Vanguard Magazine

www.vanguardcanada.com DECEMBER 2020/JANUARY 2021 25 c4isr Ladders If moving our knowledge to Box #1 is the game, then let's continue stretching that analogy to a four-square playing surface of snakes and ladders that move information between the squares. We know that the ladders are, by and large, made of C4ISR, but examining the nature of each ladder individually is useful for both understand- ing the terminology as well as why the vari- ous related initiatives matter. In the Intelligence business, 'Ladder A' represents the effective use of requests for information (RFIs) or the execution of Collection Operations (read: leveraging of ISR and PED) to construct a better un- derstanding of whatever the Commander needs to know. We refer to the process of prioritizing and answering these questions as Intelligence Requirements Manage- ment and Collection Management (IRM & CM), which is informed by Priority In- telligence Requirements (PIRs), and which are, in turn, the questions prioritized for heat and light to move it to Box #1. Break- ing those PIRs into answerable binary or empirical questions results in the develop- ment of an Intelligence Collection Plan (ICP), but I digress. Operations gets simi- lar direction from the Commander regard- ing information priorities in the form of CCIRs; these are, effectively, a list of things that need to be moved into Box #1 without delay whenever possible due to the gravity of what they mean. I regard 'Ladder B' as a terrifying form of serendipity. It can result from the col- lapsing of stovepipes, either within or be- tween institutions, which has the effect of creating a larger sample of informational 'noise,' from which correlations that were previously indistinguishable can provide a 'signal.' 'Ladder B' is generally a good thing and should be humbly recognized as a welcome invader from outside our insti- tutional tunnel vision, and a lesson on how to better exploit information in future. The execution of Collection Operations is a potential form of 'Ladder A'; however, it is important to realize that there is an in- termediate step that is necessary to avoid the collection becoming a resident of Box #3, namely Processing, Exploitation, and Dissemination (PED). The knowledge gap in Box #2 prompts collection, intending to create a happy little to move leaders' level of understanding into Box #1. It is exactly this movement of knowledge between the boxes that is key to understanding many of the acronyms and buzzwords that fill the legendary list of technobabble. Looking at our four-square depiction of states of knowledge, C4ISR can be imag- ined as all of the various methods that move knowledge towards Box #1. C4ISR stands for Command, Control, Commu- nications, Computers, Intelligence, Sur- veillance, and Reconnaissance. Command and Control defines the questions we ask in Box #2, and why we provide the an- swers in Box#1. Communications allows us to place the call to tell the Commander what we learned. Computers may be the means we use to aggregate data that re- sides in Box #3, analysis of which might result in a better understanding of ques- tions in Box #2, thence to a Box #1 un- derstanding. Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (henceforth, ISR) is about collecting the answers to Box #2 questions through whatever means are available to us, be it technical collection such as SIGINT or MASINT, interactions with the people on our Areas of Opera- tions (Intelligence nerds like me refer to that as HUMINT), liaison with partner forces, or perhaps a simple Google search (OSINT). For the record, C4ISR, JISR, Intelligence, and all of the collection dis- ciplines have doctrinal definitions resplen- dent with adjectives that are worth read- ing; however, at the end of the day, what they all do is let Commanders make deci- sions while sitting in Box #1. Information Findability We have the information We don't have the information We can find the information We can't find the information "We know we know" "We know we don't know" "We don't know we don't know" "We don't know we know" 1 2 3 4 A B C D Information Findability We have the information We don't have the information We can find the information We can't find the information "We know we know" "We know we don't know" "We don't know we don't know" "We don't know we know" 1 2 3 4 PED

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