By Ann Roosevelt
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.–A philosophical change is needed to resolve one of the perennial friction points in coalitions–intelligence sharing, the Commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said.
“The question should not be about the ‘need to know’ but the ‘need to share,'” Army Gen. David Petraeus said at the 2010 Joint Warfighting Conference looking at the question of what will combatant and coalition forces need five years from now.
That ‘need to share’ change was endorsed earlier in the day at the conference here by French Air Force Gen. Stephane Abrial, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, and a phrase long used by U.S. Joint Forces Command.
If intelligence is approached with the imperative of sharing, “you literally change the way you approach the whole process,” Petraeus said during a video teleconference from Washington D.C.
This intelligence sharing is something CENTCOM is working on. There are representatives of some 60 coalition members at the command’s headquarters, and now non-U.S. nationals are serving “in actual CENTCOM billets,” he said. Other officers serve at the State Department.
For example, he said, the deputy J-3 at CENTCOM is Australian.
The challenge, of course, is that a degree of confidence is needed that intelligence will be kept in the correct category and kept secure, Petraeus said.
Consider that there are some 18 different systems operating in Afghanistan belonging to different nations, he said.
Currently, work is under way to determine how to integrate those systems so work can be done on far fewer of those systems, yet still have a common operating picture.
In the area of information operations, Petraeus said in Iraq he had a very robust task force, always focused on being “first with the truth.”
This is “hugely important,” so people know the military won’t sugarcoat the truth, but talk about what was learned in a specific event, and what the forces plan to do in the future to alleviate the problem.
Such a structure is needed, he said, almost like a political campaign, that can issue press releases, conduct tactical psychological operations, whether it’s something “on the back end of mules,” or on a billboard. That, he said, requires a large organization that involves more than public affairs. This must pull together multiple elements. And, he worked in conjunction with the U.S. Ambassador.
A similar information operations task force is being set up in Afghanistan, a very different environment.
Petraeus said he has pushed this very hard, and the Defense Secretary is on board, as are JFCOM and the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Joint Staff and CENTCOM. Ongoing work is to study information operations and determine lessons that can be gleaned.
A lot of effort is going into coordination, with a large role for the State Department. In fact, Petraeus said during his video teleconference from Tampa, Fla., CENTCOM is working with the Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy. The military will provide information support teams at different embassies beyond information operations task forces. State aims to increase its capabilities that were reduced in the immediate wake of the Cold War.