Strategic Intelligence of the USA Essay (Critical Writing)

Perhaps, it is also crucial to consider the aspect of strategic assessment alongside the secrecy of national security matters. This type of assessment should go a long way in exploring how a nation is capable of withholding its security secrets without being leaked to enemies or other rival states. There is no single secure nation that can fail to assess the state of its future security standards. This implies that strategic assessment should not merely dwell on the present security platform of a country. It should also focus on all the possible future vulnerabilities on matters related to security.

How is the strategic assessment of security matters conducted by the developed economies? Understandably, this question has been studied and addressed by several authors within the field of security intelligence. Needless to say, each nation has its unique methodology of conducting a strategic assessment of security matters. For instance, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is “the largest producer of all-source national security intelligence to senior U.S. policymakers”.¹How this agency conducts or processes its security intelligence matters is quite different from other agencies across the developed world. Hence, it would be wrong to assume that the strategic intelligence profile for different countries is uniform across the board.

Besides, it is indeed agreeable that strategic intelligence is part and parcel of winning major conflicts and wars. A country cannot outwit its rivals without an effective input of strategic intelligence. The case studies of the First and Second World Wars are a clear indication of how intelligence was used to gain the much-needed victories against rivals. Nonetheless, strategic intelligence alone cannot produce the desired results if military power (in terms of armory) is weak.

Chemical warfare

It might appear as if chemical warfare is a recent development on the battlefield especially with the news that the same is being used in the Syrian crisis. However, it is crucial to mention that chemical warfare has been existent for thousands of years. For example, poisoned arrows were used during ancient times as part of chemical warfare to win conflicts.

The video is a clear depiction of how modern chemical warfare is executed. As much as several declarations have been made against the use of chemical warfare, the practice continues. It can be recalled that when the British intervened in the civil war in Russia during the interwar years, arsenic gas was dropped by the Royal Air force. This was pure chemical warfare that left devastating impacts. The current millennium is punctuated with acts of terrorism. It has witnessed the use of chemical weapons by terror gangs.²

While the leading superpowers continue to condemn the use of chemical warfare during conflicts, it is surprising that they are the same key players in chemical warfare. This is a paradox that has puzzled the world. How can the United States and other developed nations claim to safeguard social justice when they breach the laws that prohibit chemical warfare? The chemical weapons treaties are mere blueprints that no single nation is willing to follow.

Although logistics seem to be a major strategy for winning wars, the flow and exchange of communication is still a major determinant. For example, when a rival camp captures the communication system of its enemies, likely, logistics cannot be instrumental. This explains why strategic intelligence and assessment should also incorporate strict coding and data encryption to avoid leakage of information.³

Bibliography

Best, Richard. “Leadership of the U.S. Intelligence Community: From DCI to DNI.” International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 27, no. 2 (March 2014): 253-333.

FAS. “An Overview”. United States Intelligence Community for the 111^th Congress. 2009. Web.

Hammond, Thomas. “Intelligence Organizations and the Organization of Intelligence.” International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence 23, no. 4 (January 2010): 680-724.

Footnotes

1. “ An Overview”, United States Intelligence Community for the 111^th Congress, Web.
2. Richard Best, “Leadership of the U.S. Intelligence Community: From DCI to DNI,” International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 27, no. 2 (2014): 258.
3. Thomas Hammond, “Intelligence Organizations and the Organization of Intelligence,” International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence 23, no. 4 (2010): 711.