The 902d MI Group's CI ACE -- a center of information fusion and situational awareness.

The tragic events that occurred on 11 September 2001 made all of us in the Intelligence Community examine the way we conducted business, particularly in the areas of force protection (FP). combating terrorism, and Homeland Security (HLS). When the 902d Military Intelligence Group began providing counterintelligence (CI) support for HLS, the Group determined that it needed to be able to provide information to the 902d's supported commanders and other customers rapidly. Specifically, the 902d needed to fuse information quickly, create comprehensive situational awareness products for both the U.S. Army and the Department of Defense (DOD), and to disseminate these products rapidly to a myriad of agencies. The 902d also needed to improve its ability to predict where and when terrorists might strike again in the continental United States (CONUS).

The 902d had been planning to initiate an operations center in fiscal year 2002, as a means to synchronize the Group's varied operations. A counterintelligence analysis and control element (CI ACE) was an integral part of the concept for the new 902d Ml Group Operations Center. To meet the new requirements of information fusion, situational awareness, and predictive analysis, the 902d began operating its CI ACE before the operations center was running. On 1 November 2001 ,with minimal staffing and resources, the CI ACE became operational.

CI ACE Mission

The mission of the CI ACE is to:

Conduct in formation fusion, achieve situational awareness and conduct predictive analysis to protect U.S. Army installations, personnel, and technologies. Integrate with the 902d Military Intelligence Group Operations Center to conduct operational synchronization to achieve situational dominance.

The CI ACE conducts its mission using the doctrinal intelligence cycle.

Collect. Receive information collected by 902d CI agents across CON US and selected worldwide locations, CI and law enforcement counterparts in DOD and the federal government, and from open sources.

Process. Validate, evaluate, and correlate data, supported by intelligence software tools such as the All-Source Analysis System-Light (ASAS-L) and the Analyst Notebook to fuse information into graphical form.

Produce and Disseminate. Develop a variety of products to include link-analysis diagrams, threat pictures, and target folders. The CI ACE disseminates these products to various customers for situational awareness and operational synchronization. The CI ACE's production goal is to provide a unique product that does no duplicate work done by other agencies. It works closely with the 902d MI Group's Army Counterintelligence Center (ACIC) in the development of daily threat assessments. The ACIC provides analytical advice and assistance to the IC ACE, and augments it with experienced CI analysts. While the mission of the ACIC will continue to be the "big picture" in support of the Army, the ACIC and CI ACE will work together to ensure that they identify and fill counterterrorism (CT) and FP gaps in CONUS.

Creation and Organization of Current CI ACE

The formation of the CI ACE drew personnel and resources from within the 902d MI Group. Currently, there are 15 military and civilian analysts in the CI ACE, and they have done a superb job in building the CI ACE in record time. When the CI ACE stood up on 1 November 2001, in initially focused on building the threat picture from a CI perspective in support of FP and counterterrorism missions. The organization of the CI ACE is in analytical cells that reflect the mission sets of the 902d.

The Force Protection Analysis Cell provides local and regional situational awareness to support FP activities in assistance to installation and major Army command (MACOM) commanders and for troops in transit. The CI ACE disseminates force protection products via multiple media sources. The primary dissemination channel to the installations and the MACOMs is the Secure Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNET), a network used to process classified information up to the Secret level. The CI ACE also disseminates finished products via the local 902d resident offices. Additionally, analysts in the CI ACE pass their database to the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) Information Dominance Center (IDO) where it merges into the IOC's database to produce an allsource intelligence picture. Furthermore, these products are provided to Headquarters, INSCOM, and archived on the CI ACE website for future reference. Readers can access the CI ACE website through the SIPRNET at 902dmi.north-inscom.army.smil. mil/902d/ci-ace/.

The Counterterrorism Analysis Cell supports the 902d's CT mission by developing comprehensive pictures of the terrorist elements, networks, and other information. The cell fuses and analyzes information in support of antiterrorism. This cell will often control its dissemination more tightly because of proprietary restrictions from federal agencies.

Developmental CI

ACE Cells

The CI ACE is becoming an effective force multiplier for the 902d by developing the threat picture for the 902d's missions to include technology protection, activities to counter foreign intelligence services (FISs), and computer network operations. The analytical cells supporting these missions are still under development and resourcing.

The Technology Protection and FIS Analysis Cells will apply the same techniques and tools used in FP and CT but against a different set of data. These cells will produce target support packages based on the information they gather from a variety of sources; the target support packages will go to the 902d field elements and to other federal agencies, thereby allowing operational synchronization to neutralize or exploit foreign threats to Army activities.

The Information Operations (IO) Analysis Cell will work closely with the 902d MI Group's Information Warfare Branch to conduct cyberintelligence preparation of the battlespace and to correlate this information with the other target sets to determine any trends or patterns. By fusing the cyberthreat picture with the information from the other analysis cells, we can develop a more comprehensive picture of the threat. The CI ACE's Fusion Cell will perform the challenging job of fusing the numerous graphical data into a comprehensive threat picture.

The CI ACE has quickly developed to become a critical player in the Intelligence Community. Fostering the daily exchange of information and analysis with our sister Services and federal agencies has been essential to its analytical capabilities. Our sister Services, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and other DOD organizations have used the CI ACE products. As a result, these organizations have increased their sharing of information with the CI ACE.

What Is Ahead For the CI ACE?

The CI ACE will continue to foster the working relationship with DOD and other federal agencies and look into leveraging other software, systems, and technologies to develop further the comprehensive situational awareness picture. Members of the 902d MI Group developed an automated incident submission form, which enhances the timeliness of information receipt and streamlines information-sharing across the group. We will electronically fuse this information into the CI ACE database that is the foundation of the interactive website used to share information with the MACOMs and installation commands. The CI ACE is changing how the 902d MI Group conducts CI operations; therefore, it is important for the CI ACE to start documenting its tactics, techniques, and procedures.

In the near future, the 902d's Operations Center will be fully operational. Within the Operations Center, the CI ACE will integrate with other elements of the Group S3 staff elements. The Operations Center will serve as the 902d MI Group's hub for synchronization, synergy, and fusion, allowing the CI ACE to produce the situational awareness picture that will drive the Group's operations. The CI ACE's integration into the Operations Center will combine situational awareness with operational synchronization to achieve "situational dominance."

Major Arthur Palaganas is currently serving as the Chief, Counterintelligence Analysis and Control Element (CI ACE), 902d MI Group, at Fort Meade, Maryland. MAJ Palaganas was responsible for establishing the CI ACE, directing its daily operations, and planning and developing its future growth and functions. His previous assignments include "dual-hatting" as Deputy G2, 5th Signal Command, and Chief, Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (Joint STARS) Training Development, U.S. Army, Europe (USAREUR); Deputy Information Assurance Program Manager; MI Company Commander; Infantry Battalion S2; Assistant Secretary General Staff; Battalion Maintenance Officer; Armor Company Executive Officer; and Armor Platoon Leader. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Guam. Readers may contact the author via E-mail at arthur.palaganas@meade-ins com.army.mil and by telephone at [phone] or DSN 622-3893.