insurgency. (JP 3‐22)
98 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

Irregular Warfare (IW) Operations and Activities

(Joint Operating Concept (JOC) v 1.0 (Sept 2007))

Term Definition

Stabilization, security,

transition, and

reconstruction operations

(SSTRO)

Stability Ops:

1. An overarching term encompassing various military missions, tasks, and

activities conducted outside the United States in coordination with other

instruments of national power to maintain or reestablish a safe and secure

environment, provide essential governmental services, emergency

infrastructure reconstruction, and humanitarian relief. (JP 1‐02; JP 3‐0)

2. Military and civilian activities conducted across the spectrum from peace to

conflict to establish or maintain order in states and regions. (DODD 3000.05,

Nov 2005)

3. Stability Operations is defined as an overarching term encompassing various

military missions, tasks, and activities conducted outside the United States in

coordination with other instruments of national power to maintain or

reestablish a safe and secure environment, provide essential governmental

services, emergency infrastructure reconstruction, and humanitarian relief.

(DoDI 3000.05, Sep 2009)

4. Leverage the coercive and constructive capabilities of the military force to

establish a safe and secure environment; facilitate reconciliation among local or

regional adversaries; establish political, legal, social, and economic institutions;

and facilitate the transition of responsibility to a legitimate civilian authority.

(FMI 3‐07 Stability Operations, Oct 2008)

Military Support to Security, Transition, and Reconstruction:

Department of Defense activities that support U.S. Government plans for

stabilization, security, reconstruction and transition operations, which lead to

sustainable peace while advancing U.S. interests. (DODD 3000.05, 2005)

Psychological operations

(PSYOP)

Planned operations to convey selected information and indicators to foreign

audiences to influence their emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and

ultimately the behavior of foreign governments, organizations, groups, and

individuals. The purpose of psychological operations is to induce or reinforce

foreign attitudes and behavior favorable to the originator’s objectives. Also

called PSYOP. (JP 3‐13.2; JP 1‐02)

Information operations (IO)

The integrated employment of the core capabilities of electronic warfare,

computer network operations, psychological operations, military deception,

and operations security, in concert with specified supporting and related

capabilities, to influence, disrupt, corrupt or usurp adversarial human and

automated decision making while protecting our own. Also called IO. See also

computer network operations; electronic warfare; military deception;

operations security; psychological operations. (JP 3‐13; JP 1‐02)

   
APPENDIX G. DEFINITIONS 99

Stability Ops

Definition Source

Stability operations are a core U.S. military mission that the

Department of Defense shall be prepared to conduct and support.

They shall be given priority comparable to combat operations and be

explicitly addressed and integrated across all DoD activities including

doctrine, organizations, training, education, exercises, materiel,

leadership, personnel, facilities, and planning.  

DoDD 3000.05 (Nov 2005)

Stability Operations is defined as an overarching term encompassing

various military missions, tasks, and activities conducted outside the

United States in coordination with other instruments of national

power to maintain or reestablish a safe and secure environment,

provide essential governmental services, emergency infrastructure

reconstruction, and humanitarian relief.  

DoDI 3000.05 (Sep  2009)  

An overarching term encompassing various military missions, tasks,

and activities conducted outside the United States in coordination

with other instruments of national power to maintain or reestablish

a safe and secure environment, provide essential governmental

services, emergency infrastructure reconstruction, and humanitarian

relief.  

JP 1‐02; JP 3‐0 (revised March 2010):

Leverage the coercive and constructive capabilities of the military

force to establish a safe and secure environment; facilitate

reconciliation among local or regional adversaries; establish political,

legal, social, and economic institutions; and facilitate the transition

of responsibility to a legitimate civilian authority.  

FMI 3‐07 Stability Operations (Oct 2008):

Foreign Internal Defense

Definition Source

Participation by civilian and military agencies of a government in any

of the action programs taken by another government or other

designated organization to free and protect its society from

subversion, lawlessness, insurgency, terrorism, and other threats to

its security.  

JP 1‐02; JP 3‐22 Foreign Internal Defense

(July 2010)

Participation by civilian and military agencies of a government in any

of the action programs taken by another government or other

designated organization to free and protect its society from

subversion, lawlessness, and insurgency.  

DoDD 3000.07 ‐ Irregular Warfare (IW)

(Dec 2008)

Participation by civilian and military agencies of a government in any

of the action programs taken by another government or other

designated organization to free and protect its society from

subversion, lawlessness, insurgency, terrorism, and other threats to

its security.  

JP 1‐02; Air Force Doctrine Document

(AFDD)  2‐3.1 Foreign Internal Defense

(Sep 2007)

Classified. FM 3‐05.202 Special Force Foreign

Internal Defense Operations (Feb 2007)
100 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

Unconventional Warfare

Definition Source

A broad spectrum of military and paramilitary operations,

normally of long duration, predominantly conducted

through, with, or by indigenous or surrogate forces who

are organized, trained, equipped, supported, and directed

in varying degrees by an external source. It includes, but is

not limited to, guerrilla warfare, subversion, sabotage,

intelligence activities, and unconventional assisted

recovery. Also called UW.  

JP 1‐02; JP 3‐05 (Dec 2003)

Unconventional warfare is a broad spectrum of military

and paramilitary operations, normally of long duration

predominantly conducted through, with, or by indigenous

or surrogate forces who are organized, trained, equipped,

supported, and directed in varying degrees by an external

source. It includes, but is not limited to, guerrilla warfare,

subversion, sabotage, intelligence activities, and

unconventional assisted recovery (JP 3‐05). Within the U.S.

military, conduct of unconventional warfare is a highly

specialized special operations force mission. Special

operations forces may conduct unconventional warfare as

part of a separate operation or within a campaign.  

FM 3‐05 (Feb 2008)

Operations conducted by, with, or through irregular forces

in support of a resistance movement, an insurgency, or

conventional military operations.  

FM 3‐05.201, Special Forces Unconventional

Warfare ; FM 3‐05.130 (Sep 2008)

   
APPENDIX G. DEFINITIONS 101

Counterterrorism (CT)

Definition Source

Actions taken directly against terrorist networks and indirectly to

influence and render global and regional environments inhospitable to

terrorist networks. Also called CT. (FM 3‐24 references this definition.)  

JP 1‐02 (April 2001, amended 2010)

• Actions, including antiterrorism and counterterrorism (CT), taken to

oppose terrorism throughout the entire threat spectrum.

• Actions taken directly against terrorist networks and indirectly to

influence and render global and regional environments inhospitable

to terrorist networks.

• Objectives  ‐ thwart or defeat terrorist attacks against the U.S., our

partner nations (PNs), and interests; attack and disrupt terrorist

networks abroad so as to cause adversaries to be incapable or

unwilling to attack the U.S. homeland, allies, or interests; deny

terrorist networks WMD; establish conditions that allow PNs to

govern their territory effectively and defeat terrorists; and deny a

hospitable environment to violent extremists

JP 3‐26 (Nov 2009)

Operations that include the offensive measures taken to prevent, deter,

preempt, and respond to terrorism.  

Air Force Doctrine Document

(AFDD) 2‐3 ‐ Irregular Warfare

(August 2007)

Lead our nation’s effort to combat terrorism at home and abroad by

analyzing the threat, sharing that information with our partners, and

integrating all instruments of national power to ensure unity of effort.  

NCTC Strategic Intent 2009‐2013

The primary mission of the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism

(S/CT) is to forge partnerships with non‐state actors, multilateral

organizations, and foreign governments to advance the counterterrorism

objectives and national security of the United States.  Working with our

U.S. Government counterterrorism team, S/CT takes a leading role in

developing coordinated strategies to defeat terrorists abroad and in

securing the cooperation of international partners.

Office of the Coordinator for

Counterterrorism  Department of

State

   
102 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

Intelligence

Definition Source

The product resulting from the collection, processing, integration,

evaluation, analysis, and interpretation of available information

concerning foreign nations, hostile or potentially hostile forces or

elements, or areas of actual or potential operations. The term is also

applied to the activity which results in the product and to the

organizations engaged in such activity.  

JP 1‐02 (April 2001, amended 2010);

AFDD 2‐9

The product resulting from the collection, processing, integration,

evaluation, analysis, and interpretation of available information

concerning foreign nations, hostile or potentially hostile forces or

elements, or areas of actual or potential operations. The term is also

applied to the activity which results in the product and to the

organizations engaged in such activity.

JP 2‐0 Joint Intelligence (June 2007)

Intelligence is the product resulting from the collection, processing,

integration, evaluation, analysis, and interpretation of available

information concerning foreign nations, hostile or potentially hostile

forces or elements, or areas of actual or potential operations. The

term is also applied to the activity that results in the product and to

the organizations engaged in such activity (JP 2‐0). The Army

generates intelligence through the intelligence warfighting function.  

FM 2‐0 Intelligence (March 2010)

The intelligence warfighting function is the related tasks and systems

that facilitate understanding of the operational environment,

enemy, terrain, and civil considerations. It includes tasks associated

with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations,

and is driven by the commander. (See chapter 7.) Intelligence is

more than just collection. It is a continuous process that involves

analyzing information from all sources and conducting operations to

develop the situation. The intelligence warfighting function includes

the following tasks:    Support to force generation. Support to

situational understanding; conduct ISR; provide intelligence support

to targeting and information capabilities.

FM 3‐0 Operations (February 2008)

COIN is an intelligence‐driven endeavor. The function of intelligence

in COIN is to facilitate understanding of the operational

environment, with emphasis on the populace, host nation, and

insurgents. Commanders require accurate intelligence about these

three areas to best address the issues driving the insurgency. Both

insurgents and counterinsurgents require an effective intelligence

capability to be successful. Both attempt to create and maintain

intelligence networks while trying to neutralize their opponent’s

intelligence capabilities.   

FM 3‐24 Counterinsurgency (Dec 2006)

   
APPENDIX G. DEFINITIONS 103

Surveillance

Definition Source

The systematic observation of aerospace, surface, or

subsurface areas, places, persons, or things, by visual,

aural, electronic, photographic, or other means.  

JP 1‐02 (April 2001, amended 2010)

Surveillance is the systematic observation of aerospace

[sic], surface or subsurface areas, places, persons, or

things, by visual, aural, electronic, photographic, or other

means.” (JP 1‐02) The Air Force perspective emphasizes

that surveillance operations are sustained operations

designed to gather information by a collector, or series

of collectors, having timely response and persistent

observation capabilities, a long dwell time and clear

continuous collection .

AFDD 2‐9 ISR (July 2007)

Surveillance is the systematic observation of aerospace,

surface, or subsurface areas, places, persons, or things

by visual, aural, electronic, photographic, or other means

(JP 3‐0). Other means may include but are not limited to

space‐based systems and special CBRN, artillery,

engineer, special operations forces, and air defense

equipment. Surveillance involves observing an area to

collect information.

FM 2‐0  Intelligence (March 2010)

Surveillance is the systematic observation of aerospace,

surface, or subsurface areas, places, persons, o r things,

by visual, aural, electronic, photographic, or other means

(JP 1‐02). Surveillance involves observing an area to

collect information.  

FM 3‐0  Operations (February 2008)

   
104 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

Reconnaissance

Definition Source

Reconnaissance is a mission undertaken to obtain, by visual observation or other

detection methods, information about the activities and resources of an enemy or

potential enemy, or to secure data concerning the meteorological, hydrographic, or

geographic characteristics of a particular area.  

JP 1‐02 (April 2001,

amended 2010)

• Special Reconnaissance. SOF may conduct SR into insurgent strongholds or

sanctuaries. Activities within SR include environmental reconnaissance, armed

reconnaissance, target and threat assessment, and post‐strike reconnaissance  

• Insurgent Reconnaissance and Surveillance. Insurgents have their own

reconnaissance and surveillance networks. Because they usually blend well

with the populace, insurgents can execute reconnaissance without easily being

identified. They also have an early warning system composed of citizens who

inform them of counterinsurgent movements. Identifying the techniques and

weaknesses of enemy reconnaissance and surveillance enables commanders to

detect signs of insurgent preparations and to surprise insurgents by neutralizing

their early warning systems. Thus, sophisticated counter ISR efforts may be

required.

JP 3‐24 COIN Operations

(Oct 2009)

Reconnaissance is a mission undertaken to obtain, by visual observation or other

detection methods, information about the activities and resources of an enemy or

potential enemy, or to secure data concerning the meteorological, hydrographic, or

geographic characteristics of a particular area.” (JP 1‐02) The Air Force perspective

emphasizes that reconnaissance operations are transitory in nature and generally

designed to collect information for a specified time by a collector that does not

dwell over the target or in the area.

AFDD 2‐9 ISR (July 2007)

Reconnaissance is a mission undertaken to obtain, by visual observation or other

detection methods, information about the activities and resources of an enemy or

adversary, or to secure data concerning the meteorological, hydrographic, or

geographic characteristics of a particular area (JP 2‐0). Other detection methods

include signals, imagery, and measurement of signatures or other technical

characteristics. This task includes performing chemical, biological, radiological, and

nuclear (CBRN) reconnaissance. It also includes engineer reconnaissance (including

infrastructure reconnaissance and environmental reconnaissance).

FM 2‐0 (March 2010)

Units performing reconnaissance collect information to confirm or deny current

intelligence or predictions. This information may concern the terrain, weather, and

population characteristics of a particular area as well the enemy. Reconnaissance

normally precedes execution of the overall operation and extends throughout the

area of operations. It begins as early as the situation, political direction, and rules of

engagement permit. Reconnaissance can locate mobile enemy command and

control assets—such as command posts, communications nodes, and satellite

terminals—for neutralization, attack, or destruction. Reconnaissance can detect

patterns of behavior exhibited by people in the objective area. Commanders at all

echelons incorporate reconnaissance into their operations.  

FM 3‐0 (Feb 2008)
APPENDIX H. ACRONYMS 105

APPENDIX H. ACRONYMS

AAA American Anthropological Association

ABI Activity‐based Intelligence

ACTD Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration

AFDD Air Force Doctrine Document

AFPAK Afghanistan/Pakistan

AJP Allied Joint Document

ANA Afghan National Army

ANP Afghan National Police

ANSF Afghan National Security Forces

API Application Program Interface

ASD Assistant Secretary of Defense

ASD(SO/LIC&IC) Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low‐

Intensity Conflict and Interdependent Capabilities

ASWORG Antisubmarine Warfare Operations Research Group

AWOL Absent Without Leave

BA Battlespace Awareness

BICES Battlefield Information, Collection, and Exploitation System

CAP Combat Air Patrol

CCDR Combatant Commander

CDCs Community Development Councils

CENTCOM United States Central Command

C‐IED Counter Improvised Explosive Device

CIVCAS Civilian Casualties

CJCS Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

CJTF Combined Joint Task Force

COIN Counterinsurgency

COMINT Communications Intelligence

CONOPS Concept of Operations

CT Counterterrorism
106 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

DCGS Distributed Common Ground Systems

DI2E Defense Intelligence Information Enterprise

DIA Defense Intelligence Agency

DNI Director of National Intelligence

DOCEX Document Exploitation

DoD Department of Defense

DoS Department of State

DSB Defense Science Board

ELINT Electromagnetic Intelligence

EO Electro‐optical

EOF Escalation‐of‐fire

F3 Find, Fix, and Finish

FAO Foreign Area Officer

FID Foreign Internal Defense

FININT Financial Intelligence

FISINT Foreign Instrumentation Signals Intelligence

FM Field Manual

FMV Full Motion Video

GEOINT Geospatial Intelligence

GMTI Ground Moving Target Indicator

HSCB Human Social, Culture and Behavior Modeling Program

HTS Human Terrain System

HUMINT Human Intelligence

I&W Indications and Warnings

IC Intelligence Community

ICD Intelligence Community Directive

ICEWS Integrated Crisis Early Warning System

IEDs Improvised Explosive Device

IMINT Imagery Intelligence
APPENDIX H. ACRONYMS 107

INFORMS Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences

INT Intelligence

IPB Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield

IPT Integrated Product Team

IR Infrared

ISAF International Security Assistance Force

ISR Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance

JOG Joint Operations Guidance

JP Joint Publication

JS Joint Staff

LiDAR Light Detection And Ranging

MASINT Measurement and Signature Intelligence

MC&G Mapping, Charting, and Geodesy

MCO Major Combat Operations

MIP Military Intelligence Program

MOD Ministry of Defense

MOI Ministry of the Interior

NGA National Geospatial‐Intelligence Agency

NGO Non‐Governmental Organization

NIM National Intelligence Manager

NIP National Intelligence Program

NRO National Reconnaissance Office

NSA National Security Agency

NSC National Security Council

ODNI Office of the Director of National Intelligence

OEF Operation Enduring Freedom

OGC SWE Open Geospatial Consortium’s Sensor Web Enablement

ONR Office of Naval Research

OR Operations Research

OSINT Open Source Intelligence
108 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

OUSD(I) Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence

PCPAD Planning and direction; Collection; Processing and exploitation,

Analysis and production; Dissemination

PED Processing, Exploitation, Dissemination

PIR Priority Intelligence Requirement

PRT Provisional Reconstruction Team

R&D Research and Development

RC Regional Command

RF Radio Frequency

S&T Science and Technology

SAR Synthetic Aperture Radar

SIGINT Signals Intelligence

SO Stability Operations

SOF Special Operations Forces

SWaP Size, weight, and power

TCPED Tasking, Collection, Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination

TOR Terms of Reference

TTP Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures

UAVs Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

UCDMO Unified Cross Domain Management Office

U.S. United States

USA United States Army

USAF United States Air Force

USAID United States Agency for International Development

USCENTCOM United States Central Command

USD(AT&L) Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and

Logistics

USD(C) Under Secretary of Defense Comptroller

USD(I) Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence

USD(P&R) Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness

USD(P) Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
APPENDIX H. ACRONYMS 109

USG United States Government

USMC United States Marine Corps

USN United States Navy

USSOCOM United States Special Operations Command

UW Unconventional Warfare

VV&A Verification, Validation, and Accreditation

WAPS Wide Area Persistent Surveillance

   
110 COIN ISR OPERATIONS  

APPENDIX I. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Afghanistan’s Security Environment. Washington, DC: Government Accountability Office, 5

May 2010.  

Allen, Patrick. “Understanding Local Actor Bases of Power.” IO Journal. August 2010.  

Batson, Douglas E. “Napoleonic Know‐how for Stability Operations” In Modern Military

Geography, ed. Francis A. Galgano and Eugene J. Palka. New York, NY: Routledge,

2010.

Best, Richard A. Jr. “Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR).    Acquisitions:

Issues for Congress.” CRS Report for Congress. Washington, DC: Congressional

Research Service, June 2010.

Brannen, Kate. “Draft of U.S. Army Ops Concept Continues Break from Past Doctrine.”

Defense News (July 7, 2010).  

Bunker, Robert. “The Ugly Truth: Insurgencies are Brutal.” Small Wars Journal (2010).

Burchard, John. Q.E.D.: MIT in World War II. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1948.

CJCSM 3500.04E: Universal Joint Task Manual. Washington, DC: Department of Defense, Joint

Chiefs of Staff, 25 August 2008.  

Clapper, James. “Leading the IC: A Re‐Set.” Washington, DC: Office of the Director of

National Intelligence, August 2010.

Cohen, Raphael S. “A Tale of Two Manuals.” PRISM Vol. 2 No. 1 (2010): 87‐100.

Condra, Luke N., Joseph H. Felter, Radha K. Iyengar, and Jacob N. Shapiro. “The Effect of

Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq.” Washington, DC: National Bureau of

Economic Research, July 2010.  

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