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Author Biography

Richard Hughbank is a senior trainer with HALO Corporation and a Military Police officer in the U.S. Army with over twenty-one years experience. He is an adjunct for the Center for Homeland Security at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs as a graduate course instructor in terrorism studies and homeland defense. Richard also chairs the Terrorism Studies and Standards committee for the Anti Terrorism Accreditation Board, is a Diplomate of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, and a member of the National Center for Crisis Management. His graduate studies are in security management, counseling, and terrorism studies, and is a doctoral candidate in Strategic Security. Richard can be contacted through his website: http://www.understandterror.com or at rhughbank@understandterror.com.

Don Githens is a Captain in the U.S. Air Force with nine years experience as an Intelligence Officer and Analyst. He is earning a graduate certificate in Homeland Security studies at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1944-0472.3.1.3

Subject Area Keywords

Homeland security, Intelligence collection, Law enforcement, Security management, Security policy, Terrorism / counterterrorism

Abstract

The art and science of gathering critical operational intelligence has been defined in many ways and is beyond our needs for this writing. Throughout the course of history, many wars have been fought depending heavily on various forms of intelligence. During our most recent actions in the War on Terror, intelligence analysis has played a critical role in both offensive and defensive operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. With such varying fact-finding techniques available and utilized in the defense of our country, it has become an arduous task to collect, decipher, package, prioritize, disseminate, and act upon everything that comes down the pipe.Intelligence is even more important in homeland defense and security. Our society is suspicious of intrusions on personal liberties. Mandated identity cards, restricted vehicle access and random searches of airline passengers are generally not well received. That makes it especially important to prevent terrorist attacks by interdicting the terrorists and their resources before they can reach their targets. The primary means of accomplishing this is through a combination of intelligence and law enforcement work.

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