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In a briefing on Nov. 27, Maguire, who advises the Iraqi Defense
Ministry and Interior Ministry, said Iraqi intelligence-gathering
and -processing has advanced at the tactical level, Middle East Newsline reported. He said target
information could be rapidly collected, processed, approved and relayed to
Iraqi units.
In all, Maguire said, the Iraqi intelligence cycle resulted in success
about 30 percent of the time. He said the rate could increase with greater
skills and experience.
Maguire said intelligence capabilities within the Iraqi government would
be self-sustaining by the end of 2008. He said the lion's share of
intelligence, particularly that collected in Baghdad, was sufficiently
valuable to order army or security operations.
"We have gone from submitting probably less than a dozen targets on a
weekly basis, of which none were actionable, to most recently being able to
submit between 50 and 60 on a weekly basis, 90 percent which are
actionable," Maguire said.
About 80 military officers and civilians work with the Defense Ministry
and Interior Ministry on intelligence capabilities. Maguire leads the joint
team, part of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq.
"But the success story is really, from the front end to the back end,
[the] complete cycle is Iraqi-run and Iraqi-executed," Maguire said.
Still, Iraqi intelligence remains short of equipment and computers
required to train and process intelligence. Officials said the intelligence
units in the Defense Ministry and Interior Ministry have acquired 80 percent
of their requirements.
Another challenge was continued opposition within the military to share
intelligence. Maguire said his team was working to resolve commanders'
suspicions by assigning senior intelligence officers at division levels to
facilitate working relationships.
"[By next year the intelligence agencies would be] perfectly capable of
collecting [intelligence] against a target and executing against a target
probably in most of the provinces," Maguire said.
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