Medical Intelligence In Counter-Insurgency (COIN) And Counter-Terrorist (CT) Operations

Medical intelligence (MEDINT) is now regarded as critically important across a broad spectrum of security concerns. Its usual functions are either in force protection, evaluating risks to personnel at the tactical and operational levels, or, at a strategic level, in considering threats to the health and stability of nation-states. The uses of MEDINT in Counter-Terrorism (CT) and Counter-Insurgency (COIN) have received little attention except in so far as they overlap with these concerns; for example, where they involve matters of force-protection or the threat of bioterrorism. But this was not always so. In the past, information relating to health and medicine was considered crucial to the success of COIN operations, if not to domestic terrorism. By adapting some of these techniques to contemporary practice, and utilizing technologies that were not available in former times, we can use MEDINT in innovative ways to exploit the vulnerabilities of hostile groups and to isolate them from surrounding populations. This paper indicates some of the ways in which intelligence from a range of sources can be utilized to engage with communities more effectively; to anticipate the behavior of target groups/individuals; to determine their whereabouts, interactions and supply chains; and ultimately to exploit their weaknesses or dependencies. The paper is not intended as definitive but as a starting point in a conversation as to how MEDINT could or should contribute to CT and COIN operations.