Technology in Iraq
In "A Technology Surges" (March/April 2008), David Talbot detailed the importance of the Tactical Ground Reporting System to ground forces in day-to-day operations in Iraq. DARPA has enabled rapid sharing of information and intelligence among lower-echelon forces, leading to improved effectiveness and force protection. Despite limited training in counterinsurgency, our forces have learned to use available resources to achieve desired effects, whether that is capturing insurgents, protecting themselves against IEDs, or achieving reconciliation in a given neighborhood.

However, our forces' resourcefulness should not be a substitute for learning from our experiences in Iraq at the level of the Department of Defense. That "there is a whole list of enhancements that users have requested" to this system, as Talbot reported, suggests that DOD's current intelligence processes are not necessarily a good fit for counterinsurgency operations. Better to adopt a bottom-up rather than the current top-down process designed for conventional major combat operations. Specifically, intelligence systems and architectures should be revisited to better support lower-echelon forces in a timely fashion.
Larry Lewis
Center for Naval Analyses
Suffolk, VA