Congratulations for your new job as a targeting analyst! We’re pleased to welcome you on board. Your work will help our policy makers better understand national security threats and make their policy decisions accordingly. 1) Please choose your first target. Your choices are: Xi Jinping Abubakar Shekau Ismael Zambada Garcia “El Mayo” Bashar al-Assad Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Once you have made your choice, please conduct some preliminary research to determine who your target is and what is their role. Specifically, you will want to write at least a paragraph describing the target’s nationality, position, general location, and defining what kind of target they might be (political, military, and/or criminal). 2) Select your sources: Using the information in Clark, pp. 92-99 (SEE BELOW ATTACHED) as your guide, select three COMINT sources to exploit to gather intelligence on your target.Provide 2-3 sentences justification for each collection source, focusing on why the source is appropriate for your target. (For example, using cellphones to track terrorists because we know this is a communication method they use.) Example collection sources include (but are not limited to): Microphones and audio transmitters Remote acoustic sensing (geophone, radio frequency flooding) Telephone surveillance (fixed, mobile) Push-to-talk Underwater sound High frequency communications High capacity communication systems (microwave relay, satellite, cable) 3) Foreseeing and addressing two possible countermeasures or challenges: For each collection source, determine what are possible countermeasures or challenges for collection. (Again, your textbook will help.) Example collection sources, challenges, and countermeasures include: Microphones and audio transmitters: require physical placement Remote acoustic sensing (geophone, radio frequency flooding), require physical placement but perhaps not as close to target Telephone surveillance (fixed or mobile): will have to deal with code words, brief calls. Depending on the amount collected, dealing with data overload could be hard. 4) Open sources: Please also identify three ways you might use open sources to supplement your COMINT sources. Possible OSINT functions include, for example, to providing context and validation for the information you gather through COMINT. 5) Analyzing the information: Please review the two types of analysis on pages 107-108 (SEE BELOW ATTACHED) and then explain how could apply these to your information sources. Finally, explain what types of intelligence you could get to a policy maker with the results of your collection and analysis.
