Generally Speaking by Claudia J. Kennedy Page A

radar imagery.
    The newest MI discipline, Measurement and Signature Intelligence, is a response to the effectiveness of technical counter-measures to traditional intelligence-gathering techniques that have evolved over the years. MASINT involves the use of sensors to sample air, soil, and water for telltale evidence of biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons.
    The raw information that is gathered using these collection disciplines is converted into intelligence. The process by which information becomes intelligence is called the intelligence cycle, which has multiple steps: collection, processing, analysis, distribution, presentation (reporting), evaluation, and collection management. In general, the higher up the chain of command, the more intelligence the war-fighting commander requires for decision-making. For example, a company commander might only need to know that enemy tanks approaching his unit would most likely be bogged down in a marsh before reaching his defensive perimeter. This information could be obtained from a traditional reconnaissance patrol. But it is essential that the division commander, four echelons (levels of authority) higher, understand that this armor probe is only a diversion and that the real attack will come in another sector. That type of intelligence can be derived most readily from “all source” collection that includes all the major disciplines.
    The echelons that intelligence supports are called “tactical” for division and below, “operational” for regional commands, such as the Central Command that fought Operation Desert Storm, and “strategic,” which is at the national level and supports the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, and the President.
    The targets of intelligence are military, economic, and political. The armed services, individually and collectively through the Defense Intelligence Agency, are responsible for military targets. Economic and political targets are the responsibility of the Central Intelligence Agency. The National Security Agency supports all of these efforts.
    When people hear that I am an intelligence officer I am sometimes asked for “inside” information about UFOs. Recently, one newly introduced acquaintance at a college football game was just certain that I had the real scoop on the phenomenon. None of my denials that UFOs existed or protests that Army intelligence had
any
information (much less secret information) could dispel her impression that I was just following orders to keep the lid on the true UFO story, and thus furthering the suspicion of a juicy conspiracy. But, for the record, I know nothing of UFOs and suggest that anyone with questions about spaceships and aliens should call the U.S. Air Force and not the Army.
    Another common misperception about my work in Intelligence was that I “had files” on people and knew “the gossip” about their personal lives—possibly through the use of listening devices planted in their homes. Army intelligence is absolutely prohibited by law from ever targeting U.S. entities (persons, businesses, or groups). And such information would not serve to meet any Army intelligence requirement. During the tense years of the Vietnam War, however, the Johnson administration pressured Army intelligence to conduct questionable surveillance of antiwar protesters, an unwarranted diversion of Army resources and a threat to civil rights. Our resources are scarce and thinly spread over many competing needs. So we are careful to use these limited resources efficiently and we never act outside the law. It is fundamental to Army culture that we support and defend the U.S. Constitution, and further, as powerful a tool as intelligence is, it is even more important to act within all legal and ethical restraints.
    As I entered the new world of Military Intelligence, I certainly felt more like a part of the Army and felt that many more career options were open to women. And the fact that my classmates