FM-3-81 Maneuver Enhancement Brigade Download
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Chapter 4 4-4 FM 3-81 09 November 2021 Key facilities. Weapons of mass destruction research, production, and storage sites. Toxic industrial material hazard sites and areas. Decontamination sites. 4-9. The MEB S-2 performs a detailed IPB for the support area and shares it with all tenants. A detailed IPB is critical for identification of threats present within the operational environment, to include health threats prevalent in the area to prevent or reduce individual and collective exposure. The detailed terrain analysis is key to terrain management. The designated unit must consider the defensibility of the terrain and primary unit missions when constructing new base camps and assigning units to existing base camps. INFORMATION COLLECTION 4-10. Information collection is an activity that synchronizes and integrates the planning and employment of sensors and assets as well as the processing, exploitation, and dissemination systems in direct support of current and future operations (FM 3-55). This activity implies a function, mission, or action and identifies the organization that performs it. Information collection activities are a synergistic whole analysis effort focused with emphasis on synchronizing and integrating all components and systems. Information collection integrates the intelligence and operations staff functions focused on answering commander’s critical information requirements. Joint doctrine refers to information collection combined with the operations process and the intelligence process as intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. See FM 3-55 for additional information on information collection. 4-11. Information collection is the acquisition of information and the provision of this information to processing elements. This includes the following: Plan requirements and assess collection. Task and direct collection. Execute collection. 4-12. Commanders integrate information collection to form an information collection plan that capitalizes on different capabilities. Information collection assets provide data and information. Intelligence is the product resulting from the collection, processing, integration, evaluation, analysis, and interpretation of available information concerning foreign nations, hostile or potentially hostile forces or elements, or areas of actual or potential operations. The term is also applied to the activity that results in the product and to the organizations engaged in such activity. See JP 2-0. 4-13. Intelligence staff inform commanders and staffs where and when to look. Reconnaissance, security, intelligence operations, and surveillance are the ways—with the means ranging from national and joint collection capabilities to individual Soldier observations and reports. The end is intelligence that supports the commander’s decision making. The result is successful execution and assessment of operations. This result depends on effective synchronization and integration of the information collection effort. 4-14. The intelligence and operations staffs work together to collect, process, and analyze information about the enemy, other adversaries, climate, weather, terrain, population, and other civil considerations that affect operations throughout the support area. Intelligence relies on reconnaissance, security, intelligence operations, and surveillance for its data and information. Conversely, without intelligence, commanders and staffs do not know where or when to conduct reconnaissance, security, intelligence operations, or surveillance. The usefulness of the data collected depends on the processing and exploitation common to these activities. 4-15. The MEB commander supports information collection requirements during the conduct of support area operations that may contribute to the commander’s critical information requirements; inform intelligence- led, time-sensitive operations; or shape support area operations. The conduct of information collection activities supports the commander’s understanding and visualization of the operations by identifying gaps in information, aligning assets and resources against them, and assessing the collected information and intelligence to inform the commander’s decisions. They also support the staff’s integrating processes during planning and execution. The direct result of the information collection effort is a coordinated plan that supports the operation.