By Saron Messembe Obia
The globalization era has changed the narrative of defense intelligence, with the emergence of a highly interconnected global economy, reshaping international alliances and the incorporation of new technologies. This interconnectivity offers new opportunities, and has also led to new security challenges, such as; regional instability, resulting from jihadist tendencies, migration, and resource capture, which requires new ‘grand strategy’. The complexity of modern warfare and civil- military relations, equally requires a recast of intelligence priorities, strategies, and methods necessary to meet the sociology of crimes in the 21st century.
Intelligence in the early 19th Century was limited, as the Army usually neglected or did not adequately exploit strategic information relating to potential menace. The American War of 1812 reconfigured the U.S military machine, with the creation of a unit of topographic engineers to reconnoiter and map positions and routes in support of military operations by the War Department. However, security parameters have changed, with evolution of technology and entry in to the ‘counter terrorism game’ by geostrategist, following the asymmetric nature of modern war, which appeals for intelligence professionals to consider a security environment marked by regional, economic, resource, and ideological competition.
Miniaturization of technology is increasingly penetrating the developing world. While opportunities are many, the interconnection of systems via the Internet also raises the risk of cyber-attack, cyberterrorism and drone attacks against national security apparatus. Security and counterintelligence professionals need to partner with scientific, and commercial persons to continuously deny an adversary’s ability to acquire and use such cyber capabilities. Equally, the development of new micro-electromechanical machines which offers defense applications, super-automation capabilities, and artificial intelligence are necessary to enhance military operations and advance information analysis.
The menace pose by insurgencies and terrorist groups in some African nations and international organizations continue to moderate panel discussions at international milieu, United Nations Security Council and African Union Peace and Security Council. For example, in the Horn of Africa and Sahel region, the asymmetric war between states and organizations like Al Shabaab and Boko-Haram, has led to reconfiguration of military machine of some states in these regions.
The effects of globalization era and the transition towards modern warfare have reshaped the locus of security dynamics in some Africa countries, which requires strategic transformation of intelligence agency in bid to counter terrorist activities. some of these engagements must be focus but not limited to; ensuring that most security officers gain insight on intelligence and defense in order to take accurate decisions, ensuring defense intelligence is available to the broader military machine under any condition or circumstance; to explore concepts, technologies, and strategies to address customer requirements and emerging menace; and, to enable us to counter terrorist networks from acquiring and exploiting technologies of the battle space.
Rethink of intelligence in Africa
Social scientists like Alvin and Heidi Toffler, posed that, the Age of Information is upon us, logically succeeding such grand epochs as the Age of Agronomy and the Age of Industrialization. Artificial intelligence is a major drive coordinating security activities, which have created new global security menace. Though military intelligence officers were pioneers to embraced of the Age of Information throughout the 20th century, several security challenges keep emerging. Information is capital for military operations, as such, officers devise better patterns to exploit, collect, analyze and disseminate intelligence. Terrorist groups like Al Shabaab, which derive several counter intelligence measures against national and regional security organizations, warrants intelligence-minded officers to inventively ushered in to the age of technological evolution, and as well develop resourcefulness to send out early warning signals. More so, technological evolution, particularly the use of drones, help limit military casualties in terrorist zones.
Counterintelligence
Counterintelligence narrative is related of the protection states, and organizations, from the activities of hostile individuals, terrorist organizations and foreign intelligence services, to restrict access to classified documents or data of state industries. Counterintelligence should not be limited to military department, but extend to strategic organizations to support operations at the national level, as well as overseas for African nations to properly stand as sovereign states.
Historically, intelligence agencies have encountered several challenges in this crucial function. Virtually all have suffered severe security breach, like the 9/11 events in the United States of America and the continuous attack on France by religious extremist. Some of these challenges emerge from inadequate vetting measures, poor community policing, access to suitable targets and corruption.
Intelligence operate in two dimensions, either offensive and defensive missions. Offensive mission, the entity attempts to exploit agents within foreign intelligence services to ascertain eminent operations against the state; monitor the activities of known or suspected agents of foreign intelligence services; and analyze potential operations to determine suitable targets and modus operandi of foreign intelligence services. On the contrary, the defensive mission focuses on investigation of cases of suspected espionage and prepare analyses for government and industry concerning the foreign intelligence menace. However, its necessary to note that, counterintelligence is an integral part of the entire intelligence process. As such, agencies that engage in intelligence collection, whether through human or technical means, must constantly review their strategy.
Information Warfare
With the evolution of technology in the world, information is prime factor for every nation. “Information warfare” refers to activities undertaken by state, national or transnational actors to access electronic systems in other countries in order to obtain data from the systems, manipulating or fabricating the data, or through security breach, as well as secure activities from hostile hackers. Most African intelligence agencies have been victim of information warfare, which necessitates the reinforcement of agencies with cyber security experts, analyst and hackers, who understand the dynamics of information systems and information systems technology. An example, is Ioannis Mantzikos (2013), academic discussion on the cyber-attack on the Nigerian Secret Service Department.
Moreover, most African states infrastructure as well as corporate organizations are interconnected to automated information and control systems. Many of these systems are vulnerable to computer-based disruption, manipulation, or corruption by hostile individuals, groups, or nations. For example, most software use in Cameroon are 90% vulnerable, according to the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies.
The protection of information in most African countries is still challenging, because of inadequate expertise or technicians working for governmental structure, with duty to protect computer networks in the public and private sector from electronic attack. Ethical hackers are now than ever needed by intelligence agency in order to limit security breach and caccess to classified files by transnational actors. For example, collecting information about “information warfare” menace posed by other countries or by terrorist group like Al Shabaab to Somalia. However, a legitimate mission for the Intelligence agency to counter the efforts of the group.
Intelligence and power
With the fragmentation of states and proliferation of rebel groups and terrorist activities in Africa, intelligence have been politicized. Drawing from the attack of the Westgate Mall in Kenya, which the government intelligence revealed as a major spot for Al Shabaab action during a briefing, on 21 September 2012, event still took place. The intelligence equally exposed on similar attacks like that which struck Mumbai in late 2008, “Where the operatives storm into a building with guns and grenades and probably hold hostages.” On 26 September 2013, Kenyan newspapers cited a leaked National Intelligence Service (NIS) report which revealed that the NIS had briefed ministers in January 2013 and again at the beginning of September, about terrorist plans to launch simultaneous terrorist attacks in Nairobi and Mombasa around September.
More so, 32 pages intelligence file leak, obtained by Al Jazeera, suggested five senior officials including the secretaries of interior, defence, foreign affairs, and chief of defense forces were aware of imminent threats. The senior officials were briefed on the “noticeable rise in the level of threat” starting on 13 September, eight days before the Westgate mall attack. Several security analysts told Al Jazeera that institutional rivalry and unclear command lines within Kenyan security agencies were reasons behind the failure to foil the Westgate strike. It was equally said that, Kenyan intelligence service had become politicized and appeared to be more focus on neutralizing political opponents, rather than protecting the country from internal and external aggression. The mall attack and its aftermath deepened Kenya’s ethnic and political divisions, in a country long considered as an icon of stability in a region plagued with jihadist tendencies.
The world has moved from law to war, back to law and now to war. The aftermaths of the second world war saw the emergence of the globalization period, marked with electronic warfare and electronic intelligence. With the introduction of a range of electronic breakthroughs, foremost among them the use of long-range radio signals, or radar, to guide planes and ships to their destinations, as well as the use of ‘flying birds’ or drone for counter intelligence and counter terrorism. All these electronic devices have in one way or the order help limit military casualties with modern warfare. It is necessary for nations to encourage and promote robust cyber countermeasures and awareness across the defense infrastructure and review scientific and technological advances made in academia and industry that enable rapid processing, vetting, and analysis of large volumes of data, information tagging, archival, and retrieval. The focus of intelligence enterprise in African nations must be upgraded to provide national, military and civilian leaders information sufficient to fully enable their anticipation, knowledge, understanding, management and when possible, mitigation of global security challenges.
References
Ahmed, H. (2016) Cities under Siege: Mass Casualty Urban Terrorism Assaults. S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) on 5 May 2016.
“Al-Yaqin Media Center Releases Analysis of Mumbai Attacks,” Open Source CenterGMP20090209386004, 6 January 2009,https://www.opensource.gov/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_0_200_240_1019_43/h
Ewen MacAskill, “How French intelligence agencies failed before the Paris attacks,”The Guardian, 19 November 2015,http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/19/howfrench-intelligence-agencies-failed-before-the-paris-attacks
Sebastian Rotella, James Glanz, and David Sanger, “In 2008 Mumbai Attacks, Piles of Spy Data, but Uncompleted Puzzle,” New York Times, 21 December 2014, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/22/world/asia/in-2008-mumbai-a
William Rosenau, “Every room is a new battle:” The lessons of modern urban warfare,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Vol. 20, No. 4 (1997),pp. 373-374.
(The Author is the Editor of crimeandmoreworld.com)
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