Intelligence is a crucial component of various disciplines such as political science and criminal justice, among others that are used to inform decision making related to the security of a country and international relations. Various academic programs do not offer courses in intelligence, and as such well-publicized and published cases such as the death of Osama bin laden provide students and tutors with a learning opportunity. The clandestine nature of intelligence work makes information hard to find and utilize as case studies. Due to the nature of Osama's case, information was made available, which created a learning opportunity for students in security studies. Various topics are revealed, such as the role of multiple players in the intelligence community, numerous methods of data acquisition, steps of the intelligence cycle, and the use of intelligence information.
The death of Osama bin laden presents a successful case of intelligence case. Osama bin Laden was killed on 2nd May 2011 by the American military invasion in his compound in Abbottabad. Before his death, intelligence had been gathered and shared across various security agencies such as the central intelligence agency, federal bureau of investigation, and national security agency, among others. Data from field operatives were forwarded to various offices where it was analyzed and assessed accordingly and sent relevant authorities who further scrutinized the intelligence and made decisions on how to proceed regarding the matter.
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Various types of intelligence were collected human intelligence and signals intelligence. The former involved collection of data on persons of interest while the former was the use of signals and wiretapping to get information on a particular subject. Human intelligence was acquired from al-Qaeda operatives in custody. However, the information didn't fully reveal the key players in the organization. The information was put into consideration; however, it was not until a telephone conversation was picked up that one particular key operative was identified. Al- Kuwaiti was recognized as a leader in the al-Qaeda group. Signal intelligence was used to provide more intelligence on the operations of the terrorist group.
Planning was done to acquire more intelligence. It was essential to establish the role of al-Kuwaiti and whether he would be able to lead law officers to Osama. Directions were given to follow al-Kuwaiti and know who he interacted with. Geospatial intelligence was acquired to build on the possible location of Osama bin laden. Al-Kuwaiti movements helped intelligence officers identify a compound in Abbottabad, which was identified as a possible location of Osama. Human, signal, and geospatial intelligence were processed and exploited, and feedback acquired was used by policymakers to make decisions. The president used intelligence to make a decision on the assault that killed Osama bin laden. Various agencies worked together to ensure an efficient flow of information and analysis to deliver useful information to help make timely decisions (Betts, 2007).
Various stakeholders and agencies were involved in the mission to find Osama bin laden. Various agencies and government departments and government officers worked carefully analyzing available data and asking useful hard questions to ensure that all the required information to warrant a military invasion considering the Pakistan government was not aware of the operation.
Various types of intelligence were used to make the mission a success. They included human intelligence, signal intelligence, and geospatial intelligence (Cozine, 2013). All sources of intelligence had to be explored carefully, ensuring that those being surveilled didn't know about it. The use of various sources was crucial to provide enough proof that the suspect would be where the intelligence suggested he was. Former members of al- Qaeda were interviewed. Intelligence acquired was verified with geospatial and signal information so that the available information would be used to make the best decision at a specific time.
References
Cozine, K. (2013). Teaching the intelligence process: The killing of Bin Laden as a case study. Journal of Strategic Security , 6 (3), 80-87.
Betts, R. K. (2007). Two faces of intelligence failure: September 11 and Iraq's missing WMD. Political science quarterly , 122 (4), 585-606.
