Counterinsurgency and the
Education of the GEOINT
Professional
Todd S. BacastowProfessor of Practice for Geospatial Intelligence
John A. Dutton e-Education InstituteThe Pennsylvania State University
August 5, 2008
U.S. Army Spc. Roger Rich visits with an Iraqi child during a stop in a village near the city of Musayyib, Iraq, while on a civil affairs mission, June 12, 2005. Rich is assigned to Scout Platoon, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, part of the 155th Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Petty Officer Edward G. Martens.
“Counterinsurgency is military, paramilitary, political, economic, psychological, and civic actions taken by a government to defeat insurgency.”
Joint Pub 1-02/ FM 3-24/MCWP 3-33.5, p. 1-1
“Irregular Warfare (IR), Military Operations Other Than War (MOOTW), Limited Wars, or whatever other moniker the army has put on counterinsurgency (COIN), peacekeeping, peace-enforcement, etc., have traditionally received short shrift from the military education system….”
Insurgency/Counterinsurgency: Does the Army “Get It?”, Kevin Reynolds, Feb 2007
COIN 101 - Principles
It’s about competing for the loyalty of the people
Firepower is not the answer
The goal is to provide a secure environment for reforms and development
Cut the insurgent off from support of the people
If the insurgents obtain sanctuary from nearby nations the challenge is greatly increased
Iraq, Jan. 30, 2005: An Iraqi man shows off his ink-stained finger after casting his ballot at a polling station in Jisr Diala on the southern outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq. (AP Wide World Photo/John Moore).
COIN 101 - Phases
Source: RAND, 2008
COIN 101 – Intelligence
• Identifies opportunities and constraints
• Collects on the enemy’s “industrial footprint”
• Goal is to help destroy the enemy force
• Situational templates with data pushed to the analyst
• Standards for communicating
Conventional conflic
t
• Identifies who and why• Collects on the population• Goal is to correlate, track, and
apprehend• Highly varied needs with
locally developed data• Ad hoc information exchange
with many• Is law enforcement-like
COIN
Source: RAND, 2008
What’s education?
• Education is concerned with the development of the intellect
• Training deals with learning specific skills
• Education is a personal activity• Training is developing skills for
others
“the exploitation and
analysis of
imagery and
geospatial
information to describ
e, assess,
and visually depict
physical
features and
geographically referen
ced activitie
s on the
Earth.”
“a means
of visualising the instanc
e, situatio
n or forecasting the same.”
What’s geospatial intelligence?
Title 10 U.S. Code §467
Brigadier Nick Rigbyformer Director of Intelligencefor the UK Ministry of DefenseG
EO
INT
Geo
spat
ial
Inte
llig
ence
Dr. John Snow (1813-1858), a legendary figure in understanding and resolving a social problem through the use of spatial analysis.
Geospatial intelligence
Cholera outbreak in Soho, England, in 1854
• 2001 - Developing the Geospatial Workforce
• 2003 - Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge (GISTBoK)
• 2007 - US Geospatial Intelligence Foundation Accreditation Standards
No adequate definition since the field is too
new
Geospatial intelligence professional
Broad competency areas
Technical Situational
Analytical Personal
After:Building the Geospatial WorkforceCyndi H. Gaudet, Heather M. Annulis, and Jon C. CarrURISA Journal • Vol. 15, No. 1 • 2003
PSU Geospatial Intelligence Program
GEOG 882 Geographic Foundations of Geospatial Intelligence
GEOG 883 Remote Sensing for the Geospatial Intelligence Professional
GEOG 884 Geographic Information Systems for the Geospatial Intelligence Professional
IST 885Introduction to Multi-Sensor Data Fusion
GEOG 889 Virtual Field Exercise for the Geospatial Intelligence Professional
PSU vs ABCA Report
Many of Penn State’s educational objectives miss the needs of geospatial intelligence professional the COIN domain.
Current• Awareness
Needed• Evaluating
the host country legal issues associated with data collection and human rights
# 10 - Legal
Current• Collect data
for manipulation
Needed• Protocols
to collect, process, safeguard, and evaluate spatial data as evidence
# 9 - Geospatial Forensics
Current• National/
international cartographic standards
Needed• Preparing
the professional for effective cross cultural/organizational communications of geospatial information
# 8 - Language/Communications
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/rkkaww2/maps/keymap/chapter2_1.pdf
Soviet era map symbols
Current• Understandin
g the US intelligence community
Needed• Working as a
team of nations, global NGOs, and foreign agencies
• Customer relationship management
# 7 – Organizational
map of NATO PRTs in Afghanistan, valid as at 20 April 2007. [23]A full-size version of this map is available at: http://www.nato.int/ISAF/media/pdf/placemat_isaf.pdf
Current• Approached
in an ad hoc manner
Needed• Preparation
to find, evaluate, and use unstructured text, hard and softcopy maps, atlases, gazetteers, human terrain data (cultural and economic),etc
# 6 – Working with open source
Current• Data about
the open-physical environment
• Applying known data sources
• Understanding data issues
• Applying existing formats
Needed• Data about
the human and urban environment
• Creating SDI-like data organizations
• Analyzing data quality
• Creating data structures
# 5 – Working with data
Iraqi survey data collectors speak with a village elder during the course of the first phase of the Landmine Impact Survey. http: www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/pix/b/91052.htm
Current• Overlay• Buffering• Containment• Image
processing
Needed• Cluster
analysis• Network
analysis• Diffusion
modeling• Trend
analysis• Predictive
modeling/gaming
# 4 – Add to the toolset
A Social Network Analysis of the Iranian Government, [November, 2001]
Current• Awareness
Needed• Evaluating
an ethical issues with respect to data collection and analytical practice
# 3 – Ethics education
Current• Awareness
Needed• Evaluating
the impact of culture on data collection and analytic results
# 2 – Culture
Fairfax County Police,www.fairfaxcounty.gov/police/police31.htm
Current• Workflows
Needed• Structured
methods to help overcome human cognitive limitations or pitfalls
# 1 – Geospatial analytic thinking
We recommend the following GIS workflow:
1. Define the problem or scenario.2. Identify the deliverables (mostly maps) needed to support the decision.3. Identify, collect, organize, and examine the data needed to address the problem.4. Document your work:
a. Create a process summary.b. Document your map.c. Set the environments.5. Prepare your data.6. Create a basemap.7. Perform your analysis.8. Produce the deliverables, draw conclusions, and present your results.
Our World GIS EducationLevel 4: Making Spatial Decisions, ESRI
Geospatial analytic thinking
• The geospatial professional should:– Understand the cognitive biases and fallacies– Apply appropriate geospatial techniques for
creating and testing hypothesis • rational choice theory• utility theory• game theory, etc.
– Evaluate temporal-spatial trend analysis and spatial correlation
– Apply forecasting methods in the geospatial domain
• decision tree analysis• analytic hierarchy process• alternative scenarios/futures• Delphi technique• Lockwood Analytical Method for Prediction
(LAMP)
Summary
Physical Human
Open terrain Closed terrain
Data Evidence
Top down Bottom up
Individual Team
Descriptive Predictive
Workflows Analytic process
“We must cease confusing mastery of software commands with attaining a grasp of critical intellectual concepts.”
Duane F. Marble, ArcNews, 1998
U.S. Army Maj. Robert Holbert takes notes as he talks and drinks tea with local school and Andar Special Needs School administrators during a cordon and search of Nani, Afghanistan, on June 2, 2007. Holbert is attached to the Human Terrain Team, 4th Brigade Combat Team. DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Michael L. Casteel, U.S. Army. (Released)
Key References
• Counterinsurgency Warfare, Galula, 1964
• The Changing Face of War: Into the Fourth Generation, Lind, 1989
• Field Manual 100-7, Decisive Force: The Army In Theater Operations, 1995
• Military Operations Other Than War Briefing Slides and Script, J7, undated
• The Information Edge: Imagery Intelligence and geospatial Information in an Evolving National Security Environment, NIMA, 2000
• Developing the Geospatial Workforce, Gaudet, 2001
• GIS & T Body of Knowledge, DiBiase, 2003
• Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife, Nagl, 2005
• Army-Marine Corps Counter Insurgency Field Manual, January 2007
• ABBA Report, 2007
• USGIF Accreditation Standards, 2007
• A Conceptual Framework for Facilitating Geospatial Thinking, Golledge, 2008
• Analytic Support to Intelligence in Counterinsurgency, RAND, 2008
• International Association for Intelligence Education Conference, June 2008
• The Future of Intelligence Co-operation between Military Forces and Private Security Companies based on Lessons Learned in Iraq" Strachan-Morris, Mar 2008
• Taxonomy of Structured Analytic Techniques, Presentation, IAFIE Conference, June 2008
• Insurgency/Counter-Insurgency: Does the U.S. Army "Get It," Reynolds, June 2008