Vantage Point - United States military intelligence - Brief Article - Editorial

Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin, July, 2000 by John D. Thomas, Jr.

In the last several issues of the Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin, I have discussed the exciting transformation taking place within the Army and Military Intelligence. This is truly a time of unprecedented change. We are beginning to bring new versions of the All-Source Analysis System, Common Ground Station, Prophet system, Tactical Exploitation System, and the brigade commanders' Tactical UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) to the field. The Army is rapidly becoming a digitized force, taking full advantage of the power of the information age. We are building new organizations with the Interim Brigade Combat Team, a Contingency Support Brigade, and increased human intelligence capability. Our doctrine and TTP (tactics, techniques, and procedures) are quickly evolving to support our expanding missions. Our MI Corps is clearly changing.

However, the greatest imperative during this time of exciting transformation is not the fielding of hardware or publishing doctrine, it is leadership. Change is hard. It requires a team effort. It makes us step out of our comfort zones and assume risk. Things are not the way they used to be. "We don't do it that way here" is a killer phrase. If Intelligence is to make the contribution that our leadership expects, we need to work together and embrace this period of change as an opportunity. It gives a chance to improve ourselves, apply the lessons learned from hundreds of campaigns in combat and in the Combat Training Centers (CTCs), and to reach out to embrace new concepts.

As leaders of the Intelligence Corps, we must understand the changes and look beyond some immediate effect to recognize the value added to military operations. We must keep our subordinates up to speed on the transformation and the ongoing dialog on the issues. Strong, enthusiastic leadership will keep up morale and help people deal with the changes.

The Intelligence Center receives many superb lessons learned reports from units, observer/controllers at the CTCs, and many other sources. Your work in submitting that information has formed the basis of our transformation, keep up the information flow. We have made information about the transformation available on our websites, use them. I encourage each of you to be active supporters of these transformation efforts. If we provide solid leadership during this time of significant change, we will remain...