One Team, One Vector

Reserve Component Intelligence

by Lieutenant General Paul E. Menoher, Jr.
Editor's Note: Lieutenant General Menoher delivered the following comments at the dedication ceremony for the Regional Training Site for Intelligence-West, Camp Parks, California, on 9 August 1995.
Our Army America's Army has undergone amazing changes in recent years as we have adjusted to the new world order and integrated new technology. We have gotten significantly smaller, and in the process have withdrawn a large portion of our forward deployed forces to become a predominantly continental United States (CONUS)-based, power projection Army today. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, we have reduced from 780,000 soldiers with 18 divisions in the active Army to slightly over 500,000 soldiers today with only 12 and soon only 10 divisions. U.S. Army intelligence has undergone similar changes, reducing its manpower by more than 30 percent in the same time frame. But, as has happened in the larger Army, we have actually improved our capabilities in the process by leveraging technology, integrating new systems, developing new operational concepts and new doctrine, and redesigning our organizations to make them smaller, scalable, and more deployable.
It is a good thing that we have improved our capabilities, because the world is even more dangerous now than it was during the Cold War. As a consequence, our operational commitments and optempo have increased by 300 percent since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Despite our increased capabilities, we cannot satisfy all the demands for intelligence in the Army with our Active Component personnel alone.
The complex nature of today's world order, the wide range and ever-increasing number of our operational requirements, and the increased demands of force projection operations all of this could overwhelm the Army's intelligence capabilities unless we can bring to bear the outstanding talent in our Guard and Reserve military intelligence (MI) force. We must have U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) and Army National Guard (ARNG) MI soldiers work with us in a coordinated division of intelligence labor.
With this goal in mind, we have embarked on an aggressive and multifaceted program in which the Regional Training Sites for Intelligence (RTS-I) will serve a major role. Before commenting on the specifics of that critical role, let me first describe the other facets of our approach.

Force Redesign

First, we have redesigned the Guard and Reserve MI force in a Reserve Component force design update that the Army leadership approved in the spring of 1995. This effort redesigned every ARNG and USAR MI organization supporting echelons above division, not in a mirror image of the Active Component, but in modular, functional organizations. These elements will enable us to access the great talent in the USAR and ARNG in those specific skills and numbers needed to complement the active force. These new organizational designs concentrate on people, not equipment; as they come into effect in the next 18 months, we must ensure that these units and their great people are truly trained and ready to mobilize and deploy on short notice.

Peacetime Use

Second, we are capitalizing on the Department of Defense (DOD) peacetime utilization plan that the Deputy Secretary of Defense approved in January 1995. This is a plan to enhance peacetime use of the ARNG and USAR MI force. It reinforces the realization at the highest levels that we can get added value from the ARNG and USAR MI force by applying their great talent and capabilities in peacetime, as well as crises and war. We are talking about live missions in a coordinated division of labor with the active force, which will provide great training through operational opportunities focused on collection and production to satisfy real- world requirements.

Resource Increase

Third, we are working to obtain better resourcing to provide additional work-days for ARNG and USAR intelligence soldiers, and to obtain the automation and connectivity necessary to enable them to perform their live missions. This is a good news story and represents a significant departure from the past. At the highest levels, our leaders are recognizing that without increased resourcing to fund additional pay for the ARNG and USAR and bring in state-of-the-art intelligence automation and communications connectivity, all of our efforts to achieve integration will fail.
Let me emphasize that contributory support is not new; the ARNG and USAR have been doing this for years. What we are talking about is doing it on a much larger scale. This year alone, between the General Defense Intelligence Program and the Defense Intelligence Reserve Program, we have brought more than $2.7 million, or 30 work-years of additional capability to bear on our intelligence requirements.
Examples of the contributions made as a result of this investment include-
A significant amount of this support emanated from the RTS-Is, and we can do more with more resources.

Connectivity Increase

The final area in which we have invested is increased connectivity. Over the past three years, significant resources have been made available to provide state-of-the- art automation and communications connectivity that will provide the ARNG and USAR MI elements with a gateway to our national intelligence agencies and systems. This is critical to realizing the full "value added" of the ARNG and USAR MI force, and to achieving a shared collection and production effort.
All told, the DOD utilization plan provides more than $31 million in the Five-Year Defense Plan for providing intelligence automation and communications systems for our RTS-Is and other locations. With this connectivity, the options available to the ARNG and USAR increase significantly, to include the ability to conduct annual training and even mobilize at the home station. It will also provide significantly expanded inactive- duty training capabilities.
The RTS-Is provide the secure facilities that will serve as a focal point for this activity, enabling the ARNG and USAR to access and interact with the entire U.S. intelligence community. In short, they will provide ARNG and USAR MI soldiers the opportunity to train on and operate the same systems and databases as their active counterparts.

One Team, One Vector

I think throughout this discussion, the value and pivotal role the RTS-I must play in our program has become clear to you. The bottom line is they will serve as the cornerstone of our whole program.
The ARNG and USAR have always been critical to our national defense, and will be even more so in the future. With this new facility, we can develop and leverage their great talent even more, making the ARNG and USAR full partners in an integrated and shared intelligence effort.
My vision is one team, pursuing one coherent vector, supporting our great nation wherever it needs us. With great facilities like this and the great talent you bring to it, we will make that vision a reality.
Lieutenant General Menoher is currently the U.S. Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (DCSINT). He served as the Commander, U.S. Army Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca, Fort Huachuca, Arizona, from 1989 through 1993. Readers who wish more information may contact the DCSINT Directorate of Reserve Affairs at (703) 695-0778, DSN 225-0778, or E-mail mccluree@pentagon-hqdadss. army.mil.