The Soldier of the 21st Century

Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin, Oct-Dec, 2000 by Antonio C. Moreno

Change is to make different, to make radically different: transform. These are but a couple of the definitions for the process that we in the Army, and in the Military Intelligence Corps, in particular, are undergoing. We are plotting a different position, course, or direction away from a Cold War mentality. New technology, new training models, and other sophisticated platforms that play important roles in reshaping the Total Force for the future are driving us to update our doctrine.

No longer can we expect to fight battles and wars as we did from World War II through Vietnam and Operation DESERT STORM. Those battles, and the way we trained to fight them, are in the past. Although we must not forget, it is imperative that we build upon that history and develop new strategies, employ new systems within different types of environments, and provide our soldiers with realistic training enabling them to win and survive in ever-changing environments.

Future Conflicts

As the Army wrestles with modifying strategy to fight major theater wars (MTWs), we must ensure that our units are robust and flexible across the full operational spectrum. We must be capable of rapid transition from domestic disaster relief, civil disturbance control, peace or armistice, noncombatant evacuation operations (NEO), counter-drug, limited war, small-scale contingencies (SSCs), and stability operations and support operations. Consequently, it is crucial that we make these transitions at all echelons without suffering a significant loss in coverage or capability.

There is no question that our force is much smaller. Our operational tempo (OPTEMPO) has increased significantly, causing our current force structure to cope with the demands of protecting a myriad of national interests, defined and not yet defined, based on world events. For us to be a strategically responsive force that will enable combat commanders to achieve dominance across the full spectrum of operations, the Army and its Ml soldiers must acquire and develop skills to perform in a multi-functional manner. This is not to say that all soldiers must be technically proficient in multiple military occupational specialties (MOSs). Rather, each one should be able to transition easily or apply other skills in addition to their primary MOSs. Information operations (10) and measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT) skills are prime examples.

Technology Applications

As the Army progresses into the 21st century, we can expect a multitude of battlefield challenges depending on the terrain, equipment, and tactics employed against us. Increased requirements in applying MASINT and 10 respective to our given MOSs will enhance our capabilities to conduct intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB) and fight military operations in urban terrain (MOUT). The urban terrain environment will drive requirements for high-fidelity intelligence that in turn requires proximity to targets regardless of weather and day/night conditions. Incorporating MASINT skills and technology is a force multiplier spanning the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Although it is a unique intelligence discipline with singular capabilities that in the future could evolve into a separate MOS, MASINT provides a different dimension to the other intelligence disciplines of human intelligence, imagery intelligence, and signals intelligence (HUMINT, IMINT, and SIGINT, respectively). Likewise, we must produce a pipeline ofwell-educated information security specialists. As intelligence professionals, we must provide the ground commander with accurate and timely intelligence to ensure superior situational awareness. Timely intelligence is critical when operating in a rapidly transitioning environment such as urban warfare. As long as we can achieve and maintain information superiority, apply learned MASINT skills, and simultaneously execute our intelligence missions, we can expect success in effectively neutralizing and then dominating the enemy regardless of the environment. How do we get there from here?

Training

From a training standpoint, we must develop, test, and field new intelligence systems to stay abreast of and be able to counter the technological advances now available to rogue nations and terrorist groups. The systems we develop and field will require that our soldiers deviate from the traditional one-skilled dimensionality and evolve into multi-skilled individuals. MI must lean toward consolidating like functions and integrating associated skills as a matter of routine. The MI soldier of the 21st century must possess a variety of unmatched technical and human skills to both support the combat commander and to become an organic warfighting resource.

Our training philosophy must apply more soldier- and team-oriented training to improve MI soldiers' effectiveness in a complex environment. As we transition to a digitized battlefield, so must the training transition. We must wean ourselves from such traditional teaching methodology as having intelligence analysts plot on paper maps using acetate and alcohol pens, for example. We should be analyzing electronic sensors and activity displayed on digitized maps in near-real time from intelligence-gathering systems such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS), Guardrail Common Sensor (GRCS), weather satellites, and more. As a result, our soldiers must--