I am attending the ASIC C2ISTAR Working Group meeting this week and next week and am not sure how much net/web access I will have for the duration of the meeting… preparations for this have been consuming most of my available time over the last couple of weeks hence the low rate of updates but it’ll all be done by lunch on Wednesday next week when normal services should be resumed…
A couple of months ago, in The Information (R)evolution, I made comment on an article in the Sept 10 C4ISR Journal, Shifting Terrain (After the C4ISR JOurnal site was taken down the only record of the original article I have is my original scribbled on one). On later reflection, I thought that it might be more constructive to offer a counterpoint to this article in the Journal as a means of furthering discussion and awareness of the nature of the contemporary operating environment. C4ISR Journal was happy to pick up my commentary and have just published it in the November 2010 issue…so, with no further ado, may I present for your professional information and review…Staying focused in Afghanistan…
The version published is actually the penultimate version but technology conspired against us while I was on the road last month and neither myself nor Ben Iannotta, the C4ISR editor, were able to close off the last few loose threads before the closure of the publishing deadline. I have a copy of the final version and will upload it here in a couple of weeks so as not to steal any fire from the Journal’s current issue…
I haven’t had a chance to read through the other articles yet except for NATO integrates ISR at all levels which I think is still a largely aspirational goal but at least someone senior is forcing the debate. While the lowest common denominator approach may have been successfully employed in peacekeeping operations in the 90s, where possibly the driving force within the operation is the number of national flags waving at the table, it remains patently unsound for operations to the right of peacekeeping on the spectrum of conflict. More complex campaigns require entry bars to be set across a range of key enablers that might include language, doctrine, technical interoperability in communications, C2 and information systems, and levels of training in selected key skills…
OK, so my memories of Brussels are somewhat blurred….had a great time, working with a great team from ASIC but very long days between meetings and then essentially another working days worth of networking each evening….
It’s the first time I’ve had anything to do with NATO itself as opposed to the various member nations and that was an experience in its own right…even the sheer size of the building itself takes some getting used to and it is easy enough to get misplaced…might have to take Kirk next time as my guide dog…he’d love the Belgian beer too…
Regardless of professional activities, I’ve had to add Brussels to my very short list of cities to revisit when Carmen and I do our grand world tour….without even trying we could spend a week just exploring the narrow winding streets and alleyways of the old city…
The public transport system isn’t that intuitive and I’ve had to do a bit more walking that entirely necessary after dismounting at the wrong stop…all the signs are bilingual but English isn’t one of the linguals so the 5th Form French has had a bit of a hammering the last week or so…it’s a good system once you get on top of it and I know for next time to always have a public transport Plan B…
A belt of crappy weather was just enough to send a few ripples across the European air transport pond but even with a number of delays, Singapore Airlines managed to get us into Changi 15 minutes ahead of the original schedule – guess that crew’ll be up for a bonus.
The October in-flight entertainment programme is no less bland the third time around as it was the first or second…
I watched this before dinner was served and would rate it an average at best…too much game-like leaping around (yes, I know it was derived from a game – think I used to play the original on my Amiga way back when…) at the expense of what could have been quite a good story…
Again I crashed out (the joy of an exit row!!) most of the flight and started (again) to watch this – I’d caught the middle of this on the way up on an old 747 that lacked video on demand but landing came before the end of the movie. This time I got the beginning of the movie but still haven’t managed to get to the end….third time lucky on the leg to Auckland…
It’s a dampish day here in Singapore and I’m about to check out and go in search of food before heading off to Miniature Hobby and Hobby Mountbatten for some nostalgia shopping….
…and don’t you come back no more, no more, no more…
I remember Liz Mullane from working on the Lord of the Rings trilogy ten or so years ago…a sharp operator and a top lady…
…a meeting of Wellington film technicians came together within 3 hours and over a thousand people came – then when they decided to turn up at the equity meeting to put their point of view to Simon Whipp it was cancelled! – they are now at Parliament with some basic demands – take off the International boycott and MEAA get out of NZ!
Feel free to send this to everyone you know so they realise that there are consequences! This is much more than an actors issue! This is about a militant Australian union trying to take control of our film industry!
Over a thousand people are challenging the action taken by 400? (reported Akld meeting turnout) and that’s just in Wellington alone (Wgtn meeting 80 tops?). Do the math!
Liz Mullane
Bugger off, Skippy! We neither want nor need your ‘help’…
I like Singapore…and it would have to be my stopover of choice when travel overseas…It’s not just that I lived here for two years back in the 80s although that certainly helps as I know my way around – although that’s a relative thing as the rate of change here has always been astronomical…I like the people, their go-getter attitude to life – and if anyone doubts that such an attitude exists they only have to wonder why such a small nation with no apparent natural resources has transformed itself into, not only a powerhouse economy, but also the major military power in the region…
It’s always warm here but never so much that it is intolerable and even if it were, it is a simple think to duck from one aircon complex to the next; summa-summa with the rain, you only really get wet here if you want to…the people are friendly and helpful and so (rightly) proud of what they are creating here. Unless you’re pretty affluent, the real shopping is so-so but it’s so much fun shopping in the likes of Far East and Lucky Plazas just to play the haggling game with the vendors. The food is fantastic and it’s well worth a stopover just to do some culinary experimentation – although to really do it justice, your stopover would have to be 3-4 weeks long…
There’s a lot that Kiwi cities (especially that amorphous all-consuming blob just north of the Bombays) could learn from Singapore when it comes to public transport. When we arrived here in 1987, the two main ways of getting around were buses or taxis (for us, the decision of which to take was generally driven by the amount of shopping one might have, although for two or people that taxis were simply just that much more convenient. That year, Singapore announced it was going to implement a light rail Mass Rapid Transit system. There was much disbelief because most of the land here had already been built on and where would a useful rail system go? Easy, underground…Singapore’s engineers could teach Tolkein’s and Feist’s dwarves a thing or two about underground construction as, in the last two decades, they have carved out a whole new sub-surface city, the existence of which is almost undetectable from the surface. The first MRT trains were up and running before we left in 1989, and offered (and still do) fast, clean aircon transport around the island. Two decades later, the MRT goes everywhere….
So I’m here just for a night of my way up to Europe for a conference next week. I’ve spent the morning having a wander and recce-ing out shopping for homeward stopover next weekend…apart from carelessly dehydrating myself by walking without enough water, it has, again, been thoroughly enjoyable…I picked up a little netbook off First-In before I left and have been experimenting with it as a means of maintaining comms and drafting thoughts while on the road. This post is my first crack at using Windows Live Writer to draft a blog post offline and certainly the experience so far is better than using the WordPress tools…I was a little miffed that First-In’s supplier screwed up the order and only sent me the 160Gb version instead of the advertised 250Gb one but First-In was very quick to refund the difference and let’s be honest about it – am I really ever going to max out a 160Gb hard drive on a netbook. I’m hoping that it will be quite a handy little staging area when I can dump downloads from the camera, carry on writing while I’m on the road (which looks like it will be for the foreseeable future), and keep in touch with Home Command….so far, I’m not disappointed…while perhaps no Kindle, it is certainly quite handy for e-reading and commenting on PDFs….
In a few hours, I’ll be winging my way through the friendly skies and the next update should come from the end the European summer (hopefully as I haven’t packed a lot of warm clothes…with a little luck, the movies on this leg will be an improvement on those on the Auckland –Singapore leg…
I was really looking forward to the Crowe/Scott take on Robin Hood and found it a real mish-mashy disappointment, neither Arthur, or Martha, closer to Men in Tights than Gladiator…..
Similarly Toy Story 3 lacked originality and was just more of the same from 1 and 2.
I did enjoy From Russia With Love (yes, the oldie from 1963), an old A-Team episode and a couple of episodes from Ashes to Ashes which I missed entirely when it screened on NZ telly…
As below, Dean presented at the COIN Center’s Virtual Brown Bag session this morning…the slides and audio file will be posted on the Center’s website in the next few days…I may be offline for a week or so as I am off globetrotting again but will link them in when I get an opportunity…in the meantime I strongly recommend that anyone with a personal or professional interest in contemporary intel issues, key an eye of the site and download both files when they become available. This is very good stuff and at least on a par with MG Flynn’s Fixing Intel paper from earlier this year…
Top effort from Dean and it is great to see a compadre’s efforts paying off like this….
As a taster, here’s some of the questions that were asked during the session (to hear the answers, you’ll need to download the files…)
MAJ Decker BCTP – guest: Coming in loud and clear
Peter Sakaris – guest: To understand the environment over time shouldn’t we be getting better more reliable HUMINT through increased population interaction? I would think that the example of a new officer working with a veteran police officer in the CONUS as you described would help to do this in the COIN environment. Obtaining the institutional knowledge of an environment can come from people that live in that environment because they live it every day and are in areas of the local community where it would be difficult for us to get into.
Kevin Frank JIWC – guest: Not will ing give up on the analysis issue- believe that if we collect the correct data and present it to the analyst correctly, we’ll get better analysis at the current training levels, especially if the commander is asking the right questions…comments?
DK Clark, DTAC/CGSC – guest: Did you use the pattern-analysis plot, activities matrix, association matrix, and societal considerations in FM 3-24.2? If so, could you comment on problems with these methods/techniques of framing and displaying the intel analysis in COIN?
MAJ Decker BCTP – guest: Afghanistan Reintegration Program (ARP) is now doing the same as the Boston Gun Project by providing retraining opportunities to former insurgents
HOMBSCH, DAVID G Lt Col : Comment only (no need to repeat): I love the quote – “analysts to be historians, librarians, journalists” – spot on. I also totally agree, with exploiting reach back – generate staff with expert knowledge on specific regions, who understand normality, and can interpret important changes (indicators and warnings) to cross cue counter insurgent forces. Hypothesis – there is a place for more foreign nationals in analysis teams in CONUS and allied intelligence agencies?
CPT Linn – guest: how are we integrating analysis into Data collected from FETs and HUMINTs in theater?
Peter Sakaris – guest: The Stability Academy, Kabul (formerly the COIN center of Excellence) is a COIN Academy that the leadership of deploying BCTs cycle through as part of their RIP/TOAs. They recommend the ASCOPE/PMESII-PT crosswalk as an analytical tool for helping gain the needed detailed understanding of the “complex human terrain”. Are you familiar with this, or other tools like it such as TCAPF and do you find them useful for this purpose? Have you seen other approaches not discussed that are/have been in use?
CPT Linn – guest: also how is that data utilized in targeting packages?
MAJ Allen Smith – guest: Do you vet and confirm info from gang leaders using SIGINT? How do you build trust on a Narc?
Kevin Frank JIWC – guest: There are many units out there reporting data (CATs, FETs, PRTs, unit reports etc) . But are they getting the right information? ASCOPE is one guide- are there other collection guides out there that can help us get better data? Does the LE community have anythi
Kevin Frank JIWC – guest: anything that can help?
RODRIGUEZ, ISMAEL R USA 2: Any thoughts on the application of GIS in a police intelligence role? Do you think these techniques could translate well in COIN?
Just a quick advert that Dean from Travels with Shiloh will be presenting online at the COIN Center at 141500Z
In another resounding victory for the self-righteous, sit-at-home, ne’er-do-wrong brigade of whiny-babies that think the world should be nice…not interesting, exciting, stimulating…just nice…in other words, bland and boring…and that’s what Breakfast (the show and the meal) will be from now on without Paul Henry at the helm…yes, of course, he’s brash, opinionated, childish, immature but…BUT…he does say many of those things that many many people are actually thinking and his latest mindless verbal gaffe is typical of this when he asked the Prime Minister last week on live TV “…Is he [the current Governor-General] even a New Zealander? Are you going to choose a New Zealander who looks and sounds like a New Zealander this time?…”
And that’s a good question…not racial grounds but simply because no one has the faintest idea where the current Governor-General comes from, who he is, or what he does…in short, he’s just like Breakfast will be from now on…nice but bland and boring – there’s probably some kind of irony in that. Previous Governor-Generals as far back as I can remember (and that’s getting to be some way now) have been public figures of some form who Joe Public had actually heard of before not some nice chap who doesn’t really appear to say or do much at all…so good on you, Paul, for speaking up and saying what so many think…
And while we’re on the topic of what so many think, here’s a snap of the Stuff.co.nz poll this morning on the subject…
The little yellow bar says it all...
And, Paul, I hope that you get a good job back on air…probably snapped up by someone else already…and do get to put that Skyhawk in the back garden…
All parked up with no place to go...
This item just popped into the inbox…a great example of the sort of irregular activities that potentially threatens national or regional stability…using an interpretation of irregular that equates to ‘potentially destabilising’….
Dili/Brussels, 9 September 2010: Measures to resolve land disputes in Timor-Leste must go beyond a draft law on land titling if they are to comprehensively reduce the risks posed, otherwise the law could bring more problems than solutions.
Managing Land Conflict in Timor-Leste,* the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines the country’s current tangle of land ownership claims, and recommends that the government and its partners act now to supplement titling with clear public information, clarify protections for those who will be evicted or resettled, and strengthen support to local mediation.
The need to balance land rights inherited from previous Portuguese and Indonesian colonial administrations with the reality of customary law, as well as the implications of a history of population displacements, have delayed the creation of a land administration system. Confusion over the present and future basis of property claims is widespread.
“Establishing legally enforceable property rights will inevitably create winners and losers,” says Cillian Nolan, Crisis Group South East Asia Analyst. “Unless the implications of this law are clearly understood, and protections developed for those who will be negatively affected, it risks being ignored or, even worse, becoming unenforceable”.
The current draft land law, approved by the Council of Ministers in March 2010 and awaiting parliamentary debate and approval, would establish the country’s first property ownership rights. Both the technicalities and the implications of the complex law are poorly understood. Sensitive issues include the fate of those Timorese who occupied empty properties in the violence following the 1999 referendum, the rights of Timorese living abroad to reclaim old property, and the holdings of the political elite. While passage of the draft law will help resolve many land disputes, further public information and debate should be a prerequisite for approval. Previous attempts to enforce laws on state property have often failed due to local resistance.
Though most disputes have to date been either resolved or frozen without recourse to violence, and many people are happy with the status quo, the issue will take on new urgency in light of ambitious new plans for government-driven development. Clarification of basic protections and resettlement plans for illegal or displaced occupants should be a priority, as should continued support to informal dispute mediation processes. The government should take initial steps now towards developing a comprehensive land use and housing policy, as well as to engage communities on sustainable ways of managing customary tenure systems.
“Timor-Leste cannot afford to wait much longer to establish a working mechanism for resolving property disputes as this is a key building block of the rule of law”, says Jim Della-Giacoma, Crisis Group’s South East Asia Project Director. “Failing to do so could instead plant new seeds for future disputes.”
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