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 Marines on joint duty and in combat support agencies. Consequently, MCIA connects Marines assigned to Defense Agencies, Regional Security Operations Centers (RSOCs), Joint Intelligence Centers (JICs), and Joint Reserve Intelligence Centers (JRICs) and enables them to work as a virtual team in support of warfighting and combat development intelligence requirements.

(U) The MEF’s organic Intelligence Battalion coordinated reach-back targeting support by leveraging the National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC), the National GeospatialIntelligence Agency (NGA) St. Louis, and the Joint Intelligence Center Central Command (JICCENT)/Combined Forces Air Component Command (CFACC) in order to populate automated target folders for strikes conducted in theater. These target folders enabled advancing Marine Forces to rapidly strike and destroy artillery units of an Iraqi Division between Al Kut and Baghdad, thereby denying the enemy the ability to use these assets to hinder our advance.

(U) As these stories illustrate, TIARA funded MAGTF ISR assets are embedded in command elements and maneuver units. We have technical specialists in all-source fusion, SIGINT, CI/HUMINT, reconnaissance and UAV operations that can be task organized to support any given commander’s situation based upon his specific requirements. Enhanced intelligence support to the Marine maneuver unit in combat enables more efficient utilization of theater, service and national collection assets while simultaneously enabling commanders to focus their organic collection assets on their immediate areas of responsibility. We believe these organic capabilities should remain in TIARA so the commander will have an ownership stake in not only making them part of his team in combat, but in preserving and enhancing these capabilities during Service planning, programming, and budgeting.