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Introduction
The Army Broadcast Intelligence Office (ABIO) was chartered by the Department of the Army (DA) G3 to act as the Army's centralized manager for the Integrated Broadcast Service (IBS). The ABIO mission is to ensure that the IBS delivers the Army's requirements for information and intelligence in support of Army operations in the War on Terror. One of the ways this is accomplished is by developing Army Information Exchange Requirements (IERs) that establish reporting criteria for time-critical and actionable "survival" information and intelligence to support Army mission planning and execution of operations, to include support to both Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. The ABIO works in coordination with Army Service Component Commands (ASCCs), TRADOC Centers of Excellence (COEs), the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), DA staff, and National intelligence agencies to identify shortfalls in reporting that affect Army operations in prosecuting the War on Terror and takes action to correct those shortfalls. As an example, the ABIO was instrumental in getting unattended ground sensor (UGS) and improvised explosive device (IED) alert messages on the broadcast which provided actionable intelligence to the affected units within 5 to 10 seconds of injection.
ABIO also coordinated with the Distributed Ground System- Army (DCGS-A) TCM and program managers to ensure their Tactical Data Processors (TDPs) were able to receive and process IBS data. The ABIO identified that the DCGS-A TDP was not compatible with IBS and had to be modified. If ABIO had not identified this shortfall, then new versions of DCGS-A would not have been able to receive or disseminate data over the IBS. This effort directly supported the GWOT since DCGS-A is the primary TDP used by the Army to receive the IBS.
The ABIO works to match new counter-terror capabilities with the global dissemination capabilities of the IBS. Recent successes include a collective ABIO and INSCOM initiative to disseminate data from forward deployed collectors in the Middle East and to disseminate that data via IBS. On another front, the ABIO is currently working with the IBS Support Office at the National Security Agency to improve IBS dissemination of known or suspected IEDs within CENTCOM areas of operations (AOs). Note that the IBS program does not develop new information and intelligence collection platforms;...