Doha hi-tech base monitors US operations (28/1/2005)

Doha hi-tech base monitors US operations

By Bonnie James TUCKED into a nondescript warehouse in a sprawling compound just outside Doha’s Industrial Area is a hall from where the US military monitors its operations in 27 nations, round-the-clock. The Joint Intelligence Operations Centre (JIOC) at Camp As Sayliyah, the US Central Command (USCENTCOM) Contingency Forward Headquarters, is a key facility of the US military, handling incredibly complex and rapid tasks with the help of cutting-edge technology. “We make sure that USCENTCOM Commander, General John Abizaid and his senior staff are constantly kept informed about all important developments from the Areas of Responsibility (AORs),” JIOC director US Navy Captain Michael Guimond said. With thousands of messages coming in every day there is no way General Abizaid can read all of them, so the JIOC does the screening and prioritising part, the official explained to a group of visiting journalists. The USCENTCOM leverages incredible technological tools to remain in virtual, real-time synchronisation with what’s occurring on the ground in such places as Fallujah, Baghdad or Ramadi, Iraq or Kabul, Kandahar or Bagram, Afghanistan as well as Djibouti, Africa. “That technological advantage allows JIOC to effectively and rapidly assist the commanders on the ground who are fighting despicable thugs on one city block, while keeping peace in another city neighbourhood and building schools and medical clinics on yet another city block,” stated a spokesman. Headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, USCENTCOM is one of nine Unified Combatant Commands assigned operational control of US combat forces. General Abizaid, reports directly to the secretary of defence, who in turn, reports to the US president. A Unified Combatant Command, composed of forces from two or more services and having a broad and continuing mission, is normally organised on a geographical basis into regions known as AORs. USCENTCOM’s AORs includes 27 nations located throughout the Horn of Africa, South and Central Asia, and Northern Red Sea regions, as well as the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq. Organised as a headquarters element, USCENTCOM has no war fighting units permanently assigned to it. Instead, all four armed services provide USCENTCOM with component commands, which, along with joint special operations component, make up its primary war fighting and engagement organisations. The JIOC tracks and relays critical and time-sensitive information. For instance, it served as a pivotal information gathering and dissemination cell on Wednesday after the crash of the Marine CH-53 aircraft near Ar Rutbah, Iraq, in which 30 Marines and one sailor were killed. “Military officers and staff were in constant communications with the troops and units on the ground in Iraq to ensure that timely, accurate information was given to General Abizaid,” the spokesman explained. The military staff members provided whatever critical liaison and support the Marines and military support units on the ground may have needed to handle the situation. “The JIOC is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week in both Qatar as well as Tampa,” said Captain Guimond while shedding light on its salient features. Both centres have the same technology - secure-to-secure telephone lines, secure and non-secure Internet and e-mail systems, Predator aerial surveillance feeds from points throughout Iraq and other critical areas in the theater of operations and TV feeds from all major networks. There’s video teleconferencing technology to provide real-time information sharing with subordinate commands in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa as well as the main headquarters. “Normally, we are about 35 people working here, representing all the different directorates and organisations within the USCENTCOM, and they each have their own little piece of the pie” maintained the JIOC director. Desk officers, as they are called, include personnel, plans and operations, intelligence, meteorological (weathermen), public affairs (media relations), logistics, civil-military operations, information technology, resource management (financial division) as well as liaison officers from commands and subordinate units throughout the AORs. Subject experts for all types of military operations are also deployed at the JIOC. They include ground (army and marine officers specialised in infantry, field artillery, armour, etc.), air (air force, navy and army pilots specialised in F-16s, F-18s, C-130s, helicopters, and reconnaissance aircraft) and sea (navy and marine officers specialised in naval operations at sea, maritime interdiction operations, etc.) “Everyday, there are several briefings to ensure all staff directorates are aware of current and significant events and activities that affect or will affect the command,” the spokesman observed. During these briefings, staffers receive weather reports, operational updates, media reporting updates, intelligence reports and other updates from all staff sections and liaison officers. “If necessary, the entire show can be run from the JIOC in Camp As Sayliyah if General Abizaid decides so,” remarked Captain Guimond while recalling that such a situation had occurred recently with everything shifted from Tampa to Qatar for some weeks.