Balanced Insanity: An Argument for the Inclusion of Tasking, Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination in Future Security Assistance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Programs

The changes in the threat posed by global terrorism may be drastic, especially when weapons of mass destruction (WMD) are involved. The coalition nature of the current war on terrorism may also change rapidly as coalition partners enter, leave, or rejoin the coalition. The United States and its coalition partners must take advantage of the capabilities of modern communications to transmit and share the most basic levels of intelligence to meet the threat posed by global, potentially catastrophic terrorism. Time spent analyzing raw information and collating it into finished analytical products as in the NATO alliance framework may simply not be available. The Cold War intelligence structure no longer achieves the nation's goals when America's alliances in the global war on terror are based on loose regional or global coalitions organized to meet specific threats. Perhaps the most glaring example of the disconnect between America's stated policies regarding the global war on terror and its obsolete security assistance programs is the sale of intelligence unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to foreign coalition partners. The United States, as the leader of the worldwide coalition against terrorism, is involved in maintaining the intelligence databases critical to success in a war that spans the globe. As the leading nation of this coalition it is in the best interests of the United States to maintain a global intelligence network capable of sharing critical information among its partners. If all coalition partners have access to interoperable intelligence systems, there is a decreased reliance on liaison officers, translators, and other less effective methods to achieve interoperability. A shared intelligence picture ensures the coalition's military commander has centralized control of intelligence. With the direct exchange of intelligence, there is less of a chance for fog and friction to affect the coalition's intelligence capabilities.