TOPIC SPONSOR: 480 ISRW
Can we develop a repeatable process for developing cross-functional Analysis and Exploitation Teams that are capable of producing high-quality reports that meet Theater Joint Force Air Component Commander requirements within three months of initial team establishment?
- Figueroa, Maj. Amanda R., "Time Dominant Fusion," AF Fellows paper, 2015, 33 pgs.
- How to optimize intelligence teams to produce high-quality, rapid reports that directly satisfy the supported commander's requirements by decentralizing the analysis process. The author introduces "time dominant fusion," an analytical tradecraft where agile, air-minded analysts located near the point of intelligence collection (such as DCGS Analysis and Reporting Teams) fuse multi-source data to answer time-critical questions immediately. By empowering these tactical-level, cross-functional intelligence teams to solve specific ISR problems and rapidly inform subsequent collection efforts, the Air Force can provide national and military decision-makers with the accurate and timely intelligence reports necessary to gain a strategic decision advantage without waiting on higher-echelon intelligence centers.
- Fox, Maj. Michael J., et al, "Optimizing the Alternate Targeting Methodology F3EAD," ACSC, 2024, 5 pgs.
- Explains how to optimize the exploit and analyze functions of targeting teams to rapidly produce high-quality intelligence for commanders. The authors argue that Special Operations Forces (SOF) and joint targeting teams can increase their lethality and efficiency by integrating artificial intelligence, cyberspace operations, and electronic warfare into the Find, Fix, Finish, Exploit, Analyze, and Disseminate (F3EAD) methodology. By leveraging these advanced technologies to automate the sorting and processing of captured materials, cross-functional intelligence and operations teams can overcome latency issues, reduce manpower requirements, and provide actionable intelligence to commanders at a significantly faster pace.
- Lawrence, Capt. Andrew, "Making Airmen=Analysts," SOS AUAR, 2021, 6 pgs.
- Provides proof-of-concept that cross-functional analytical teams can be established and produce high-quality, operational-level reports well within a three-month timeframe. The paper highlights a real-world example from 2020 where distributed, grassroots teams of "Airmen Analysts" collaborated via cloud-based tools to develop complex models in just three weeks; these models subsequently drove lockdown decisions across 68 Air Force bases. This demonstrates that by fostering a collaborative community of data-literate Airmen and providing standard toolkits, the Air Force can rapidly establish functional analyst teams that quickly meet the demands of operational problem owners.
- Lutz, Conrad, "Next-Generation ISR Dominance: Utilizing Lessons Learned from SOF ISR TTPs in the Global War on Terror for A Near-Peer Conflict," SOS AUAR, 2021, 11 pgs.
- Directly examines the Analysis and Exploitation Team (AET) construct, noting it is postured by the next-generation Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) to support targeting requirements by fusing all intelligence disciplines. To ensure these teams can provide timely, accurate, and actionable intelligence, Lutz recommends staffing AETs with a cross-functional joint force, as sister services bring irreplaceable experience and unique collection requirements to the table. While Lutz does not provide a three-month timeline for their establishment, the paper concludes that using pre-packaged, forward-staged analysis nodes is the best way to ensure actionable intelligence reaches decision-makers in highly contested environments.
- Nisperos, Maj. Ernest, "Joint All-Domain Effects Convergence: Evolving C2 Teams," ACSC, 2020, 27 pgs.
- Addresses how to build cross-functional teams to support JFACC objectives by proposing the Joint Effects Convergence Team (JECT) concept. Nisperos argues that future warfare requires specialized, interdependent teams comprised of experts from various intelligence and operational domains—including analysis/correlation/fusion (ACF), cyber, space, and the electromagnetic spectrum. While they are not explicitly named AETs, these cross-functional teams are designed to rapidly fuse data and execute delegated authorities, serving as the primary multi-domain advisors to joint and component commanders.
- Rachel, Lt. Col. Derek A., "Make JFCC-ISR Great Again," AWC SSP, 2020, 23 pgs.
-
Emphasizes that satisfying a combatant commander's intelligence requirements requires breaking down "stovepipes of excellence" in favor of cross-functional, multi-domain integration. Rachel points to the Air Force's creation of the Multi-Domain Officer (13O) career field—which recruits experts with prior experience in intelligence, operations, cyber, or space—as a successful model for building a cohesive cadre of warfighters. Bringing these disparate intelligence and operational disciplines into unified teams is necessary to effectively manage ISR assets and ensure collected data is properly processed, exploited, and disseminated (PED) to warfighters in a usable format.
- Stenstad, Nicole M., "Across Boundaries: The Effectiveness of 21st Century Military Cross-Functional Teams," SAASS thesis, 2021, 131 pgs.
- Provides a repeatable framework for developing effective military cross-functional teams capable of rapid innovation and complex problem-solving. Drawing on case studies of task forces in Iraq (which successfully fused intelligence analysis and operations), disaster response in Haiti, and the Air Force's Kessel Run software team, the author identifies seven critical elements required for cross-functional team success: achieving a common understanding, creating psychological safety, pursuing organizational learning, defining roles, conditionally allocating resources, fostering mutual respect, and managing conflict. By intentionally cultivating these behaviors and overcoming bureaucratic stovepipes, the military can rapidly stand up cross-functional teams that achieve synergistic effects and meet operational requirements faster than traditional, siloed functional groups.
- Vincent, Maj. Robert, "Innovating Informational Solutions during Operation Inherent Resolve: Necessity Does Not Have to Be the Mother of Invention." ACSC, 2020, 25 pgs.
- Answers the feasibility of forming a high-performing cross-functional team that delivers results within a three-month timeframe by examining the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental (DIUx) team deployed to the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC). The author highlights that the DIUx team successfully modernized the tanker planning process and delivered a working solution in exactly three months because they were empowered with a defined responsibility, an operational focus, and the right mix of technical skillsets. To make this success a repeatable process that meets Joint Force Air Component Commander requirements, the paper recommends permanently embedding small, cross-functional "Mission IT" teams—comprising cyber operators, operational analysts, scientists, and developmental engineers—directly into the CAOC to work alongside battle managers and solve complex, data-centric intelligence and operational problems at the speed of relevance.