- NEW ORLEANS (Reuters)
-- The Pentagon's top intelligence official said on Wednesday the United
States must develop new ways to spy to avoid being surprised by "highly
adaptive" adversaries.
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- "We are, as you know, facing a turbulent and volatile
world populated by a number of highly adaptive adversaries," Stephen
Cambone, defence undersecretary for intelligence, said at a intelligence
conference. "In such a world where our vulnerabilities are all too
well understood by potential adversaries we should expect to be surprised."
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- "It is impossible to predict with confidence what
nation or entity will pose threats to the United States in five, 10 or
20 years or to our friends and to our allies, and yet that is the planning
horizon within which we are all working," he said.
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- Adversaries will keep searching for ways to attack, and
the consequences of not being prepared could be catastrophic, Cambone said.
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- "We must begin immediately to modernise and transform
both the military and intelligence capabilities of the country," he
said.
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- Cambone outlined six proposed goals for modernising intelligence
capabilities:
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- * "We need to know something about everything all
the time." He acknowledged that was a "daunting challenge"
but said meeting it was necessary for intelligence to support national
security strategy in the future.
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- * "We need reliable strategic warning," to
allow the military to change its posture in a timely way.
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- * "Agile and adaptable" methods of collecting
intelligence that are less dependent than today's systems on "the
fixed orbits of satellites, where airplanes can go." That type of
flexibility can create a culture that "always expects the unexpected,
that is prepared for surprise..."
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- * Spying methods for deterring future adversaries, which
will require a detailed understanding of their goals, motivations, history,
networks, relationships on a broader and far deeper level than today.
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- * Intelligence for military operations "that enables
us to act quietly, secretly and effectively."
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- * "We need to ensure that knowledgeable adversaries
do not compromise our secrets," which requires collecting the adversary's
secrets in a way that is not apparent.
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- New tactics, techniques and procedures for collecting,
analysing and disseminating intelligence were used in the war against Iraq
and its aftermath now, Cambone said, without describing them.
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- Space-based radar being developed and likely to be completed
early in the next decade with the goal of "persistent surveillance,"
might provide breakthroughs but only if it did not try to fit into current
spying molds, Cambone said.
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- "There should be no doubt however about the urgency
to transform intelligence," he said. "We must not permit ourselves
to remain wedded to past practices, policies, technologies we do so at
our peril."
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