Put more boots for intel on the ground

August 15, 2018 Opinion Sideglance

I have to commiserate with Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana as he gamely tried to downplay claims made by the Islamic State (ISIS) that the suicide bombing that occurred in Lamitan, Basilan was the latter’s handiwork.

The claim by the ISIS was monitored and published thru a website called SITE Intelligence Group which claims to be the world’s leading non-governmental counterterrorism organization specializing in tracking and analyzing online activity of the global extremist community.

Now whether there is truth to the claim by the ISIS or not one thing that should be on the minds of our military leaders is how to gather and obtain more intelligence on the ground with respect to such kinds of terroristic activities whether perpetrated by the Abu Sayaf, ISIS or any other radical Muslim group for that matter.

This can be done more effectively if the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the national government is willing to put more boots on the ground to monitor and gather pertinent intelligence data needed to establish a better perspective and a clearer picture on what is really happening with respect to our own war on terrorism.

There is clearly no substitute to the so called human intelligence or HUMINT and no amount of material resources such as cameras and drones will replace the ability of a human individual in detecting, collecting, analyzing and evaluating intelligence data.

As a suggestion the AFP at this time should start investing more of its resources and personnel in its intelligence branch. The best way to deter would be terrorists from their deadly plans is when they are made aware that the military is actively monitoring their movements and are prepared to pre-empt their actions.

In fact when the data and information gathered is verified to be actionable intelligence the AFP can immediately resort to pre-emptive action to disrupt such attempt at terroristic activity. The AFP has in the past often conducted military raids as a result of actionable intelligence and thus thwarted acts that would have imperiled the lives and properties of the people.

This is what should also be done relative to threats of terrorism in our country.

These terrorists whether of the ISIS or Abu Sayaff kind have no place in our democratic society and must be stamped out at the earliest opportunity. The AFP should initiate steps to recruit more members in their intelligence branch who are willing to work 24/7 in gathering important data and information regarding possible terrorist threats and immediately act on them when verified to avert another bombing incident such as what happened in Basilan.