Intel gathering

Expansibility and Army Intelligence

The US Army has arguably not fought a capable state adversary since World War II. Now, after decades of conducting limited interventions, the expansibility and adaptability of military intelligence capabilities are in question. In a potential major war, the fight will focus on decisive operations and owning terrain, but it will also have to deal with the added complexities of globalization, advanced technologies, state-sponsored hybrid adversaries, and nonstate irregulars.1 This article examines how US military intelligence would expand in the event of a major war that required the Army to double in size and capability. The Army’s Military Intelligence Corps would have to expand accordingly through a doubling of expeditionary military intelligence brigades and theater intelligence brigades, while incrementally expanding support at the strategic level. But, such an expansion would also affect “intelligence federations” within the intelligence community, which includes the Army Reserve, National Guard, civilians, and contractors, as well as its coalition partners.