The Intel XXI Concept II: The Operational Patterns

CONCEPTS & DOCTRINE

The Intel XXI Concept II: The Operational Patterns

by Captain Neal J. Wegner In the last issue, I introduced the new Intel XXI concept and discussed the 21st century intelligence force and how we will design, equip and train it to meet the demands of future operations and the needs of Force XXI commanders. It is very important that intelligence professionals understand how the Force XXI warfighter will conduct operations in the 21st century battlespace to meet these needs. Force XXI commanders will conduct operations through six operational patterns. These are neither phased nor sequential, but apply throughout the continuum of operations from planning to execution and redeployment. Intel XXI will focus on supporting these patterns, so understanding them is key.

Project the Force

The first operational pattern is project the force. Force projection involves the tactical tailoring of our mission, enemy, terrain and weather, troops available, and time (METT-T)-driven force packages and the conduct of split-based operations from the Continental United States anywhere in the world. One major consideration in Force XXI operations is the participation of national, joint, combined, operational (including special operations forces (SOF)), interagency, and multinational capabilities. Situational awareness provided early in the planning process will enable commanders to tailor their early-entry forces with the right mix of combat, combat support, and combat service support (CSS) assets. Intel XXI commanders and their supported commanders must be ready to fully integrate and employ these critical assets. Intel XXI organizations and systems must be modular, scalable, and flexible to meet the highly complex and often dynamically changing demands of future force projection operations. Strategic, operational, and tactical agility will be essential characteristics of the Army's Intel XXI force.

Commanders in future force projection operations will have the capability to establish intelligence support bases (ISBs) while deploying tailored force packages into the theater of operations. The ISB, located in sanctuary, will provide intelligence to digitally linked deployed forces during all phases of the operation, including tailored intelligence products enroute, intelligence overwatch during initial deployment, and the ability to develop situational awareness and targets before the force arrives in theater. The ISB also will leverage and focus national, joint and multinational intelligence capabilities while the forward-deploying intelligence units focus on staging, getting established, and building up in the theater. Additionally, SOF in the area of operations must be considered since they can be a valuable source of intelligence for initial entry forces.

The early-entry Intel XXI force package may be as small as one person with a single-channel tactical satellite communications terminal and an All-Source Analysis System Remote Workstation (RWS). It also may be as large as an intelligence direct support company team or a task force with specialized augmentation from the Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) or national agencies. It will have the capability to receive enroute updates while on board aircraft or ships. Since commanders may need to fight or operate immediately upon arrival, the deploying intelligence team needs capabilities to

Access in-theater joint and multinational capabilities.
Support situational development and targeting.
Conduct counterintelligence force protection operations.
Perform limited command and control warfare (C2W).

Again, tailorability is the key to Intel XXI support to force projection operations.

INSCOM forces in the 21st century will play a vital role in force projection. Linkage to facilities such as the Regional Signal Intelligence (SIGINT) Operations Centers (RSOCs) and National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) will allow commanders to "ramp-up" quickly by taking advantage of their regionally focused intelligence databases, products, planning, and training resources. INSCOM's force projection brigades will provide complementary and frequently unique capabilities to reinforce deploying operational and tactical forces. In future operations it is clear that no one echelon and intelligence organization can do it all. It will take a total force team effort, operating a system of systems in a seamless architecture.

Protect the Force

The second pattern is Protect the Force. The Army of the future could be vulnerable at every echelon throughout all phases of the operation to a wide range of threats from conventional fires and maneuver, to terrorists, and computer virus invasions or other sabotage. Force protection must therefore involve the development of embedded technologies and procedures to protect our command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) assets, the operational employment of physical protective measures, and C2W. Commanders of the future must be aware of the full range of potential threats, prioritize their protection requirements in terms of key assets, critical nodes, and essential elements of friendly information, and then be prepared to allocate resources accordingly.

In the area of force protection, Intel XXI will focus on conducting intelligence operations to assess friendly capabilities and vulnerabilities in relation to a thorough assessment of the adversary's attack and intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition (RSTA) capabilities.

To provide commanders the information they need, the intelligence system will be able to dynamically portray how an adversary sees friendly forces so that cause-and-effect assessments can be made during planning and wargaming. Using reverse intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB) techniques, the commander can determine active and passive protection courses of action. Intelligence force protection activities will also focus on preventing surprise and conducting counter-reconnaissance and C2W to ensure U.S. forces achieve information dominance at the right time and place. Finally, multidiscipline counterintelligence operations in support of force protection and operations security must be thoroughly integrated into all phases of the operation.

Gain Information Dominance

The third operational pattern is Gain Information Dominance. Information dominance is the delta between the understanding of information available to each of two opposing commanders. It is achieved through the execution of information operations including the

Conduct of C2W.
Establishment of a robust, secure information system (C4I)
Production of battle command information (including intelligence, friendly force and other relevant data) to enhance battlespace visualization and satisfy commander's critical information requirements (CCIR).
To achieve information dominance commanders must also protect their information systems, while destroying, degrading or de-coupling the adversary C4I and RSTA system, using a combination of lethal and non-lethal attack means. Like a piston, information dominance moves up and down during operations, but it must be optimized at the right time and place according to the commander's intentions.
Intel XXI will play a critical role in achieving information dominance. It is the essence of Intel XXI. Intelligence organizations will collect, analyze, present, and disseminate information about the weather, terrain, and enemy so that commanders can accurately visualize their battlespaces. IPB will focus on all operational considerations to include information operations. Meteorological data will be collected from various sources, disseminated through IMETS and the Army Battle Command System, and will support assessments of the environmental effects on future operations.
As they do with support to targeting, Intel XXI analysts will assess enemy C4I and RSTA capabilities and vulnerabilities in support of C2W target planning and execution. Intelligence operators will also continue to plan, coordinate and synchronize the integrated employment of electronic warfare including joint and multinational capabilities. In summary, Intel XXI will allow commanders to effectively mass the effects of both lethal and nonlethal means to gain information dominance and achieve decisive results.
Shape the Battlespace
The fourth operational pattern is Shape the Battlespace. Shaping the battlespace is the process whereby the commander sets the conditions for friendly success in decisive operations, including the employment of combined, joint, and multinational forces. To shape the battlespace, the commander must have an accurate, near-real-time continuous visualization of the battlespace relative to the desired end-state. The force must be able to accurately locate, identify, track and engage targets throughout the battlespace with a variety of lethal and non-lethal means. The commander and staff must wargame the various options and understand the impacts of both friendly and adversary actions, capabilities, and intentions. They must also assess the environmental factors of weather and terrain.
To shape the battlespace, force commanders require support by an intelligence architecture that can access deep collection assets, conduct C2W, and support the deep operations and targeting effort with dynamic, continuous and precise collection and battle damage assessment (BDA). Intel XXI must provide well-trained intelligence analysts and operators supported by efficient and highly mobile precision sensors, processors, decision aids, and communications. The Intel XXI unit must organize and equip to integrate the intelligence and RSTA feeds from a variety of organic, joint and multinational sensors. Finally, Intel XXI will include the capability to anticipate weather impacts on friendly and threat capabilities allowing commanders to exploit windows of opportunity influenced by the weather.
Decisive Operations
The fifth operational pattern is Decisive Operations. Decisive operations will require a highly responsive and accurate view of the battlespace to support coordinated, distributed and simultaneous operations designed to attack, disengage and re-attack. Rapid movement of friendly forces will improve survivability and achieve mass at critical places and times for short periods. Accurate BDA will be required to ensure successful completion of each phase before moving on to the next. Decisive operations thus demand the precise location and identification of numerous entities to include: fighting positions, combat vehicles, weapons, and obstacles. The density of such targets and the level of resolution will increase, while time to react will decrease as formations close with one another. It must be capable of not only collecting but also processing, communicating, and disseminating intelligence on the move. Intelligence forces will provide commanders engaged in decisive operations with modular C2 attack assets that support targeting and C2W.
Sustain the Force
The sixth operational pattern is Sustain the Force. Sustainment operations occur during all patterns of operations and their design must help commanders sustain their operating tempo while transitioning from one phase to another. An integrated combined arms effort will achieve the maintenance and protection of the flow of sustaining resources.
Intelligence operations in support of sustainment operations will be continuous, designed to avoid surprise and protect forces as they conduct sustainment operations. They will also employ systems that can be maintained, resupplied and re-deployed with the same speed and agility as their supported force. This will require an innovative approach to Intel XXI CSS to rapidly maintain and resupply geographically dispersed forces. Intelligence operations also must help the commander prepare for future operations. As combat operations decrease there may be an increase in unconventional activities, including terrorist and sabotage actions. The importance of human intelligence operations will increase during these periods. Intelligence elements must produce IPB products, situation development and targeting data, and develop collection requests and plans in anticipation of future operations.
Conclusion

As you can see, intelligence plays an important part in supporting the Force XXI warfighter. In the next article, I will discuss how the intelligence professional will provide this support by explaining the intelligence tasks which support the operational patterns.
Captain Wegner is currently a concepts action officer in Concepts Division, Directorate of Combat Developments, in the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca. Readers can contact him at (520) 538-2257, DSN 879-2257, and via PROFS/E-mail at wegnern%hua1@hua chuca-emh11.army.mil.

CONCEPTS & DOCTRINE