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The HUMINT Touch

By 1st Lt. Breton Lewellen
67th IW/Public Affairs
Kelly Air Force Base, Texas

“The Air Force has a tendency to overvalue technology and undervalue its human assets, because we are technology oriented. The people aspect often gets forgotten,” said the Individual Mobilization Augmentee Superintendent of Training for a recent Tactical Human Intelligence course held at Camp Bullis, Texas.

The course centers around training human assets (Tactical HUMINT personnel). They are trained in a mixture of classroom and field instruction culminating in a field exercise. Students are taught courses on using the Global Positioning System, Land Navigation, field survival, questioning techniques, self-aid buddy care, and the use of communications equipment.

The students need this type of training to prepare them to conduct operations in “non-traditional” intelligence environments.

HUMINT, or Human Intelligence, is intelligence collected by human beings on other human beings by questioning them in person. There are two basic types of HUMINT. ? Strategic HUMINT is concerned with long term questioning of higher-level sources. ? Tactical HUMINT is collected in the field (near battle lines) and is time-sensitive.

All Strategic HUMINT for the Department of Defense has been consolidated and is not done by the individual services anymore.

In order to collect Tactical HUMINT, the other military branches have their own tactical HUMINT capabilities. This is done because each service needs to collect HUMINT from its own perspective.

With this in mind, the Air Force decided it needed a Tactical HUMINT capability to be able to obtain information from an airman’s perspective.

Beginning in 1997, Air Intelligence Agency developed the only HUMINT flight by the Air Force under the 67th Intelligence Wing’s Operations Support Squadron, Kelly Air Force Base, Texas.

Initiated by the OSS, the HUMINT flight of the 67th OSS was recently realigned from an operational staff to a line unit, the 68th Intelligence Squadron at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio.

The 68th Intelligence Squadron Commander, Lt. Col. David Ripley, welcomes this latest addition to the 68th IS. “Tactical HUMINT brings a different spirit, a warfighter attitude to the unit,” he said.

Ripley goes on to mention that aside from the attitude, Tactical HUMINT brings expertise in managing a robust IMA program. The 68th IS can tap into the HUMINT flight’s experience and apply it to their smaller Electronic Systems Security Assesment (ESSA), IMA program.

The 68th IS brings a strong operational infrastructure to the table. “They’re going to be able to take advantage of an operational [line] unit’s infrastructure, to bring their capability to full line,” said Ripley. Tactical HUMINT has two parts: Mobile Interrogation Teams and Human Control Elements.

Each part must work together seamlessly and quickly with the other in order to obtain critical information and get it to the right people at the right time.

MITs deploy to anywhere on the battlefield to conduct HUMINT operations. This is why they must have all of the previously mentioned field courses. They are trained with the concept that they will have only themselves to rely on the closer they are to the front lines.

There are no designated tasks for any of the MIT members, they must work together to get everything done. However, individuals do have strong suits that are utilized.

For instance, someone with a communications background would be looked to as the communications guru.

HCEs are in charge of tasking MITs and supplying the MITs with the necessary information to do their jobs. They also receive information from MITs and disseminate it to appropriate personnel in the theater. HCE personnel operate around the clock.

In collecting HUMINT, there are two types of questioning: interrogations and debriefings.

Interrogation refers to intelligence gathering on unwilling sources (enemy Prisoners of War or sympathizers).

Debriefing refers to intelligence gathering when the source is cooperative (defectors, refugees or deserters).

A major myth that HUMINT personnel try to dispel is the dark images that come to mind when the word “interrogation” is used. The HUMINT flight commander commented that despite what people see in the movies and TV, “interrogation is not beating people up. The U.S. is a signer of the Geneva Convention and abides by that 100 percent.”

HUMINT personnel are trained to abide by the Geneva Convention and other rules of international warfare (which specifically address the handling of POWs) by a legal adviser, in this case, Capt. Michael Goldberg of the 67th Intelligence Wing Legal Office.

Goldberg has deployed with the HUMINT flight to exercises before.

“I went to FOAL EAGLE in Korea (an Air Force exercise on the Korean peninsula), where I assessed the interrogators in action, in the field, and at the POW compound. I observed them and provided legal advice on issues that impacted international law, and I made sure they are interrogating within the bounds of international law.”

He sees the JAG’s role as a crucial one.

“I look at it as a preventative method. History dictates that the strong majority of war crimes have been based on the inhumane treatment of POWs.” As with other areas, “the United States tries to set the example for the international community in not only the handling of POWs, but all aspects of warfare. The challenge is to execute successful missions while, at the same time, adhering to the law.

It is a common challenge in the military. But in my observations, our Air Force TAC HUMINT team is well equipped with outstanding minds. They use logic and technical expertise to elicit intelligence from POW’s. The legal training I provide ensure they use their interrogation skills to lawfully gather intelligence”

Goldberg is excited about breaking new ground, “Information Operations is a new way of thinking and new technology we (JAG) don’t have a lot of specific precedence to point to. This is very cutting edge.”

Although several HUMINTers can speak foreign languages, there will be instances where the language they need isn’t spoken by anyone in the HUMINT unit. Consequently, HUMINT personnel are trained in how to work with an interpreter to conduct questioning.

HUMINTers have a hierarchy of how they obtain interpreters. If no one in the HUMINT unit speaks the language of the people they are questioning, the unit must first look for interpreters in U.S. forces. If they can’t find enough there, they search allied forces. If these two paths don’t produce an interpreter, the local civilian population is tapped.

How does someone get into HUMINT?

All HUMINTers are volunteers. The flight commander explained the only prerequisite is an ability to get an SCI clearance. He goes on to mention that people with backgrounds in a number of disciplines have joined. The best candidates are inquisitive “people persons” who enjoy the challenges of being out in the field and have language or communications experience. All interested personnel begin the process by contacting the 68th IS directly.

It takes in-depth training to prepare an airman to conduct HUMINT. The basic school for HUMINT is the Marine Air Ground Task Force Interrogator Prisoner of War School at Virginia Beach. This course lasts 10 weeks for active duty personnel and four weeks for reservists.

Training also includes taking an OSI course, a Survival Rescue and Evasion course, and a Cross-Cultural Communications Course sponsored by Air Force Special Operations Command out at Hurlburt Field, Fla.

The AFSOC course teaches the dos and don’ts of respective cultures. The flight commander gave an example that in Saudi Arabia, it is an insult to point the bottoms of your feet towards anyone. In order to obtain maximum effectiveness, a HUMINTer must understand the culture of the person they are questioning.

Another major training tool is the recently completed two-week course taught by the 68th IS HUMINT cadre.

In essence, the first week of the course is used to prepare the students for the second week’s field exercise. This is where the students get to use what they have learned. It is also a time to bond together and form a team.

The NCOIC of the 68th IS HUMINT flight (an instructor in this course) is proud at how much repertoire is developed in the two week course. “You get 12 to 15 people who were complete strangers when they arrived, who get to know each other so well they know how other team members will react to certain situations without saying a word (after the two weeks are completed).”

This instructor is also pleased with the usefulness of the course. “A lot of newer students in our programs (have told us) this is the first time they really had some meaningful training. They are part of a team. This is a good program to be with because we care about our people.”

This year’s field exercise mimicked real life. The students were overwhelmed with "refugees" (Airman Basics on casual status from Lackland). Each of the “refugees” was given a role to play.

The students were thrust into this situation to see how they would react. They performed beautifully. Using their newly-acquired training, they were able to screen out and question “refugees,” as well as look out for their basic needs.

As one student commented, “The screening operation with the refugees who came over was the most fun.” He went on to explain how, after screening the refugees, people were found who were “not innocents” and had to be interrogated (as opposed to de-briefed).

This student had wanted to be in HUMINT because it gave him an opportunity to do more traditional military work as opposed to being in an office all day. It also gave him an opportunity to use psychology and learn how to read body language in his work.

Another student who recently entered HUMINT has experience with Special Operations and after learning about HUMINT, sent in a resume. “It’s more tactically oriented and I thought it was a natural place for me to be.”

He had already attended Army Air Assault School, USAF Survival School, and Advanced Resistance Training during his time as a Special Operations Intelligence Officer. He commented about his resistance training, “I had always been on the other side of the fence, I was trained to resist. “ He felt this previous experience would give him insight on what interrogatees might be thinking.

This student enjoyed the ability to operate in a field environment during the exercise. “There are very few places in the USAF where you get individual leadership experience, where the only people you have to rely on is yourself and your team. There is no room for mistakes. Each (person) must become an essential part of the whole. I really enjoyed that.”

Students enjoying being able to apply classroom-learned skills in a field environment is echoed again by the IMA Superintendent of Training. “Eight hours in a classroom setting may sound cushy, but they’d rather spend 24 hours a day doing an exercise.” He goes on to mention, “The one element that HUMINT alone offers is intentions. Only the HUMINT aspect can give you insight into hostile intentions: their plans.” He also points out that HUMINT can be used to confirm intelligence collected through other means.

Ripley also touched on the ability of HUMINT to compliment other disciplines. “If we find a vulnerability on the ESSA side, we don’t know if the other guys got that. These guys (HUMINTers) can talk to the prisoners or refugees and give us a gauge on what was actually compromised. I see HUMINT as an extension of Information Force Protection,” he said.

At the conclusion of the training, the HUMINT flight commander felt the exercise was “outstanding.” He also expressed his gratitude at the help received from Security Forces personnel (Air Base Ground Defense), the Kelly Combat Arms office, and Camp Bullis people who made this course possible.

The flight commander sees a bright future for Tactical HUMINT. “The Department of Defense is coming to realize how important HUMINT is. There are things you can’t collect with traditional intelligence. As technology grows, people know we have it and will hide from it. The only way to collect in this case is human sources. Together (with the other intelligence disciplines) we make that big picture.”

To sum it all up, Col. Gary Harvey, 67th Intelligence Wing commander, says, “we need the human intelligence element for fully integrated tactical intelligence in the information age.”

This embryonic capability stands to provide the Air Force much needed capabilities across the humanitarian, combat and force protection spectrum.