US to open intelligence training center

General David Petraeus plans to open an intelligence organisation at US Central Command this week to train military officers, covert agents and analysts who are willing to focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan for up to a decade, The Washington Times reported on Monday. The organisation, the Centre for Afghanistan Pakistan Excellence, will be led by Derek Harvey, a retired colonel in the Defence Intelligence Agency who became one of the Petraeus’ most trusted analysts during the 2007-08 counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq by predicting in 2003 and 2004 that the Iraqi insurgency would spiral out of control.

In an exclusive interview with The Washington Times, Harvey said the centre would build on some of the lessons that he and the military had learned in Iraq, not just for counterinsurgency, but also in terms of intelligence analysis. He said he believed in two reforms in developing reliable intelligence; the first involves altering the methods of interpreting raw data. He said the intelligence community tends to rely too much on information from human sources, such as spies, to the exclusion of reports from people on the ground such as military officers and aid workers. He said the new centre would focus on integrating all sources of information to develop strategic products for both war fighters and decision makers in Afghanistan and Pakistan.