By Lieutenant Colonel Rich Holden, US Army, Retired

The INTELST was created in April 2000 to provide an information-sharing forum to discuss current and future intelligence doctrine, and to share and request ideas, and tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) between intelligence professionals at all levels, regardless of their location. From a humble beginning with about 30 charter members, the INTELST has grown to over 1,300 members all over the world, and at all levels of command and rank. The INTELST membership is composed of intelligence professionals from across the spectrum of the military and civilian worlds, to include all the U.S. military services, many civilian and non-DoD governmental agencies, as well as members from several other countries (Australia, Canada, England, Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, & Norway).

Discussions on the INTELST have covered a wide range of topics, to include: Asymmetric warfare, After Action Reviews & Lessons Learned from Operations IRAQI FREEDOM and ENDURING FREEDOM, the CSA’s focus on actionable intelligence, the Transformation of current and future MI force structures and requirements in light of the Unit of Actions and Modularity, the training of intelligence analysts, split-based operations, Priority Intelligence Requirements, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and their use in OIF, professional Recommended Reading Lists, new Field Manual issues and associated doctrinal issues, intelligence fusion and fusion centers, open source intelligence (OSINT), Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB), targeting, and intelligence architectures and systems in general.

The INTELST, as well as numerous other military topic-related lists, are run on of a list server that is maintained in the Pentagon by the U.S. Army Information Management Center (IMCEN). The list is not a Department of the Army officially endorsed forum, so discussions can be, and sometimes are, controversial, yet kept within the spirit of “thinking outside the box.” A good set of regularly enforced Rules of Engagement for the list also help keep discussions on intelligence related topics.

Member’s of the INTELST also help contribute to the growth and enrichment of the INTELST's knowledge database on the Army Knowledge Online (AKO) site (https://www.us.army.mil/) called the Intel Reference Files (IRF) Knowledge Collaboration Center (KCC). There you can find a wide variety of files all organized by topic and relevance such as AARs, SOPs, handbooks/smartbooks, briefings, OPDs/NCOPDs, TTPs, current and historical readings—all centered on our intelligence profession.

If you are interested in joining the INTELST or accessing the IRF KCC, please send an email (your AKO/us.army.mil address is preferred) to richard.holden@us.army.mil. Please pass this message on to other intelligence professionals who may be interested in joining.