Study Document
Pages:20 (11730 words)
Sources:3
Subject:Social Issues
Topic:Sensitive Mothering
Document Type:Essay
Document:#15580616
Gender Integration in CI/HUMINT and the War against Terrorism
Gender Integration in CI/HUMINT on the War against Terrorism in the Middle East and Strategies for Effective Implementation
Shea Larson
Harry Nimon, Committee Chair
Dr. Troy Mitchell, Subject Matter Expert
Dr. Amanda Bowers, Committee Member
The success of counterinsurgency operations depends on the effectiveness and appropriateness of intelligence gathered. Human subjects are a crucial source of intelligence for counterinsurgency operations. Previously, the U.S. Armed Forces created opportunities for women to occupy specific positions in the counterintelligence/human intelligence (CI/HUMINT) discipline. However, women remain the minority, and researchers are largely divided on whether their participation ought to be increased. Researchers raised concerns that the decision to integrate women into HUMINT units could cost the country in the long-term as it is likely to ruin unit cohesion and impede overall effectiveness. Proponents of the idea of gender integration, however, argue that the inclusion of women in HUMINT units enhances the units' strength and internal cohesion (Rosen et al., 2003). In the wake of this controversy, studies examining the role of women in CI/HUMINT collection remain severely limited. Moreover, studies seeking to determine best practices for effective integration are rare. This thesis seeks to demonstrate why integration in the CI/HUMINT community is a well-calculated idea. It examines how the integration of women in the CI/HUMINT service area facilitates the process of intelligence gathering from human subjects in the war against terrorism. Moreover, it identifies specific strategies for ensuring the maximum realization of benefits.
Table of Contents
Abstract
Chapter One: Introduction
Background
Rationale
Statement of Purpose
Assumptions
Limitations
Chapter 2: Literature Review
The HUMINT Function
Gender Integration in HUMINT
Operational Concerns surrounding Integration
Social Concerns
Advantages of Integrating Women
Means of Integrating without Compromising Effectiveness
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
Why a Qualitative Approach
Data Collection
Resource Selection
Procedures
Chapter 4: Analysis
Chapter 5: Conclusion
Implications for Future Research
References
List of Acronyms
CI Counterinsurgency
HUMINT Human Intelligence
MOS Military Occupational Specialty
HM Hyper-masculinity
WEP Women's Empowerment Program
I MEF I Marine Expeditionary Force
DP Displaced persons
PSYOP Psychological Operations
SOP Standard Operating Procedures
TF Taskforce
DOCEX Document exploitation
GPS Global Positioning System
PDAs Personal Digital Assistants
Chapter 1: Introduction
The success of counterinsurgency operations depends partly on the effectiveness of the intelligence function driving the operation (Goh, Hao & Tay, 2008). Simply stated, intelligence is foreknowledge that assists military forces in organizing themselves for optimal employment (Goh et al., 2008). Goh and his colleagues (2008) state that having accurate intelligence information increases the chances of combat success at all levels: the strategic level, the tactical level, and the operational level. Tactically, intelligence provides forces with crucial insight on the performance envelopes of missiles, making it possible for them to plan how to refine fighter tactics to out-perform their enemy (Goh et al., 2008). At the operational level, intelligence aids forces in understanding and engaging enemy command elements or other operationally significant targets, thereby incapacitating rebel forces (Goh, et al., 2008). Moreover, intelligence could assist forces in making strategic deployment decisions such as how to strike the enemy's center of gravity, thereby weakening their will to fight back (Goh et al., 2008).
The Iraqi war sufficiently demonstrated the importance of CI in combat operations (Walter, 2005; Kerr, Wolfe, Donegan & Pappas, 2008). The intelligence community found itself relying on historical information, thereby landing on inaccurate and misleading conclusions (Walter, 2005; Kerr et al., 2008). Moreover, although the intelligence community was able to gather accurate and crucial information on a range of issues, including:
How the Iraqi forces would fight
How the war would develop over time
How tribal and ethnic factions in Iraq would react
How the war would impact oil markets, and How Iraq was linked to Al-Qaeda; it lacked the means to explain how these issues were linked, particularly how each issue influenced the rest (Kerr et al., 2008). There was no comprehensive sense of understanding of the Iraqi target by the time of deployment (Kerr et al., 2008).
This implies that there is need to streamline the military's intelligence function in the pre-war situation and during the war. Improving the military's intelligence gathering techniques on the ground is crucial to ensuring that the force is able to put up effective combat operations in the ongoing war against terrorism.
Despite this knowledge, studies seeking to establish exactly what needs to be done to streamline the intelligence function are rare. Moreover, few researchers conduct studies to examine the influence of gender integration in intelligence-collection units, particularly whether or not such integration streamlines the unit's operations. This is perhaps why women remain underrepresented in the intelligence-collection service area, particularly HUMINT; years after the Armed Forces began to create opportunities for them in the CI/HUMINT community. This thesis seeks to examine how the integration of women into the CI/HUMINT community facilitates intelligence gathering from human subjects in the war against terrorism in the Middle East, and what could be done to ensure the maximum realization of benefits.
Background to the Study
Women have served in the American military since the 1920s, typically playing the role of spies, cooks, and nurses (McSally, 2007). However, their role in frontline combat as well as in the HUMINT service area has been severely limited (Obradovic, 2014). One of the primary reasons for this is the perception that women are biologically meek and too 'soft' to handle the challenges of the war environment (Frum, 2013; McSally, 2007; Alderman, 1992). This perception gives rise to the belief that women may not be able to cope with the challenges inherent on the ground to the same degree as men (Frum, 2013). Other concerns raised against the inclusion of women in war-torn zones revolve around issues of unit cohesion and esprit-de-corps. These are valid concerns discussed in the 'literature review' section of this thesis.
The transition of women into professional roles in the military and its service areas began in 1948, when President Truman signed the Women's Armed Services Integration Act into law (McSally, 2007). The Act made it mandatory for women to constitute at least 2% of the total force (McSally, 2007). One controversial issue with the Act was that it excluded women from combat units (McSally, 2007). This spurred numerous amendments over the subsequent years, the most prominent being the authorization of female soldiers to act as pilots for combat aircrafts in 1991 (McSally, 2007).
The passage of the National Defense Authorization Act of 1992 marked a crucial step in the participation of women in the U.S. military (McSally, 2007). The Act repealed the rules previously excluding women from taking part in combat operations, opening up opportunities for women to occupy a variety of specialties in the force (McSally, 2007). Although women could still not serve in the traditional combat-specific roles of artilleryman, tank operator or infantryman, they could work in combat aviation roles and a number of other dangerous occupations (McSally, 2007).
Two decades have lapsed since the passage of the Defense Authorization Act, yet both the Marine Corps and the Army still exclude women from combat specialties in their forces. Moreover, prior to 2008, women were not allowed to serve in the CI/HUMINT service area since the CI/HUMINT role is embedded directly in combat units. The force began to allow women into the CI/HUMINT service area in 2008; however, female operatives remain the minority and are largely underrepresented in this specialty.
The design of this thesis discusses why the integration of women in these communities is a wise idea, and why it is advisable to increase their participation in the same. The ongoing war against terrorism in the Middle East requires a stable and robust human intelligence collection function to aid counterinsurgency operations (Kerr et al., 2008). Kerr and his colleagues (2008) argue that the presence of female operatives could give CI/HUMINT collection specialists greater access to local populations and make information on insurgency operations more easily obtainable, particularly in the war against terrorism (Kerr et al., 2008).
Most contemporary studies focus on explaining why the integration of men and women in the combat environment is, or is not a good idea. However, little literature exists on how specific areas of the military such as the CI/HUMINT field, stand to benefit from integration. Moreover, studies on the effective execution of integration and best practices for realizing maximum benefits are rare.
These are the issues addressed within the current study. The study comprises two parts:
1. The first part seeks to demonstrate how the integration of women in the CI/HUMINT service area facilitates the process of gathering intelligence from human subjects in the war against terrorism.
2. The second part seeks to identify strategies for ensuring the maximum realization of benefits.
The research questions guiding the study are:
RQ1: How does the integration of women in the CI/HUMINT service area facilitate the process of gathering intelligence from human subjects in the ongoing war against terrorism?
RQ1a: Are there biological qualities make women more effective CI/HUMINT gatherers than men?
RQ1b: What qualities make it…
References
Al-Ali, N. & Pratt, N. (2009). What Kind of Liberation: Women and the Occupation of Iraq. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Bartone, P.T. Johnsen, B.H. Eid, J. Brun, W. & Laberg, J.C. (2002). Factors Influencing Small-Unit Cohesion in Norwegian Navy Officer Cadets. Military Psychology, 14(1), 1-22.
Beal, D.J. Cohen, R.R. Burke, M.J. & McLendon, C.L. (2003). Cohesion and Performance in Groups: A Meta-Analytic Clarification of Construct Relations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88 (6), 989-1004.
Burleson, B. R., Kunkel, A. W., Samter, W. & Working, K. J. (2006). Men's and Women's Evaluations of Communication Skills in Personal Relationships: When Sex Differences Make a Difference and when they don't. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 13(2), 201-224.
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