Showing posts with label intelligence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label intelligence. Show all posts

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Breakaway Taliban Faction Aided by NDS


A breakaway Taliban faction is being helped by the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS). The NDS is Afghanistan's version of the U.S. FBI and CIA combined. The faction supported by the NDS and the main stream Taliban have recently clashed causing casualties on both sides. Infighting among Taliban factions is not a new occurrence; however, the NDS provided support to a Taliban faction is not a commonplace event. In recent days the NDS has been supporting the 'Renouncers' - with weapons, safe passage, intelligence support, and medical support. This seems to happen most in Helmand province which the Afghan government has great difficulty in controlling. Read more in a news report entitled "Afghan Government Quietly Aids Breakaway Taliban Faction", The New York Times, June 19, 2017.


Sunday, November 6, 2016

Aerostats - Providing Force Protection & Intel to the ANA

Photo by Resolute Support Headquarters
At one time in Afghanistan - when there were over 800 large bases and small outposts spread across the country side - one could continually see large white balloons floating overhead. The balloons - more accurately called areostats - had cameras on board that could pan across the ground below out to quite a few miles to observe for enemy activity. Now there are very few aerostats flying. Some are lofted overhead by the United States military at its few remaining bases in Afghanistan (Camp Resolute Support in Kabul, Bagram Air Field, and a few others). What many observers don't realize is that the Afghan National Army (ANA) is now operating its own aerostats (bought and paid for by the U.S. of course).

It took a while for the military intelligence professionals in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and then Resolute Support HQs to figure out that the Afghan National Army would need a capability like the aerostat. One wonders what the intel weanies were thinking about during those long years from 2002 to 2013 or so before plans to field aerostats to the ANA were formulated. For more on this topic read the paragraph below:

"All in all, my impression is that the Pentagon's near complete lack of emphasis on building an intelligence collection and analytic capability for the Afghan military and police is nothing short of pitiful. If the White House and the Pentagon are REALLY serious about giving the Afghan military and police the means to stand on their own and operate independently, this budget does not come close to doing it. The Afghan military and police must have their own well trained and equipped intelligence units if they are to have any chance of performing their missions after U.S. combat forces withdraw next year. Otherwise, the ANA and ANP will remain completely dependent on the U.S. for this vital combat enabler for the foreseeable future."  Paragraph from Little Spending on Intelligence Support for Afghan Military in New Budget, Matthew A. Aid, June 1, 2013.
But enough about that - the ANA is now flying its own balloons - although independent news sources provide a dismal accounting on the early efforts to keep them aloft, maintain them, and actually use the balloons for preventing attacks.

Don't despair! We now have a 'good news story' on how successful the Afghan security forces are in using the aerostats brought to you courtesy of a press release by Resolute Support headquarters. Read "With silent guardians, Afghan soldiers protect Kabul", Resolute Support News, November 5, 2016.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

SOF News & A Little Intel


MARSOC - Ten Years. MARSOC is celebrating its ten year anniversary. Read an article about the Marine Special Operations Command in "10 years of MARSOC: How the Marine Corps developed its spec ops command"Marine Corps Times, February 24, 2016.

Video - Marine Raiders. Marine Special Operations Command (MARSOC) has posted a 5-minute long video on YouTube.com about the history of the Marine Raiders (published Feb 24, 2016). This video is released on the 10th anniversary of the formation of MARSOC.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZuwfDmxhPE

MARSOC Training. Jeremy Bender provides us photos and a description of the type of training that the Marine Corps puts its top operators through for the Marine Special Operations Command. Read "Come along to MARSOC training, where the Marine Corps grooms its top operators", Business Insider, February 24, 2016.

Romanian SOF to Afghanistan. The Romanian Special Operations Group ROU SOAG-3 of the Targu Mures-based 6th Special Operations Brigade Mihai Viteazul will be heading to Afghanistan soon.

Paper - Operational Art in Special Warfare. A host of writers (Fred Krawchuk, John Peters, Linda Robinson, and others) have penned a 186-page report entitled Toward Operational Art in Special Warfare as part of a RAND Corporation project. It was published in February 2016. The jist of the paper is that the U.S. DoD should strengthen its special warfare planning capacity and culture, implement institutional reforms to facilitate unified action among relevant U.S government agenicies, and develop enhanced influence capabilities. www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR779.html

Delta Force - The Truth! The hit show The Unit is going to soon air on the UK's Forces TV. To celebrate this event Forces TV takes a closer look at its inspiration - the U.S. Army's Delta Force. Read "Delta Force: The Truth Behind 'The Unit'", Forces TV (UK),  February 23, 2016.

SOF Operators Buying Their Own Equipment? A recent news report says that there is a disconnect between vendors who supply equipment for SOF units, the money allocated for the equipment, and the operators that use the equipment. Read more in "Lacking basic gear, special operators stuck buying their own equipment", Stars and Stripes, February 25, 2016.

SEALs - "The Quiet Professional?" - Not So Much! One of the catch phrases for the U.S. Army Special Forces has been "The Quiet Professional". The same cannot be said of the U.S. Navy SEALs based on the numerous autobiographies and movies that feature the U.S. Navy's special operators- some of it for fame and personal profit. Read a 85-page research paper on the topic entitled Navy SEALs Gone Wild: Publicity, Fame, and the Loss of the Quiet Professional, Naval Post Graduate School, December 2015.

1st SFGA and Its Whiskey. A craft bourbon has raised thousands of dollars to help special ops veterans and their families. Learn "How the 1st Special Forces Group Got Its Own Whiskey", War is Boring, February 23, 2016.

Evading Danger? One SF veteran provides advise on how to "Escape and evade danger like a Special Forces veteran", Business Insider, February 26, 2016.

AFSOC Wants More V-22s. The Air Force Special Operations Command would like to acquire three additional multi-mission V-22 Ospreys before the product line ceases. This would bring the total to 54 airframes. Read more in a news report by National Defense Magazine, February 26, 2016.

French SOF in Libya. The country of Libya has been in a constant state of turmoil since the fall of its long-time dictator. There are now two governments - one in Tobruck and one in Tripoli. In addition, sandwiched between the two cities along the Mediterranean Coast is a small enclave of about 6,000 Islamic State fighters. There are indications that some European powers may intervene - the Brits and Italians possibly. In addition, the United States and other nations are said to have small SOF teams in Libya. News now comes that the French SOF are there as well. Drone strikes have taken place and there are rumors about the occasional CIA agent being in the vicinity of the better hotels. Read "French special forces waging "secret war" in Libya: report", Reuters, February 24, 2016.

British SAS as Well? One news report says that the UK SOF are in Libya as well. Read "Special Forces spearheading 'secret war' against ISIS in Libya", Mirror (UK), February 25, 2016.

And Finally . . . U.S. SOF Heading to Fight Boko Haram. It appears that a small team of U.S. special operations troops may be heading to Nigeria to help the local army there to fight Boko Haram. This will be another "advise and assist" mission that SOF is well-trained to conduct. Sure . . . except that Nigeria is just one more corrupt dictatorship that is inept and clueless in how to fight a counterinsurgency. I think this is just pissing in the wind on trying to assist a regime that steals money from it's public and puts foreign aid funds into Swiss bank accounts. Read "U.S. troops likely headed to Nigeria for Boko Harma advisory mission", Military Times, February 26, 2016.

Sunday, September 6, 2015

CT and Intel News

Paper on Network Analysis Techniques in Future Environments. The U.S. Army's recently published National Military Strategy (NMS) - June 2015 - emphasizes the high probability of hybrid conflicts. It also stresses the importance of security cooperation with mature allies and building capacity for emerging U.S. partners. In order to successfully operate in the environment that the NMS (and other documents) envision commanders must understand the environment and potential consequences of their decisions  - especially when operating in ungoverned spaces. The paper recommends a network science approach to monitor, assess, and analyze ungoverned spaces. Read more in  "The Specter of Ungoverned Spaces & How Advances in Network Analysis Can Assist Policymakers", by Jeffry Julum and Daniel Evans, Small Wars Journal, August 30, 2015.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Counter-Terrorism & Intelligence News

Intel Reports on Bombing ISIS. New intelligence reports indicate that despite one full year of bombing the Islamic State fighters in Iraq and parts of Syria by the U.S. Air Force there has been no appreciable effect on the Islamic State's capability to conduct operations. While CENTCOM claims the number of ISIS fighters and amounts of equipment have been significant the effect on the ground has been less than expected. The Islamic State has changed up its tactics to mitigate the air attacks and their recruitment of foreign fighters is at an all time high. Reports of the Islamic State gaining a foothold in Afghanistan have made the press in the past several months. Observers are speculating on the effect of new peace talks and new Taliban leadership will have on ISIS in Afghanistan.

Destroying the ISIS Financial Network. One important aspect of counterterrorism is "Counter Threat Finance" operations or CTF. The use of CTF can significantly inhibit the operational capability of terrorist, criminal, and insurgent groups, networks, and movements. Read how to interdict the Islamic State by hitting their wallets (or pocketbooks?) in "The 21st Century Answer to "Burning their Crops and Salting their Fields": Interdicting and Destroying the ISIS Financial Network"Small Wars Journal, August 1, 2015. The article, by Greg Kleponis and Tom Creal, reflects the author's experiences while advising in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

ISIS vs Taliban. Eric Jones in SOFREP writes about how ISIS is fighting the Taliban and how the ANSF is taking the fight to both organizations. SOFREP.com, July 27, 2015.

Paper - "Global Civilization and Counterterrorism". The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point has posted a paper that examines global terrorism, order and disorder, and how we should try to combat disorder and violent extremists.
www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/global-civilization-and-counterterrorism

Paper - "Understanding Terrorism Today and Tomorrow". The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point has posted a paper that helps us understand what terrorism is. The article is adapted from a speech by General Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, given at the CTC 2015 Senior Conference.
www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/understanding-terrorism-today-and-tomorrow

Former ISAF DCSINT now Cdr Fort Huachuca. MG Scott Berrier, former the head Intel guy and leader of the Essential Function 7 crowd, is now the new commander at the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence (why can't they just say Intel school?) and Fort Huachuca. (Sierra Vista Herald, Jul 31, 2015).

"Dead Drop". In tradecraft terms, a dead drop is a location to secretly pass information without a face-to-face meeting. Recall the scene in the Godfather where Al Pacino retrieves a pistol in the restaurant men's room? That is a dead drop. "The Dead Drop" is also the name of a weekly blog that provides intelligence tidbits and Washington rumors.
www.thecipherbrief.com/articles/welcome-dead-drop

Birth of Contemporary Terrorism. Brian Michael Jenkins, a renowned terrorism expert at RAND, has provided us with an informative article entitled The 1970s and the Birth of Contemporary Terrorism (July 30, 2015).

How Technology Changes Espionage. The use of computers has made the use of human intelligence (HUMINT) much more difficult (electronic passports, databases, etc.). However, the use of technology has made spying easier in some ways. Read more in "A new age of espionage", The Economist, August 1, 2015.

CIA - Gays and Lesbians Allowed. Read how the Central Intelligence Agency changed its policy in "How the CIA Came Out of the Closet", The Daily Beast, July 31, 2015.

A Resurging al-Qaeda in South Asia. The emergence of ISIS in Iraq and Syria combined with the withdrawal of the bulk of the international forces in Afghanistan have seen conditions become favorable for al-Qaeda. Read a paper on the topic entitled Resurgence of Al-Qaeda in South Asia Post-US Drawdown, Observer Research Foundation (ORF), July 2015.

Counter-terrorism in Pakistan. A recently published paper analyzes the new counter-terrorism strategy recently adopted by Pakistan - finds fault with it and provides recommendations. Read Revisiting Counter-terrorism strategies in Pakistan: Opportunities and Pitfalls, International Crisis Group, July 22, 2015.

Use of Drones to Continue Into Future. To no ones surprise the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones will continue far into the future - both for intelligence gathering, military applications, and commercial use. Read more in "Operating in an Era of Persistent Unmanned Aerial Surveillance", by William Selby posted on Small Wars Journal, July 31, 2015.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Intelligence Topics

The Defense Clandestine Service is still building up according to Michael Vickers (a former head intel guy). Vickers, until recently the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, says that the DCS is still expanding its mission of providing human intelligence within the military realm. Read more in a news article in Defense One, July 23, 2015.

CIA and Sex Dolls. In order to ensure success in their clandestine operations CIA agents would sometimes employ the use of "sex dolls". Learn more in "How the CIA Turned a Sex Doll Into a Spy Trick", Newsweek, July 24, 2015. (Okay, this has nothing to do with Afghanistan . . . but I couldn't resist!).

Domain of Human Geography. The Center for Technology and National Security Policy of the National Defense University has published a paper entitled Shifting Human Environment: How Trends in Human Geography Will Shape Future Military Operations, Defense & Technology Paper 107, May 2015. Posted on the website of the Homeland Security Digital Library, Naval Postgraduate School. www.hsdl.org/?abstract&did=767885

SOCOM, Big Army, DCGS, and the Enemy Within. Computer software in the intelligence field is causing difficulties between Big Army and Special Operations Command. Special operators prefer to use an intelligence software called Palantir while Big Army is pushing a very expensive but less effective application called DCGS. Read a recent news article providing info on this topic in "SOCOM Battles the Enemy Within", Strategy Page, July 21, 2015.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

New Century & LEGACY - A Success Story


One of the best success stories to come out of the many training endeavors in Afghanistan is the result of a United Kingdom firm - New Century. This firm has been providing intelligence training to the Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan National Police (ANP) for quite a few years. Their employees have served as trainers, mentors, and advisors to the ANA and ANP and were located in almost all provinces. One of their most successful programs was called LEGACY. The police training program involved working with the Afghan National Police intelligence officers at provincial level. The New Century firm deployed small teams of former UK Special Branch, special forces, and defense intelligence operatives to train up the ANP. LEGACY trainers were also attached to the Military Intelligence Kandaks and companies of the ANA Corps. Almost all of these trainers were retired from their respective careers in the UK defense or police organizations. Many served in the same province in Afghanistan for two to four years. As a result they became very knowledgeable of the terrain, personalities, insurgents, politics, and all other aspects of the province. They developed extremely good relationships with their Afghan counterparts because of this continuity. In my travels over the past four years in Afghanistan I visited many COPs and FOBs throughout the Kabul, 201st, 203rd, and 209th Corps areas - one of the first stops I would make was the LEGACY guys - because they had the in-depth knowledge and ground truth of what was going on in their area. The LEGACY program and New Century's work is "What Right Looks Like" and should be a lesson learned for intelligence support to a counterinsurgency in Afghanistan and future conflicts.

View the New Century website.
www.newcentcorp.com

ODNI 10 Years Old

Intelligence reformers pushed Congress for years to establish a centralized director for intelligence that would link all the various intelligence agencies together to provide better service and products for the end user. The U.S. intelligence community is a coalition of 17 agencies and organizations within the executive branch. These include the DoD services intelligence organizations, DEA, Treasury, CIA, DIA, NGA, NRO, NSA, DoS, DHS, DoE, FBI, and others. The debate is ongoing on whether the establishment of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) has been effective. You can read a press release by the ODNI about how it is observing the 10 years of intelligence integration in this April 22, 2015 press release.

Read a news story about the 10-year anniversary of the ODNI by Joshua Rovner and Austin Long in "Did the New Spooks on the Block Really Fix U.S. Intelligence?", Foreign Policy, April 27, 2015.

Visit the ODNI website.
www.dni.gov/index.php

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

ATP 3-39.20 Police Intelligence Operations

Headquarters, Department of the Army has released Police Intelligence Operations, ATP 3-39.20, April 2015. This manual could be valuable to those advisors who are working with the Afghan National Police, the National Directorate of Security, Operational Coordination Center (OCCs), or the various intelligence agencies of the Ministry of Interior or the Ministry of Defense.

Chapters:
Police Intelligence Foundation
Integration into the Operations Process
Police Information Sources
Police Information Analysis
Production and Dissemination

Some of the content includes info on incident maps, link analysis, association matrix, time-event charts, targeting methodology, source reliability code, and more. The manual, an Adobe Acrobat PDF, can be read online or downloaded from the Army's publication portal.
http://armypubs.army.mil/doctrine/DR_pubs/dr_a/pdf/atp3_39x20.pdf

Other manuals, papers, reports, and publications about police intelligence that may be useful to the police advisor in Afghanistan can be found at the website link below.
www.specialforcestraining.info/intel/le-police-intelligence-pubs.htm

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Paper - "Why COIST Matters"

The U.S. Army was not ideally trained at the company level for the conduct of a counterinsurgency in the beginning years of the Afghan conflict. One of the biggest deficiencies was the lack of an intelligence capability within the company headquarters. Later in the conflict the Army adapted and a temporary intelligence element was formed to fix this shortcoming - the Company Intelligence Support Team or CoIST. Some CoISTs worked very well while others were not very effective. Many times the differences in performance could be attributed to the degree of command emphasis and support, selection of CoIST personnel, equipment provided to the CoIST, and the pre-deployment training. The U.S. Army is currently moving on with its doctrine (leaving counterinsurgency in the dust); so the art and science of intelligence operations in support of a counterinsurgency may well be lost. This will be a problem if the U.S. Army becomes engaged in a counterinsurgency effort once again; we will have to re-learn costly lessons. In addition, in the new age of developing partner capacity many of our partner nations are currently engaged in a counterinsurgency effort. For instance, the Afghan National Army (ANA) is going to be involved in COIN for a few more years and U.S. intelligence advisors should be helping the ANA to develop a capability similar to the U.S. Army's CoIST. One writer believes that the CoIST should be institutionalized at company level within the U.S. Army. Victor R. Morris has penned a paper entitled "Why COIST Matters", Small Wars Journal, March 25, 2015. You can read his paper at the first link below. You can learn more about CoISTs at the second link below.

http://smallwarsjournal.com/jrnl/art/"why-coist-matters"

www.afghanwarnews.info/intelligence/COIST.htm

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

DCGS-A in the Spotlight . . . Again

The Army's Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) continues to attract the attention of members of Congress. DCGS has a long history of inoperability, dissatisfaction among intelligence analysts who had to use it during their Afghan deployments, and expensive cost overruns. So . . . the Air Force has the J-35 and the Army has DCGS. Read a letter of discontent by Representative Duncan Hunter addressed to the Secretary of the Army about DCGS.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Sharing Intel and Maps with the ANSF

One of the biggest problems confronting Intelligence Advisors of Security Force Assistance Advisory Teams (SFAATs) working in Afghanistan was/is the sharing of intelligence and maps with their Afghan intelligence counterpart. Most Intel was/is classified and as such - cannot be turned over to the ANSF unless it is re-packaged by a Foreign Disclosure Officer (FDO). Using an FDO is a time-consuming event and there are only so many FDOs in theater. The same is true of maps. The maps used by the U.S. and in some cases the Coalition are marked with classifications and are not releasable (in most instances) to the ANSF. An awkward situation at best. Everyone knows that intelligence drives operations in a counterinsurgency effort. ISAF wanted the ANSF to take the lead in the fighting but we didn't want to or couldn't share intelligence or maps with the ANSF.

U.S. Army Special Forces are used to working with NATO and non-NATO partners around the world. To be effective the SF teams need to be able to share intelligence with their partnered units. One work around was to use mapping software (such as iSpatial by Thermopylae) that was commercially available. A retired SF officer, Stuart Bradin, was one person who encountered this problem and helped to find a work-around. Read more on this topic in "How US Special Forces Uses Google Maps", Defense One, January 7, 2015.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

German Probe into NATO Hit List

German lawmakers called for an investigation into reports that German military and intelligence agencies contributed to a NATO list of Taliban targets in Afghanistan. It seems, according to NATO documents, Germany added names of insurgents to the alliance's Joint Prioritized Effects List or JPEL. Hmmmm. Seems to me that when using intelligence in a counterinsurgency you would want to identify insurgents and place them on a priority list so they can be detained, captured, or neutralized. One method is to use the F3EAD process to 'attack the network' and maintain a prioritized list for targeting. Guess I am missing something here! Read more in "German Opposition Urges Probe Into NATO 'Hit List'", The New York Times, December 30, 2014.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

CIA Continues to Assist Pakistan

Shuja Nawaz, a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center, writes an opinion about the CIA and the help it provides Pakistan in fighting terrorism. In 2011, the Central Intelligence Agency and the ISI (Pakistan's intel service), were not on speaking terms. However, there is a thaw in the air and some collaboration is taking place. According to Nawaz, the atmosphere can improve if the CIA would only try to understand ". . . Pakistan's aspirations and fears." (Hmmmm.) He says that the CIA ". . . should attempt to broaden its official relationships inside Pakistan to strengthen the country's civilian intelligence bureau and the newly formed National Counter Terrorism Authority." Yep. Work more closely with the ISI - the same organization from a country that sheltered Osama bin Laden, keeps Mullah Omar safe, and provides support and sanctuary to the Afghan Taliban. Read more in his opinion piece in The New York Times, December 21, 2014.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

DCGS-A TeT

The U.S. Army's Distributed Common Ground System - Army (DCGS-A) is a failed intelligence system that is slowly coming around as a result of very expensive modifications to the operating system and its software. In the past DCGS-A has been tagged as too complex and not fully operational by intelligence analysts working in the counterinsurgency environment in Afghanistan; and many preferred a less complicated and better suited commercially available system known as Palantir. To address the many deficits and training requirements of DCGS-A the Army is fielding "Tactical Engagement Teams" or "TeTs". The TeT is a team of subject matter experts from across the military intelligence corps who plan, coordinate, and execute training so that leaders and Soldiers understand the functionality of DCGS-A. The TeT training begins by focusing the intelligence professional on the tactics, techniques and procedures of employing and putting into action DCGS-A tools that specifically support the commander's decision-making cycle and processes. The entire concept is focused on supporting mission command. Read more in "Intelligence center develops DCGS-A tactical engagement teams to support mission command", Army.mil, December 16, 2014.

Friday, December 19, 2014

Afghan Spy Chief Explains Problems

The head of the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) says that with the departure of Coalition forces there is now a vacuum in the intelligence-gathering field. In testimony before the lower house of the Afghan parliament the NDS chief says that loss of intelligence is a result of inadequate manpower and a lack of technology. The drones, SIGINT, surveillance balloons, HUMINT networks, and intel fusion capability that the Coalition had when there were 150,000 ISAF troops spread across the country is now gone. Read more in "Afghan spy chief laments intelligence vacuum as foreign troops leave", Reuters, December 17, 2014.

Monday, December 15, 2014

LTG Flynn Talks Intel in Afghanistan

Retired LTG Michael Flynn, former director of the U.S. Defense Department Intelligence Agency, speaks about intelligence gathering in Afghanistan in an interview with the Wall Street Journal (Dec 7, 2014). He says that the U.S. intelligence effort needed to change its efforts in order to support the warfighter on the ground. The intel had to shift from an emphasis on targeting to one concerned with counterinsurgency (7 mins).

Ex-ISI Chief Talks about Afghanistan

The former head of the Pakistan Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI), General Hamid Gul, has stated that the Taliban-led insurgency will continue to persist if U.S. forces remain in Afghanistan. Gul said that the complete withdrawal of US forces is the foremost prerequisite for peace in Afghanistan. He also stated that the Afghan people will never tolerate occupation of their land and will continue to fight back. Of course, it is well-known that the ISI is a major supporter of the Haqqani Network and other anti-Afghan government insurgent groups; so his remarks are not a surprise. Read more in "Insurgency to continue if US forces stay in Afghanistan: Ex-ISI chief", Khaama Press, December 14, 2014.

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Afghan Covert Opns in Balochistan

A recent news article provides some insight into the covert operations that the Afghans are running into Pakistan. Of course, it may not be an "official" Afghan intelligence operation" - but at least it is something! According to the article there is a covert war between Afghan intelligence agents and Taliban militants in the southwestern Pakistani province of Balochistan. The fight is between the Adozai supporters of General Abdul Raziq (the provincial chief of police for Kandahar province) and the Afghan Taliban who have sanctuary in Balochistan. Islamabad has always denied that the Afghan Taliban seek refuge in this area of Pakistan; but WE know they are there! Read more in "Pakistani Leader Says Covert War Destabilizing Province", Gandhera Blog - Radio Free Europe, December 2, 2014.

DoDIG Assesses Intel Training

The U.S. Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (DoDIG) conducted an assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of the DoD's intelligence training and education programs in relation to the fundamental competencies of the DoD intelligence workforce. The DoDIG found that the DoD Intelligence Enterprise lacks the program standards to address the basic training needs and essential skills required by the DoD intelligence workforce. The DoD does not have the structure, resources, or capability to provide an efficient DoD Joint Intelligence Training (JIT) program to professionalize the DoD intelligence workforce. Read more in Intelligence and Special Program Assessments Report, Office of the Inspector General, 31 October 2014.
www.dodig.mil/pubs/report_summary.cfm?id=6034