.U.S. shifts Afghan mission
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. — Air Force spy planes flying above Afghanistan have shifted their focus from solely tracking insurgents to monitoring developments in daily life for Afghan citizens, commanders say.
That's a reflection, they say, of top commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal's emphasis on improving the lives of Afghans and limiting civilian casualties.
"What he's looking at is, how well is this school being built?" said Col. Dan Johnson, the top commander for intelligence-gathering operations here. "What's the status of that? We're going into this next area, can we move our construction teams into this area? Is it safe? Those are the different things that he wanted to shift to and the thought process. That goes against the kind of traditional security that we provide our troops out there."
McChrystal has changed many elements of military policy since his arrival in Afghanistan last year. In January, his top intelligence aide, Maj. Gen. Michael Flynn, issued a paper that criticized the military for gathering information almost exclusively on enemy activity. That focus, he wrote, failed to provide information that can help commanders understand Afghan culture and the everyday concerns of its people.
The shift in intelligence-gathering makes sense given McChrystal's strategy of protecting civilians, said Stephen Biddle, a defense expert at the Council on Foreign Relations who also has served as an adviser to McChrystal. Commanders need to know where the Taliban have set up shadow courts and governments to cow local populations, he said. Knowing that allows commanders to send troops to where they are needed most.
"The intelligence system has been designed to kill insurgents," Biddle said. "If you want to protect civilians, you need information about a whole collection of things we weren't collecting."
To gather more intelligence about Afghan life, the Air Force has shifted the bulk of its fleet of drones and manned spy planes in the Middle East to Afghanistan. Now, 85% of those aircraft are in Afghanistan compared with 30% last year, according to Johnson. The remainder are in Iraq.
The Air Force relies on piloted planes such as the high-flying U-2 spy plane and new, twin-prop MC-12 Liberty planes as well as drones such as the Reaper and Predator, to deliver photo and video feeds of activity on the ground. Some planes also have sensors that intercept phone and radio communication.
The top new challenge for intelligence officers: finding the right way to measure success in Afghanistan, said Col. Mark Cooter, commander of the 497th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group at Langley.
That may mean, for example, monitoring lines at a gas station to help determine whether there are local shortages, said Lt. Col. Brendan Harris, who commands an intelligence squadron.
Images that show people active at night — or holed up in their homes — can help commanders determine areas that are free of insurgent activity, Biddle said.
"It's getting down into the different tribes, the different communities that are out there," Johnson said. "It's understanding their culture, their needs."
Better cultural understanding won't be enough to cure drug trafficking and corruption, Afghanistan's biggest problems, said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org. The drug trade helps finance the Taliban and corruption kills Afghan support for the government. Spy planes won't do much to change that, he said.
"No amount of improving the quality of life of the Afghan people is going to diminish funding for the Taliban," Pike said. "As long as the Taliban is fully funded, they're always going to find more trigger-pullers."
Meantime, traditional spy-plane missions remain in demand in Afghanistan, Johnson said.
In the offensive to retake the town of Marjah from the Taliban in March, Johnson's airmen were asked to scout a road to be used by a U.S. convoy. Secret information about the operation, declassified at the request of USA TODAY, showed that airmen analyzing images from spy planes found three caches of weapons and a roadside bomb on the route.
Demand for spy planes will increase this summer, Johnson said, as the U.S.-led coalition aims to secure Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city.
USAToday
That's a reflection, they say, of top commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal's emphasis on improving the lives of Afghans and limiting civilian casualties.
"What he's looking at is, how well is this school being built?" said Col. Dan Johnson, the top commander for intelligence-gathering operations here. "What's the status of that? We're going into this next area, can we move our construction teams into this area? Is it safe? Those are the different things that he wanted to shift to and the thought process. That goes against the kind of traditional security that we provide our troops out there."
McChrystal has changed many elements of military policy since his arrival in Afghanistan last year. In January, his top intelligence aide, Maj. Gen. Michael Flynn, issued a paper that criticized the military for gathering information almost exclusively on enemy activity. That focus, he wrote, failed to provide information that can help commanders understand Afghan culture and the everyday concerns of its people.
The shift in intelligence-gathering makes sense given McChrystal's strategy of protecting civilians, said Stephen Biddle, a defense expert at the Council on Foreign Relations who also has served as an adviser to McChrystal. Commanders need to know where the Taliban have set up shadow courts and governments to cow local populations, he said. Knowing that allows commanders to send troops to where they are needed most.
"The intelligence system has been designed to kill insurgents," Biddle said. "If you want to protect civilians, you need information about a whole collection of things we weren't collecting."
To gather more intelligence about Afghan life, the Air Force has shifted the bulk of its fleet of drones and manned spy planes in the Middle East to Afghanistan. Now, 85% of those aircraft are in Afghanistan compared with 30% last year, according to Johnson. The remainder are in Iraq.
The Air Force relies on piloted planes such as the high-flying U-2 spy plane and new, twin-prop MC-12 Liberty planes as well as drones such as the Reaper and Predator, to deliver photo and video feeds of activity on the ground. Some planes also have sensors that intercept phone and radio communication.
The top new challenge for intelligence officers: finding the right way to measure success in Afghanistan, said Col. Mark Cooter, commander of the 497th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group at Langley.
That may mean, for example, monitoring lines at a gas station to help determine whether there are local shortages, said Lt. Col. Brendan Harris, who commands an intelligence squadron.
Images that show people active at night — or holed up in their homes — can help commanders determine areas that are free of insurgent activity, Biddle said.
"It's getting down into the different tribes, the different communities that are out there," Johnson said. "It's understanding their culture, their needs."
Better cultural understanding won't be enough to cure drug trafficking and corruption, Afghanistan's biggest problems, said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org. The drug trade helps finance the Taliban and corruption kills Afghan support for the government. Spy planes won't do much to change that, he said.
"No amount of improving the quality of life of the Afghan people is going to diminish funding for the Taliban," Pike said. "As long as the Taliban is fully funded, they're always going to find more trigger-pullers."
Meantime, traditional spy-plane missions remain in demand in Afghanistan, Johnson said.
In the offensive to retake the town of Marjah from the Taliban in March, Johnson's airmen were asked to scout a road to be used by a U.S. convoy. Secret information about the operation, declassified at the request of USA TODAY, showed that airmen analyzing images from spy planes found three caches of weapons and a roadside bomb on the route.
Demand for spy planes will increase this summer, Johnson said, as the U.S.-led coalition aims to secure Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city.
USAToday
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