Achieving Understanding in Contemporary UN Peace Operations: The Joint Mission Analysis Centre

Theunens, Reynaud

doi:10.1007/978-94-6265-183-8_8

Achieving Understanding in Contemporary UN Peace Operations: The Joint Mission Analysis Centre

Reynaud Theunens⁵

Chapter
First Online: 02 July 2017

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Abstract

This chapter discusses the current status of intelligence in UN peace operations by examining the Joint Mission Analysis Centre (JMAC), and makes proposals for the further development of this concept. After a brief historical overview, I will make the argument that rather than using the potentially controversial expression ‘(military) intelligence’, the UN should adopt contemporary terminology by employing the term ‘understanding’. I will then explain why JMAC is such an important step in the development of effective ‘intelligence’ support for decision-making support in peace operations. Finally, I will make some proposals, which are based on my experience as a military information officer in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and Chief JMAC (UNIFIL), for the further development of the JMAC concept, by elaborating options for its relations with military intelligence structures like U2 and the All Sources Intelligence Fusion Unit (ASIFU); and the use of social media for situational awareness and understanding.

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Notes

1.
United Nations, DPKO/DFS 2008, 2010, p. 33.
2.
Dorn 2010, p. 294.
3.
NATO 2014, p. 3-1.
4.
Processing of information consists of collation, evaluation, analysis, integration, interpretation.
5.
Ministry of Defence, UK Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre 2010, p. 2-1.
6.
Flynn et al. 2010; Norheim-Martinsen and Ravndal 2011, p. 454.
7.
Theunens 2003, pp. 61–70.
8.
Lollesgaard 2015.
9.
Ministry of Defence Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre 2011, paras 437–444.
10.
Roux 2008, p. 22.
11.
United States Institute for Peace 2011, p. 2.
12.
Roux 2008, p. 22.
13.
UNIFIL’s mandate is laid out in UNSCR 1701 and subsequent resolutions renewing the mandate, most recently Resolution 2305 (2016).
14.
For an interesting discussion of the challenges, the Middle East poses for (intelligence) analysis see Kam 2015.
15.
UN DPKO/DFS 2008, 2010.
16.
UN DPKO/DFS 2009, p. 20.
17.
Idem, p. 24.
18.
This statement is based on the experience of the author; cf. Norheim-Martinsen and Ravndal 2011.
19.
UN DPKO 2003, p. 69.
20.
Abilova and Novosseloff 2016, p. 25.
21.
Idem, p. 14.
22.
Ibid.
23.
UN DPKO/DFS 2015, p. 65.
24.
Flynn et al. 2010, pp. 19–20.
25.
Flynn and Flynn 2012, p. 4, 7.
26.
UN DPKO/DFS 2015.
27.
Lacquement 2010.
28.
“The best, most extroverted and hungriest analysts”, and “Analysts must absorb information with the thoroughness of historians, organize it with the skill of librarians and disseminate it with the zeal of journalists. They must embrace open-source, population-centric information as the lifeblood of their analytical work.” (Flynn et al. 2010, p. 23).
29.
Siman-Tov and Ofer 2013, pp. 36–37.
30.
Graziano 2007.
31.
UN DPKO/DFS 2009, p. 21.
32.
Cammaert 2013, p. 2.
33.
Cammaert 2013, p. 10.
34.
UN DPKO/DFS 2015, p. 64; Abilova and Novosseloff 2016, p. 5, 23.
35.
Prism 2014, p. 185; Allen [s.a.].
36.
Weimann 2014.
37.
UN DPKO/DFS 2015, p. 67.
38.
OCHA 2015.
39.
See Omand et al. 2012.
40.
Lynch et al. 2014, p. 5.
41.
Prism 2014, p. 184.
42.
Boutelis and Chowdhury Fink 2016, pp. 1, 25.
43.
Core members are those for whom analysing information concerning the Head of Mission’s Collection and critical information requirements (CIR) is their core business (i.e. Political Affairs; U2; Security; JMAC). Regular members while contributing to mandate implementation in their respective areas may come across information that is relevant to these requirements and should be made available to the Information Community.
44.
Karlsrud and Smith 2015, p. 11.
45.
Van Dalen 2015, p. 311.
46.
Crossette 2014.
47.
Ladsous 2014.
48.
Van Dalen 2015; Abilova and Novosseloff 2016, pp. 17–19. Handelingen Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal 2015, p. 12.
49.
Van Dalen 2015.
50.
Abilova and Novosseloff 2016, p. 24.
51.
Karlsrud and Smith, p. 12.
52.
Lollesgaard 2015, p. 2.
53.
Van Dalen 2015, p. 318; Abilova and Novosseloff 2016, p. 11.
54.
UN DPKO/DFS 2015, p. 65.
55.
Roux 2008, pp. 18–19.
56.
Ladsous 2014.
57.
Ladsous 2015.
58.
UN Doc A/70/357–S/2015/682 2015, para 94.
59.
Abilova and Novosseloff 2016, p. 24.

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Burg. S. De Rijcklaan 58/22, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium
Reynaud Theunens

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Faculty of Military Sciences, Netherlands Defence Academy Faculty of Military Sciences, Breda, The Netherlands
Floribert Baudet
Department of History and Art History, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Eleni Braat
Veteraneninstituut , Doorn, The Netherlands
Jeoffrey van Woensel
Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Independent scholar, retired Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Enschede, The Netherlands
Aad Wever

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Theunens, R. (2017). Achieving Understanding in Contemporary UN Peace Operations: The Joint Mission Analysis Centre. In: Baudet, F., Braat, E., van Woensel, J., Wever, A. (eds) Perspectives on Military Intelligence from the First World War to Mali. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-183-8_8

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-183-8_8
Published: 02 July 2017
Publisher Name: T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague
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Online ISBN: 978-94-6265-183-8
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