MILITARY INTELLIGENCE

Intelligence agencies sharing identification information fills gaps.

By Shaun Waterman

Copyright: https://www.afcea.org/content/synchronized-data-protects-borders

The Department of Homeland Security interagency National Vetting Center has created an information clearinghouse that automatically checks the names of foreigners applying to come to the United States against highly classified databases in various intelligence agencies. The clearinghouse relies on a cloud architecture that agencies are building to share information and lays the foundation for powerful new tools that could leverage artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to help find foreign travelers who might be a threat to U.S. national security. Read more

By Major Thomas Dyrenforth, U.S. Army and Major Sean McMahon, U.S. Army

Copyright:https://faoajournal.substack.com/p/strengthening-us-strategic-influence 
Published at RIEAS web site (www.rieas.gr) on 1 February 2020

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the United States Army, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.

Introduction

In 2017, the United States budgeted over $100 million for the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program. However, no standard metric exists to determine whether this program is a success. Additionally, although several indicators suggest that the most strategically valuable aspect of the IMET program is the individual relationships it establishes between students and the U.S. government, graduate management and continued engagement are non-standardized and largely neglected. This paper identifies measurements of program effectiveness as a key knowledge gap in assessing the IMET program’s level of success. Additionally, the authors conclude that lack of coordinated IMET graduate management has resulted in significant underutilization of key strategic resources. Therefore, this paper recommends that improvements must be made to program metrics and graduate management in order to realize maximum benefit from the IMET program. Read more

Copyright: @ 2020 www.eyespymag.com (EYE SPY Intelligence Magazine,No. 125, 2019-20, page:49, UK)

Note: John M Nomikos is Greece/Balkans Editor for EYE SPY Intelligence Magazine, UK.

Germany’s primary intelligence services have joined in a programme to train new operatives and students in the art of intelligence collection, analysis and use of. Dubbed “Berlin’s Spy School” by the German media, the centre is attached to the new $ 1.1 billion headquarters of the country’s foreign intelligence Service – Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) in the city centre; here some 4,000 personnel are stationed. Externally, the organization employs 3,000 personnel in 300 locations around the world. These are within its embassies...Read more

Tassos Symeonides
(RIEAS Academic Advisor)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 21 December 2019

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS)

“History never repeats itself but it rhymes”
Mark Twain

Ankara is bubbling with war fever. President-for-life Erdogan, and his cabinet surrogates, miss no opportunity to remind the world Turkey is a superpower (of sorts) and never will accept being “disrespected” by other states. In fact, the Islamist neo-Ottoman strongman informed the world recently that “We [Turks] … are not foreigners, definitely not the other in Europe, instead, we are the host in Europe today as it has been throughout the history.”...Read more

Leo S.F. Lin
(Senior Analyst, Research Institute for European and American Studies)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 15 December 2019

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS)

Introduction

Chinese Organized Crime (OC) or Chinese Triads , like Japanese Yakuza, is one of the most notorious of the Asian crime organizations, which have survived since the 19th century. Traditionally, Chinese OC operates exclusively within their ethnic groups and in a more hierarchical organizational structure. In these triad organizations, members of the OC groups have to follow precise rules, rituals, oaths, codes of conduct, and chains of command (Lo 2010). Such structural control facilitates the triads to effectively control territories to run illicit activities (Chin and Chin 1990, Lo 1984)...Read more

Dora Gelo
(Analyst based in Zagreb, Croatia)

Copyright: Research Institute for European and American Studies (www.rieas.gr) Publication date: 8 December 2019

Note: The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the views of the Research Institute for European and American Studies (RIEAS).

Summary

The conflict in focus  the relationship between the concept of secrecy, which the national security system is entitled to, and the request of the public, which is a norm of a democratic society  is only one of the elements appearing in a specific relationship between the system and the media. On the other hand, as stated by authors Peter Gill and Mark Phythian in their book Intelligence in an Insecure World (2018), a part of their relationship can also be marked by a combination of dependence, manipulation, support and praise, which can lead to conflicts of other relevant categories from the group which are related to independence and the quality of information. A similar situation involving the relationship with the source is also conspicuous here  the relationship between the journalist and the source, the system and the source or, also according to the authors mentioned above, the possibility of fraudulent, including illegal, behaviour, in order to obtain the information inaccessible to the public...Read more