Introduction
The flow and usage of illegal drugs have become a menacing issue in the United States as it tears every aspect of the social fabric. The effect of drugs on the lives of people is as profound and measured in the same scale as those of AIDS, poverty, and illiteracy. It endangers the lives of future generations as well as the current ones. Almost every adult American considers the use of illicit drugs as one of the serious problems facing the country. The average cost of the effect of drug abuse in the United States averages between 50 and 60 billion US dollars per year. The biggest culprits in the cases are the narcotics which include heroin, cocaine, and opioids.
These drugs accrue direct and indirect costs due to medical expenses, loss of productivity, and crimes that are related to drugs. The government has been struggling with this grappling issue for many years now trying to find the most suitable solution. It has involved the local policing strategies to deal with the domestic cases of drug trafficking and use. However, the chain of flow of the narcotics in the United States is a complex one as it involves even the parties outside the country. It has made the law enforcer be short in handling the matter with the utmost effectiveness it deserves. Thus, the contention that exists is the control of such activities that involve the other countries. The problem thus offers no simple solution.
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In fact, the issue of drugs has brought a single but great challenge to a country of great liberty, prosperity, and wealth. The sight of the failure of the law enforcement to solve the issue has led to the frustration of many citizens who have called for the involvement of the military personnel. The citizens call for the military to offer assistance in a more concrete way. This comes at a time when many Americans do not understand the jurisdictions of the Army, its capabilities, and limitations by law. The answer to the transnational drug menace can be as simple as just preventing the drugs from coming from the source, sealing the borders, and involving the military to assist the law enforcement and federal agents to round up all the culprits.
Unfortunately, this is not the case and it is not absolutely direct as it seems. As the Congress is responsible for the operations of the military, the defense department personnel continue to testify to the House that the erroneous involvement of the military in the effort would solve the problem of drugs. The involvement of the military, however, is not futile in all grounds, as there are some aspects of the solution that they can assist in. As many agencies from all the levels that are involved in the reduction of supply of the narcotics agree, the key solution to the problem is the employment of timely intelligence as an interdiction factor. Also, most agree that the intelligence data on drugs from the law enforcement agencies and the national foreign intelligence groups have to be reconciled in order to create an effective counternarcotics intelligence network.
However, some believe that the military has a capability or rather a responsibility to assist in the apprehension of the drug traffickers and smugglers, and destroying the bases of the illicit drugs. Intelligence support is one of the areas that the Army can assist in the war on drugs. This paper will analyze how military intelligence can be helpful in the counternarcotic missions.
Methodology
The paper utilized online searches on the peer-reviewed articles, books and previous publications on the use of military assistance in the solution the problems facing domestic law enforcement. The paper also utilized the historical documents given the issue of military involvement in the domestic law has come a long way in legal history. The searches were filtered with respect to relevance. The research then came up with the outline and review of the literature obtained focusing on the two means of military intelligence (human intelligence and imagery intelligence).
Literature Review
The notion on the involvement of the military forces in the war on drugs has a lengthy history. It all started in 1984, about one and a half decades after the first influx on the American territory involving recreational drugs in the society. The president and Congress then came to the conception of the possible involvement of the military troops to put to halt the flow of drugs into the country. The influence and power of the Congress were felt in making the policies that saw the forces being involved in counternarcotics missions. It led to the formation of domestic intelligence laws which have significant impact on the role and responsibility of the Army intelligence in the efforts to curb drug flow.
The laws were composed during a time when there were no thoughts of drugs ever being a legitimate cause of national security ( Lowenthal, 2016) . However, the problem has evolved to an extent where the engagement of the military in this war is considered the viable means of putting the national security threat to an end. Consequently, this has brought to light the more complicated issue of separation of civilian and military roles in the enforcement. Back in 1980s, when there were calls for the increased involvement of the military that would allow the Navy to conduct arrests, there were hurdles. The Department of Defense and the justice department pointed out the limitation of responsibilities contained in the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878.
This law restricted the use of the Army as a means of enforcing domestic law. The DoD evaded the engagement into an active role of halting the flow of drugs into the country ( Richelson, 2015) . One of the reasons was the uncertainty that surrounded the application of the Posse Comitatus Act, whose interpretation has varied in various settings and judges around the nation. This led to the amendment on the roles of the military and their engagement in enforcing domestic law without the violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. The Congress thus defined some of the areas where they had the power and one of them was anti-drugs. In conformity to this call, the military thus engages in the mission by providing, managing, and monitoring the intelligence and sharing it with the relevant parties like the DEA ( Lowenthal, 2016) .
Intelligence is used to provide the information to the authorities and thus can be helpful in the formation of strategies that aid in prevention of shipments from reaching the American soil. It also helps the government to trace and shut down the production in the nations where illegal drugs that are bound for the United States. The intelligence is divided into three classes; strategic, investigative and tactical. The latter is evaluated information which can aid in the execution of the immediate enforcement actions such as interdiction, arrest, and seizure. The investigative category deals with the provision of analytical assistance to the investigations and prosecutions to disintegrate organization dealing in drugs and seize the resources ( Chizek, 2003) .
Finally, the strategic intelligence emphasizes on the current perspective of the drug chain from cultivation to distribution and thus can be used to manage decision making, policy planning, and resource deployment. Military has been able to collaborate with other federal, state, tribal, local, and foreign law enforcement groups in the collection, analysis and sharing of information related to drugs ( Lowenthal, 2016) . Intelligence plays a crucial role in the drug law enforcement. It can be used to investigate the major drug organizations, while creating a strong basis for the ongoing and subsequent prosecutions. The information collected can also help form the lead to the arrest and seizure of the assets, while providing a ground for policymakers to form programmatic decisions based on the information on the drug trend.
The military has been involved in a lot of mission but the one that raised most controversy is the involvement in the counternarcotics mission ( Andre, 2012) . This is because of the responsibility and involvement of the DEA in conjunction with other governments around the world to investigate and collect information ( Lowenthal, 2016) . This comes even when the Intelligence Community has technical collection frameworks that are not the same to the drug enforcement community ( Richelson, 2015) . The DEA is responsible for the investigation of narcotics and preventing them from entering the borders of the United States, with the help of the host governments.
Some concerned party contends that the collection by the CIA of the information by humans is a duplicate of the mission and this may lead to the conflict as well as the possibility of the drug trafficking sources to taint the name of the CIA ( Ackerman, 2015) . Despite the contentions, the military continues to offer assistance in the field of drug war by offering the required intelligence in many disciplines. However, due to time and space constraints, this paper will only concentrate on the human intelligence (HUMINT) and imagery intelligence (IMINT) as used in counternarcotics missions.
Human Intelligence (HUMINT)
This is an essential discipline in most activities that do not involve combat or war for collecting information and understanding the operation area ( Richelson, 2015) . Human intelligence can be collected by the US or the personnel from host nations. It contributes to the first hand and the most understanding of the people, their culture and needs and the environment in which they dwell and operate. Human intelligence in most of the operations other than war activities is obtained from non-military intelligence military and civilian personnel in the area of interest ( Knudsen, 1990) . For instance, during peacekeeping missions, information can be gathered by roadblocks, observation posts, and patrols can be used to provide a significant amount of information for the military intelligence analysts to evaluate and make the comprehensive conclusions. During humanitarian relief operations, United Nations workers become handy as a source of information. In other words, in operations other than war, every person becomes a resourceful human intelligence agent.
This intelligence also supports the operational needs of the military for the assignment they have ( Andre, 2012) . It can involve both strategic and tactical and focuses on the cutting issues on a wide range of conflict that may be arising due to the use of drugs. Also, the military uses this discipline to enhance the development of plans and policies at the national level to contribute to the satisfaction of the national intelligence. The information that the local law enforcers require to arrest and dealers and seize the assets and products of drugs is only possible when there is a substantial human intelligence network or informants. The military employs the use of human resources to conduct the traditional intelligence operations in foreign territories ( Chizek, 2003) . The operations can be classified as either dedicated or non-dedicated means.
The former is comprised of the elements whose primary function is to collect and report the information gotten from the resources. The human intelligence collectors in this category carry out both controlled and overt operations. On the other hand, the non-dedicated operations involve the elements, unit, or individuals who have a primary function that is different from the collection of HUMINT ( Knudsen, 1990) . For instance, there can be foot soldiers who collect information about the enemy while conducting operations in a given location. The function of the military in the collection of human intelligence involves a string of activities ( Andre, 2012) . They include tactical agent operations, long-range surveillance, interrogation, elicitation, observation, liaison, document exploitation, and debriefing operations.
The task and operations require that a person who collects HUMINT be highly skilled in communications and interpersonal relations while being well versed in the foreign language and general intelligence topics. This is because it is difficult to get a scenario where the HUMINT collect in the military targets the drug traffickers or the organizations involved inside the United States directly ( Chizek, 2003) . The rings are obtaining support from other countries though there are American citizens who become their allies on the way and aid in the circulation of the narcotics in the borders. Also, it would be extremely dangerous for the safety of the agent both mental and physical. On the other hand, domestic laws on intelligence collection would not allow for the operations by military personnel ( Andre, 2012) .
The risk involved in the collection of HUMINT makes only the most highly trained law enforcement agents ever participating in such operations. A more likely scenario is where military HUMINT operations that support law enforcement focusing on the helping in debriefing, human surveillance, document exploitation, and linguist support groups along the borders of the United States, particularly the Southwest ( Knudsen, 1990) .
Imagery Intelligence (IMINT)
The military also has another discipline that employs the use of aerial surveillance and photo reconnaissance to obtain intelligence information. In combat, this strategy is used to locate and assess the situation involving enemy formations, supplies, and equipment ( Chizek, 2003) . The assets that are used here are meant to provide an enhancement to the commander’s perspective of the battleground. When the command station has an image of the key facilities, potential trouble spots, obstacles, staging areas, and belligerent dispositions, this can enhance the speed of planning process by minimizing the uncertainty involved during the operation ( Knudsen, 1990) . It employs technological assets from all levels, including those of national and coalition partners, if the operation is combined. The simple equipment that can be used involves helicopters and UAVs, which perform excellently in missions involving short notice like route reconnaissance. The military pilots have received training to identify military activity and to report on the spot.
The aerial collection of information is thus essential in the domestic war on drugs. However, the use of army helicopters has elicited mixed reactions. Imagery intelligence missions would be helpful in locating the sources of drugs like marijuana and drug manufacturing laboratories as a response to the law enforcement requirements. The main methods that have been employed include photo, infrared, and side-looking air-borne radar with which the National Guard military intelligence units have continued to support the United States Customs. The interpretation of these photos thus requires the military personnel charged with the analysis to be trained to identify the terrain features such as production facilities and crops on a field.
Unlike airstrikes, there is a difference between the traditional targets in the interpretation keys of imagery and other documentation that supports such ( Knudsen, 1990) . The photo reconnaissance can also be helpful in the provision of overhead images of urban areas which might be considered for local law enforcement. An example of the many ways that the imagery intelligence can be helpful is in what is known as change detection. This concept is always associated with imagery that involves a multi-spectrum, or infrared, but has also been used using black and white imagery. For instance, if the law enforcement parties have a need to detect new airstrips, or new marijuana fields, in this case, macro images that can be detected with the naked eye, the new imagery can be compared alongside the old one to assess changes.
The military can also be helpful in offering the training on photo reconnaissance missions along the borders of the United States, especially the Mexican one. The intelligence that is collected during the reconnaissance is given to the patrol division of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection. The imagery analyst carries out exploitation and analysis of imagery coming from all sources, using the techniques of interpretation which include the use of optical, mechanical, and electronic devices to get the information. They then compile intelligence reports that would be understandable to the policymakers and law enforcement officials.
They also keep files that would be used to provide the law enforcement organizations with any indications of change in pattern analysis of movement. Other collection of image data can be done through the use of remote sensors and ground surveillance radars (GSR) ( Quilter & Baker, 2017) . One of the most crucial intelligence needs that the law enforcement authorities require is the movement of the drugs and any drug-related substances ( Richelson, 2015) . This includes the transit on land borders of the United States and the movement to and from crop areas or manufacturing laboratories.
The standard types of radars require being effective and sharp enough to detect movements of vehicles and personnel in the required ranges (0-10 kilometers for vehicles and 0-6 kilometers for personnel). The GSR is always deployed along paths of approach or around a region in which there is the requirement for security perimeter. Similar to the aerial missions, the training on ground surveillance have been extensively conducted in the Mexican border ( Priest, 2013) . While the aerial photography training involved HAWKEYE, the GRS involved GROUNDHOG, which is fitted with ground surveillance radars and remote sensors.
Conclusion
Although the first principles of intelligence support equally apply to war and other operations other than combat, the needs of the scenario in the two settings are often different. When dealing with noncombat situations, such as the drug situation, the command station should be concerned on the understanding of the people, cultures, and the terrains to help in effective monitoring and formation of workable plans. The support that the domestic law enforcement gets from military intelligence helps create investigative links and surveillance networks. These may reduce the flow and transport of narcotics across the borders. There is urgent need to protect the homeland from the drug trafficking and the dangers it poses to the nation. Thus, the support from DoD is essential, although the role of the military should be identified in the contribution it may have in the intelligence area. This should be in line with the knowledge of the controversy that the counternarcotics support brings as the public historically rejected the involvement of the federal troops in the borders of the United States unless offering disaster relief assistance.
References
Ackerman, R. K. (2015, January 16). Intelligence Key to Counterdrug Efforts. Retrieved March 17, 2018, from https://www.afcea.org/content/intelligence-key-counterdrug-efforts
Andre, A. A. (2012). Study of the military intelligence support to domestic law enforcement in counterdrug and counterterrorism operations (Doctoral dissertation, Fort Leavenworth, KS: US Army Command and General Staff College).
Chizek, J. G. (2003, January). Military transformation: intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Library of Congress Washington Dc Congressional Research Service.
Knudsen, P. F. (1990). The Role of Army Intelligence in the Domestic Drug War . Army Command and General Staff Coll Fort Leavenworth Ks.
Lowenthal, M. M. (2016). Intelligence: From secrets to policy . CQ press.
Priest, D. (2013). US role at a crossroads in Mexico’s intelligence war on the cartels. The Washington Post , 27 .
Quilter, T., & Baker, C. (2017, June). The application of staring radar to the detection and identification of small Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Monaco. In Radar Symposium (IRS), 2017 18th International (pp. 1-9). IEEE.
Richelson, J. T. (2015). The US intelligence community . Hachette UK.
