Battle Plans and Human Intelligence

Politics apart, the failure of the SLA to effectively gauge enemy alertness and preparations ahead of a planned offensive is alarming, and may even be an institutional problem. The alarm is also due to the repetition of the problem without solution.

Western systems of warfare, which many Commanders of established armies have adopted without question, stress technological means of collecting information about an enemy. These systems are Network Centric Warfare (NCW) systems similar to those adopted by the United States in Iraq for example. These strategies place emphasis on operation planning using high-tech information and sharing such information with a network of units for operational success.

In modern warfare involving insurgent and terrorist groups, no technology can replace the skill of the infantryman in gaging enemy intent, readiness and critical-mass by actual observations through effective infiltration. In the recent case in Muhamalai, the finger seem to point at a lack of reparation, possibly due to an operational plan put together for a political agenda.

Military operations against insurgents without covert passive surveillance and human intelligence (HUMINT) is doomed from very inception. Mission success is contingent upon last-minute updates on target sets by human intelligence. Special Operations Forces (SOF) and combat scout units that use hide and conceal tactics are the primary sources of tactical information for field commanders. Deployment of such independent units and obtaining necessary information up to the last minute requires investment in time, expertise and experience.

Muhamalai and Kilali, which do not provide adequate natural cover for effective hide and conceal by SOF is further reason for better planning over a longer period of time. Human Intelligence has the crucial task of identifying tactically sound assembly points, fire bases and assault positions for follow-on forces inside enemy territory until the very beginning of the operation. If this procedure was followed to rule, instead of a political agenda as some have observed, the outcomes of last morning's battle would have been quite different.