I would tend to suspect (and it's a suspicion, mind) that "growing" a cell would be better than bolt on, if for no other reason than the home-grown cell would understand the unit's AO, operating procedures, and so on. Any element coming from outside would have that additional learning curve to deal with. But that's just me. It also squares to a degree with some of the experience from Vietnam and the Philippines where units grew their own intel sections (although they weren't always called that) and developed a more responsive system of intel collection and (just as importantly) dissemination within the unit. The further removed it become, the less responsive it became.
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