NATO’s Military Intelligence Community meets in Ottawa
On 23-24 May 2018, the Military Intelligence Committee held one of two annual meetings in Ottawa, Canada. NATO Nations and key stakeholders responsible for Intelligence met to discuss key Intelligence topics and ongoing strands of work.
With the ever-changing security environment, NATO is facing many challenges that bear an Intelligence dimension. Consequently, NATO and Nations have been implementing a more coordinated approach to Intelligence analysis and Intelligence sharing. Good Intelligence helps NATO protect lives and prevent conflicts. That is why NATO is taking a number of measures to improve the way NATO and Nations cooperate in this area.
As part of this process, NATO set up the Joint Intelligence and Security Division at NATO HQ Brussels last year. This is the most important reform in the history of NATO Intelligence Cooperation. The new division has allowed NATO to become more effective when using the Intelligence received from Allies and to improve its Situational Awareness. NATO has established a new Terrorism Intelligence Cell, allowing Allies to more effectively share Information and Analysis on terrorist threats. NATO has also developed a hybrid strategy to better counter these threats, to include hybrid elements in NATO’s training and exercises. NATO has also increased its cooperation with other organisations, including the European Union.
Finally, since being officially accredited in September 2016, the NATO Counter Intelligence Centre of Excellence (NATO CI COE) located in Krakow, Poland has been the primary hub of NATO expertise in Military Counter-Intelligence. The COE aims to expand the capabilities of the Alliance and its member Nations to enhance NATO Counter-Intelligence and improve interoperability. The Centre acts as a catalyst for NATO adaptation and operations by supporting the development, promotion and implementation of new policies, concepts, strategies and doctrine.
Formerly known as the NATO Intelligence Board, the Military Intelligence Committee (since 2010) remains the principal forum for Nations to discuss Military Intelligence and ongoing strands of work. Over the course of this two-day meeting, participants received updates and briefings namely on Policy development, Intelligence Reform including the NATO Command Structure Adaptation and the possible impact on the Intelligence structure and NATO Operations, Activities and Exercises including Hybrid challenges and Intelligence Lessons Learned.
The meetings were co-chaired by Rear-Admiral Scott Bishop, Commander of Canadian Forces Intelligence Command, who took up the Chairmanship from Belgium in January 2018, and Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence and Security Freytag von Loringhoven, head of the Joint Intelligence and Security Division.
The next Military Intelligence Committee Conference will convene in November 2019 at NATO HQ Brussels.