Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Red Cell Analysis
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has single handedly furthered the evolution of terrorism. This is a new type of terrorism that is not easily defined or visible. The Islamic States new form of terrorism has developed social unrest across the world and has undoubtedly inspired a new generation of extreme Islamic sympathizers to join the their cause and fight to accomplish their agenda of cultural cleansing. In order to repel the Islamic State, one has to identify their vulnerability’s and exploit them. This red cell analysis will exploit those vulnerability’s by looking from the inside out. The following topics will be discussed.
1) Organizations Origins & Leadership
2) Ideology
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The leader or "caliph" is Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai, better known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He sits at the top of a structure of advisory councils and administrative departments that are replicated at regional and local levels. These oversee a range of functions and services that include security and intelligence, finance, media, health provision, and family or legal disputes (Lewis 2015). However, the difference between an actual military power and the Islamic State is what is key to why they are so successful. ISIL talks very little about its leadership, and beyond Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the group 's spokesman Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, little is clear about the identity and roles of senior figures. It is said that the leaders are designed to be replaceable (Lewis 2015).
When an organization like the ISIL is so secretive and discreet, it makes it difficult to gather intelligence on them. The key to infiltrate their terrorist network would be through the efforts of HUMINT gathering. The terrorist network is very close hold with information and an organization like the Central Intelligence Agency would be well suited to gain access to their ranks through HUMINT operators. HUMINT operators are the front lines of intelligence operations. They often collect information directly from the threat (DeGiovine 2015). The Central Intelligence Agency has dedicated its service since the attacks
Human Intelligence (HUMINT) is defined as any information that can be gathered by human sources. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is best known for its National Clandestine Service (NCS), for which is responsible for the collection of HUMINT. Human Intelligence is collected through various ways. The CIA states the main avenues for collection are: “Clandestine acquisition of photography, documents, and other materials, Overt collection by people overseas, Debriefing of foreign nationals and U.S. citizens who travel abroad, and Official contacts with foreign governments” (cia.gov). HUMINT is and can be used in its raw form in order to make important decisions when
All Intelligence Community (IC) Members use HUMINT derived products, although some members may not be involved in the collection process. The CIA is the IC member responsible for clandestine collection operation, as their Case Officers’ duty is explicitly to recruit foreign entities into committing espionage against their respective governments. In more rare cases other members of the intelligence community may participate in clandestine collection operations, although these instances are mainly opportunistic rather than planned out. For example: during the first days of the invasion of Iraq, it in not unlikely that a military member may have been able to approach an Iraqi official and offered him security guarantees in return for information on high value
However, HUMINT is the only “INT” which can answer questions on group dynamics. HUMINT is the only collection method that allows analysis of information that can only be derived from face to face interaction (Norwitz, 2010). Additionally, only HUMINT will derive group interactions which can be acted upon to mitigate the group’s effectiveness (Norwitz, 2010). People can still lie, but lies can be checked through other disciplines. Only HUMINT can tell you what an individual is thinking based on what he says. If he does not use the phone or a radio, SIGINT is mitigated. If his operations are not able to be observed through IMINT, then IMINT assets would better be employed elsewhere. In dealing with an insurgent or terrorist group, HUMINT will give the most information. HUMINT is not without its perils. While SIGINT and IMINT can be collected by aircraft or satellite, HUMINT requires an agent on the ground with the proper placement and access (Norwitz, 2010). This puts human lives in danger when collecting information that does not exist in more technical
As we have seen throughout the entire history of warfare, ancient world terrorism, political intrigue and elitist terrorism of the middle ages, and into modern terrorism, intelligence is of vital importance on both sides. Armed forces have always used intelligence of some form be it sneaking up a hill and scouting what is on the other side to the use of modern platforms such as
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ISIS is a Sunni militant group seeking to create its own state, governed by their interpretation of the Laws of the Quran, and to destroy all other branches of Islam as well as convert or destroy all non-Muslims.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, popularly known as ISIS and Daesh, is the 21st centuries rising global threat to humanity. The world has united to reduce and ultimately prevent genocide. In the paper ISIS will be referenced as Daesh. The initial part of the essay will cover Daesh origins, ideology, goals, and objectives. It is essential to know the similarities of the present Daesh brutalities and historic barbarisms of Wahhabism. The rest of the essay will focus on leadership, funding, and capabilities, such as physical bases support locations. The conclusion will attempt to raise concern of the internal threat within the United States. This essay will be limited to sources not having access to restricted or classified information. The closing goal of this essay is to embolden the serious threat to the United States and other countries seeking pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.
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In fact, the ISIL has been transporting stolen Syrian oil into Iraq’s Ninawa Governorate and then from close proximity to the city of Mosul smuggling the oil into Turkey, where it is sent to Ceyhan for re-export. The Turkish military deployment in the Mosul District and its plans to establish a permanent military base are meant to protect these oil routes and dually maintain the flow of illegally sold Iraqi oil by the Kurdistan Regional Government and to secure the stolen Syrian and Iraqi oil taken by the ISIL.” Thus setting up this intelligence architecture will require experts that know and are familiar with the countries with Africa where the intelligence needs to be gathered, Special Operations that can help from an operational and tactical standpoint, and most importantly, a budget that supports the
The assignment being completed within this paper asks the author to answer three general questions. The first asks the author of this paper to create a hypothetical scenario for a terrorist attacked using the Sunni terrorist group picked in Module 1 as the test subject. The second question asks the steps to be taken by both the terrorists to hatch and execute the plan and the mitigating procedures that can be used to negate these measures. Finally, it is asked whether there is any early warning or detection possible for this incident.
Terrorism is the warfare of the future. The battlefield has changed and it will take professional intelligence agencies to gather information about these unorthodox combatants. To help fight the war on terror, intelligence corporations must be present. However, some of the agencies can be combined with others to make a “super agency”. Three agencies that currently play a major role in the battle on terrorism will be the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Discussion will be given on which
Terrorism has become a far reaching threat especially in the United States. Gathering intelligence on these terrorist groups has proven to be problematic for the intelligence community. Compartmentalized security measures have led to difficulty in detecting the intentions of the terror groups. Intelligence is a key aspect in the counterterror operations in order to prevent terrorists from conducting attacks against intended targets. The troubling aspect of counterterror operations is gathering intelligence on terrorist intentions due to the compartmentalized nature of their operations. Clandestine nature of terror operations and compartmentalization allow for a greater ability to coordinate attacks. Counterintelligence operations had been used
Islamic State is ruled by one individual dictator named is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who is a dictator that is followed by a number of Isil people. Abu was able to
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ISIL, the movement, is composed of an inner cadre which hols power, and several layers of surrounded by layers of true believers who serve as the cadre 's enforcers. If you want to destroy ISIL it is not enough to retake territory and kill off the true believers, you must target the cadre. Otherwise, the cadre simply recruits more followers and rebuilds.