Intelligence: the silver bullet that will beat the insurgency.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: DEFENSE WATCH

Nearly three years of hostilities in Iraq have made it painfully obvious that despite untold billions of dollars spent on intelligence and surveillance systems, U.S. troops, for all intents, are fighting blind.

Ambushes, roadside bombs and suicide attacks against soldiers and Marines have proved to be effective tactics that have worked because the insurgents have seized the element of surprise.

While the Defense Department has been able to curb the casualty toll by deploying more armored vehicles and acquiring stronger body armor and electronic jammers that thwart detonations, the U.S.-led coalition has yet to make any significant inroads into the insurgents' ability to produce an inexhaustible supply of explosive devices and to stage attacks.

They apparently can attack whenever and wherever they wish.

Adding to the frustration of commanders is the realization that no amount of firepower is going to overcome a fundamental lack of what the Army describes as "actionable intelligence."

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, created a special task force two years ago to address the problem. Actionable intelligence, unlike other more traditional forms of intelligence, is information that would help tactical commanders, for example, locate the insurgent weapons depots and identify bomb makers.

Until the military can come to grips with this problem, it will continue to pay the price in the form of casualties, which have now reached nearly 2,000 dead and more than 14,000 wounded.

"We have firepower 10 times over what we need. What we don't have enough of is actionable intelligence," says Lt. Gen. John F. Kimmons, Army deputy chief of staff for intelligence.

Kimmons, who previously was the director of intelligence at U.S. Central Command, says the complexity of Iraqi culture and the intricacies of the urban combat zones make intelligence a "critical enabler" that could make or break the coalition's chances of success.

"The heavy burden falls on intelligence," Kimmons explains in an interview with military reporters.

The intelligence problem has to get fixed if the United States is to prevail in the war against terrorism, he notes. Regardless of how things turn out in Iraq or Afghanistan, the fight against radical Islamic fundamentalists will continue for many years, possibly in other parts of the world. "The insurgency will go on for decades," says Kimmons. "This threat will continue ... although it may not be in Iraq or Afghanistan."

The...