In recent military operations such as Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), US commanders have adopted F3EAD, an operational methodology created in the 1980s for US Special Operation Forces (SOF) supporting Host Nation forces in Latin America. [1] F3EAD stands for Find, Fix, Finish, Exploit, Analyze and Disseminate. The first two phases rely on intelligence capabilities to find and locate high value targets or individuals, in order to proceed with a "kill or capture" operation (Finish phase). In the exploitation phase, US forces conduct on-site collection of intelligence material, before analyzing it and making it available to commanders, and to the broader Intelligence Community (IC). F3EAD is a key component of the doctrine known as Attack the Network, a strategy designed to neutralize unconventional threats such as criminal organizations, terrorist groups and insurgencies.
High Value Individuals (HVI) are the focal point of most F3EAD missions and are defined in official doctrine as “person(s) of interest (friendly, adversary, or enemy) who must be identified, surveilled, tracked and influenced through the use of information or fires”. [2] A High Value Individual may become a target for a kill or capture operation after an evaluation by intelligence officers, and then placed on a target list approved by the commander. Targets on the list are ranked by priority, based on a method called CARVER to assess the final impact that the removal of each target would have on the adverse network. “CARVER assigns weighted values for a target’s criticality to his insurgent cell, accessibility for capture, recognizability for positive identification after capture, vulnerability to capture, positive effect on the environment if captured, and the lack of recuperability within the insurgent network if captured.” [3]. As intelligence officers reported in official litterature, the target selection process, even though based on common standards, differs among targeting teams both in the priority given to certain targets and in the choice of lethal action over capture.
In Iraq and Afghanistan, the targeting of high value individuals was often connected to a large effort to suppress the threat of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) led by the JIEDDO. [4] Targeting cells were responsible for identifying key militants providing ressources or technical know-how regarding IEDs, in order to disrupt and eventually eliminate their networks. These targeting cells were closely collaborating with intelligence officers from the CIA and DIA, and with special operations forces (SOF). The effort against bomb makers was backed by other branches of the military, such as MISO (Military Information Support Operations), formerly known as PSYOP (Psychologic Operations). In 2011, after the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom, US Army MISO kept coordinating with counter-IED units from the Iraqi Army in order to incite Iraqi citizens to provide information against people suspected of helping bomb makers, using dedicated tip lines.
Specialized targeting teams from military intelligence units and intelligence agencies have become essential to military operations against insurgents and terrorists. They are sent to help theater commanders and combat units in need of their expertise, receiving intelligence support from all branches of the US armed forces and from the wider Intelligence Community. The National Security Agency (NSA) is a major contibutor to key aspects of F3EAD operations through its military branch, the Central Security Service (CSS). NSA/CSS provides training for SIGINT and COMINT technicians and analysts, maintains essential computer networks, develops and hosts software and databases used for targeting tasks, and pushes its own intelligence products to the battlefield.
Detail from an NSA "love note" published on NSA.gov on Sept. 26, 2015 |