Quote Originally Posted by Entropy View Post
To add to the complexity, there can be standing collection requirements, but no standing requirement to put that collected information into a comprehensive, all-source product.
I guess that was the source of my frustration. I raised it with lots of people during my last deployment and, more importantly, post-deployment during some surprisingly detailed AARs. Unfortunately, the reaction seemed to be, "well, sorry, but that's how the broken system works" rather than, "good point, Mr. Operator, maybe we need to find at least a half-assed solution."

Several deployments ago, when I was in Bosnia, our S-2 shop assigned one analyst (an E-4 or E-5) to each opstina (which generally coincided with AOR boundaries). In response to our repeated requests for intelligence on areas that we were going into that had little to no contact with US forces in several years, we finally convinced the S-2 shop to have the analysts continually update a product for each opstina that had all of the most up to date intel and analysis. It was, for lack of a better word, a Wiki on their AOR. By the end of the deployment, it was actually a product that they each seemed to take some pride in, rather than just a daily grind of processing intel reports and then forgetting about them. Most importantly, it was a great reference to hand off during RIP/TOA.

I don't see how you do an effective RIP/TOA any other way. How else do you ensure that your replacement knows what is going on? There's only so much you can convey during your limited time together, between introductions with local leaders, property transfers, et cetera. In every RIP/TOA where I've been the incoming guy, I got a once-over-the-world and was then left to dig through intel reports, discard the redundant and outdated, and piece together the rest to put the picture together. Given how simple it is - and how useful of a mental exercise it is - to keep a continuously updated product for certain areas or groups, I don't understand why we don't do this. For example, let's say that your battalion operates in one geographic region and its primary adversaries are al-Qaeda in Iraq and Ansar al-Sunna. Wouldn't it make sense to maintain a continuously updated product that paints a thorough picture of the operations of those two organizations in your AOR? Our current practice is to simply assume that everyone has that information in their head because they attend the update briefs. Maybe that is a reasonable assumption. But, even if it is, your replacement is not attending the update briefs.

The success of your deployment only matters if your successor can build upon it. It's tough for him to build upon it if he doesn't know what you did or how it affected the situation. If you're handing him a blank slate, you're not giving him much to build upon.