Importance Of Human Intelligence In

Importance of Human Intelligence in War against terrorism BY Masood Ur Rehman *1

"Knowledge of the spirit world is to be obtained by divination; information in natural science may be sought by inductive reasoning; the laws of the universe can be verified by mathematical calculation: but the dispositions of an enemy are ascertainable through spies and spies alone." Sun Tzu (Art of War) (500.B.C)

Introduction One of the major reasons of the failures in the Global War on Terrorism is the human intelligence failure in the Afghanistan and Pakistan. Without credible information we cannot win this war. Lack of intelligence has proven to be a major hurdle in the tribal areas of Pakistan where Pakistan army is engage in brining peace and stability. Keeping in mind the importance of human intelligence we have to formulate our further policies to accomplish our long term aims and objectives. Today we are facing an enemy with better human intelligence in tribal areas, if anyone found spying for Pakistan army or the US is being mercilessly executed in public which deter the new recruitment for the human intelligence. Despite technological advancement there are few things which cannot be measured or analyzed without active presence of ground spies. Main argument of the article is human intelligence is very important as far as operations in the tribal areas are concerned, without taking common people into confidence we cannot achieve this goal. 1

* Author is doing M.Phil in Defence and Strategic Studies from Quaid-E-Azam University Islamabad. And can be reached out at [email protected]

Concept of Spying/Intelligence “Knowledge of the enemy cannot be gained by reasoning from other analogous cases." Nor by any deductive calculation”. Sun Tzu was quit right in his approach, that knowledge of the enemy can only be achieve by entering his area, deploying spies in the enemy area would give an army with some accurate information which can be utilized later in some military/commando operations in the tribal areas. The problem of the tribal areas is the rugged mountainous terrain which is suitable for the guerrilla warfare. In this type of warfare human intelligence plays a vital role. It gives in depth information of the possible enemy maneuvering, its plan of action and its future moves against the government’s security forces.

Furthermore it is quoted in the book Art of War issues like

that there are some

"Quantities like length, breadth, distance and magnitude, are susceptible of exact mathematical determination; human actions cannot be so calculated." Which cannot be dealt with the assumption or suppositions, there is need of active involvement of the men on ground who can give us exact information about the following things. Additionally Sun Tzu writes in his book that “Knowledge of the enemy's dispositions can only be obtained from other men” This is a hardcore fact which cannot be denied, we need to have our spies in extensive strength to know about the enemy nature, character, strength, public support, and its exact location. Modern technology like satellites, GPS, surveillance drones has their limitations which cannot be 100% accurate as compare to the human intelligence which is based on primary source. Moreover Sun Tzu has classified 5 types of spies; these types can be applied in Pakistan’s case in tribal areas.

“When these five kinds of spy are all at work, none can discover the secret system. This is called "divine manipulation of the threads." It is the sovereign's most precious faculty” Pakistan army should work on these lines and it must develop its intelligence network on new lines in tribal areas, only then we can curb these militants who are hiding in the suburb of FATA region.

1- Local spies:

Sun Tzu says that local population of the area should be taken into confidence and gets their support by giving them opportunities, health facilities, development and most importantly ownership, only then Pakistan army can succeed in these volatile areas if it works on these parameters. Youth of the tribal population should be given proper education, job opportunities in the armed forces and FC (Frontier Core) so they don’t have any reservations against the army and FC. These people will be more affected against the militants because they are inhabitants of these areas, they are aware of the terrain and can give more accurate information about the local and foreign militants, their activities, movement and location.

2- Inward spies:

from this option Sun Tzu means that making use of the “officials of the enemy”. In our case we can also apply these things on tribal areas, we can make utilize of the captured miscreants and can give them hefty rewards if they agree to support the Army, this option can be utilized in an effective manner and better persuasion. We can ensure them of better future and career not only for themselves but for their families too; in that reward we can utilize them as “Inward Spies”. They can provide us deep information about the plans and strategies of the militant; it would enhance our counter terrorism and counter insurgency capabilities.

3- Converted spies:

“It means getting hold of the enemy's spies and using them for our own purposes.” It is also a possible option for the Pak Army, we can utilize captured spies and convert them into our agents in the tribal areas, and we can promise them for their release with heavy amount and better future opportunities, but in remuneration they will ensure their trustworthiness to Pak-Army and provide it with handful information about the enemy’s position and activities. Or they also can be used to provide false information to the Taliban militants about Pak-Army; it would help us to deceive them.

4- Doomed spies:

means “doing certain things openly for purposes of deception, and allowing our spies to know of them and report them to the enemy.” These types of spies can also be utilized to mislead our enemies. Chankya Kautilya also believes in the same dictum. In these types of spies’ deceptions plays an important role.

5- Surviving spies:

are those who bring back news from the enemy's camp. These are the people who possess great courage and passion for the country, Pakistan armed forces and intelligence agencies possess bulk of people like this who can endanger their lives for the cause of the country. Furthermore Sun Tzu writes that the people who are involved in such operations should be having certain qualities like “keen intellect”, but outlook should give impression of a fool but with “Iron will”, active, robust, endowed with physical strength and courage, thoroughly accustomed to all sorts of dirty work able to endure hunger and cold and put up with shame and ignominy.” All these qualities would make his operation more useful and successful. We need these types of people to be deployed in FATA, who can play their role effectively and provide security forces with more accurate and timely intelligence which latest technology sometimes unable to provide.

Conclusion Pakistan in tribal areas is facing severe problems just because of the lack of access to the appropriate information about the Taliban hideouts and their movement. Our so called allies are unable to provide us well-timed information because of trust deficit. So we have to materialize our own resources instead of asking external help. Our armed forces and our intelligence agencies have the potential, capacity and will to carry out such operations. We can utilize our own man power and use them for apt information. No doubt latest surveillance systems, satellites, drones and other latest electronic equipment are essential in spying today but all these latest equipment and technologies have their own limitations which cannot be utilized in certain conditions and situations, so in these circumstances human

intelligence can play a vital role in FATA. The spying tactics which Sun Tzu many centuries ago had given are still possible today and can be utilized in tribal areas to avoid any further collateral damage.