This post provides a summary of day one of the STRATCOM Synergy conference. The conference is focused on integrating combat ops/intelligence implications for national intelligence processes. Conference leader Brigadier General Billy Bingham (USAF, ret) opened the conference by reviewing what was discussed last year’s Synergy conference. He also laid out the goal for this year’s conference, to keep moving things forward and to ensure we are “Integrating operations and intelligence so we can achieve our nation’s objectives in the most efficient means possible. ”
The morning included a presentation by the STRATCOM J5 (Brigadier General Mark Owen). He was followed by Major General Michael Ennis, Deputy Director of the National Clandestine Services for community HUMINT at CIA. The afternoon was filled with discussions and briefings that brought home the perspectives of operators from the Ops/Intel world, including a panel filled with ops/intel professionals which discussed lessons learned. Perspectives on ops/intel synergy on the front lines were provided by a seasoned Marine Corps professional. Key areas where ISR models clash were highlighted by a seasoned Air force ISR Colonel. An update was provided on army operational intelligence.
The following provides some takeaway’s from the discussions:
Brigadier General Owens mentioned the many missions of STRATCOM, including nuclear deterrence, and also cyberspace. In his view, STRATCOM’s mission in cyber is to ensure freedom of action in cyberspace. He also signaled a strong intention of the Commander, STRATCOM to return the J2 position to the importance it once had. He also signaled a strong intent to do that while integrating ops and intel into the mission. He talked about the terms he likes to use, those of intelligence and warfighters, since the operators are warfighters.
General Ennis gave personal stories underscoring how important it is for ops and intel to work together. He said great staffs have always worked that way and now at CIA it is all ops and intel together, at JSOC it is all ops and intel together. He thinks it is wrong to use the old models of ops and warfighters. That too frequently forces a separate structure. In the old days there was an ops cell and an intel cell and they were separate. Today, in efficient operations, the intel and ops cells are together. General Ennis is a strong believer in new tools and thinks three in particular are dramatically changing the way we are working together. Blogs, Wikis and the class of tools that lets users go after content in search vice just headlines. By Blogs and Wikis he meant the many open source/Internet based wikis that can provide context and situational awareness. For example, the MCIA cultural intelligence initiative makes extensive use of these tools. He also provide some thoughts on the term “information sharing.” There are things he doesn’t like about that term because sharing implies the data is yours to own and to decide when to share. He believes in joint interagency platforms for ensuring responsiveness, relevance and unity of effort. Regarding Open Source, he would like to see an interagency open source center that is focused on hard problems. Regarding IT, he believes a common IT backbone is critically important to mission success.
The afternoon speakers hit on many great topics related to ISR and the different cultures in the Services and how they clash over ISR. There were many great stories and lessons, and several meaty recommendations. But the bad news is all the stories sound the same as they have for years and the lessons learned are the same ones we have been relearning for years. I guess the point of the conference is that we need to embody those lessons somehow.
More later
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Bob, I so appreciate you taking the time to blog about this conference. I’m particularly hopeful that Ops/Intel teams at JSOC will continue to be supported with Web 2.0 innovations.
Looking forward to the next post!
Bob, thank you for summerizing. I am stuck in DC, but reading what you are saying. Sadly I do not think we learn the lessons we continue to speak of year after year and until more people roll up their sleeves and get some work done, then we will continue to pontificae about what COULD be done instead of doing it.
Thanks much Jeffrey and Robert.
The conference is much smaller than the other big ones we hit in the community, like DCGS or DoDIIS conferences, but it has been a good way to catch up with many old friends and associates.
Cheers,
Bob