Courtesy Photo | The Joint Reserve Intelligence Center (JRIC) on the California National Guard's Joint...... read more read more
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LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. - “An infantry soldier’s main weapon is their rifle,” said California Army Guard Lt. Col. David M. Church, site manager for the Joint Reserve Intelligence Center, or JRIC, in Los Alamitos. “The main weapon for a military intelligence soldier is secure communications and networks. … And intelligence skills are short-lived when they are not regularly exercised.”
Prior to 2006, reserve component service members in the military intelligence (MI) field had a hard time getting a hold of that weapon in Southern California. It was a problem units all over the country were experiencing: The reserve-component MI community was dispersed throughout the United States, and secure facilities with classified computer networks were hard to come by.
The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was looking for locations to establish those sites for part-time MI troops, and the Cal Guard stepped up.
“DIA said it would provide computers, phones and networks to any [installation] offering a building and security personnel … to enable real-time intelligence operations on drill weekends,” said Maj. Jeremy Folks, the JRIC operations officer, who is an Air Force Reservist. “The California National Guard and the National Guard Bureau said, ‘We’ll host, because our soldiers want to get into the fight.’”
Establishing the JRIC at Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos has gotten troops into the fight from every military branch and has proven useful for law enforcement agencies like the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations as well. JRIC personnel also have taken trailblazing steps to increase the facility’s value to combatant commands, which contributed to the DIA’s recognition of the Los Alamitos site as the 2014 JRIC of the Year in the “Small” category.
“[The Los Alamitos JRIC’s] support and commitment has played a crucial role in the accomplishment of our reserve’s intelligence missions and readiness,” said Capt. Jose A. Rivera Hernandez in a memo recommending the JRIC for the DIA award. Rivera Hernandez is the officer in charge of the Marine Corps Reserve’s Detachment 4, Production & Analysis Company, Intelligence Support Battalion.
“We could not have accomplished our analysis and reporting missions without [the staff’s] efforts to provide us with access and account support on a regular basis,” he continued. “We are grateful for having fine service members like all of [them] serving on our side.”
The Cal Guard has spearheaded two innovative intelligence partnerships at the JRIC, Church said: one between the Cal Guard’s 40th Infantry Division Intelligence Section and the Marine Corps in support of U.S. Africa Command, and one utilizing the Cal Guard’s varied intelligence assets in partnership with Joint Detachment Minneapolis to support U.S. Pacific Command. He noted that Cal Guard soldiers at the JRIC have gained an appreciation for and fluency in interagency operations through these partnerships, which benefit all the organizations involved.
The main benefit to Cal Guard soldiers, though, is the ability to learn and maintain skills during drill weekends.
"Having the opportunity to actually be a part of a real-world mission during drill, and working with experienced [noncommissioned officers] and officers, has truly been a great learning experience,” one Cal Guard MI soldier said. “I will soon be able to share the skills learned from this mission with the rest of my unit."
One group of Cal Guard soldiers that was preparing for Afghanistan, for instance, was able to link up with the unit it would replace overseas and remotely participate in a tactical over-watch through the JRIC. The soldiers were able to access and study human intelligence summaries, intelligence summaries, and counterintelligence estimates, all from Los Alamitos.
“The group was able to initiate and sustain connection to the enterprise, allowing them to become familiar with and understand the cases they would be falling in on prior to stepping foot on foreign soil,” Church said. “This familiarization not only provided them the prescience of what they could somewhat expect, both operationally and culturally, it also elevated their confidence and enhanced the operational continuity as the two units transitioned.”
One of 27 JRICs in the nation, the Los Alamitos site currently serves 12 reserve component units, including the California Army Guard’s 223rd and 250th MI battalions and the 40th Infantry Division Intelligence Section. On most weekends, the 9,500-square-foot facility is teeming with 60 to 100 reservists, and a 2,000-square-foot expansion is planned to accommodate increasing demand.
In 2014, the JRIC enabled more than 33,000 hours of intelligence production.
“For these soldiers, attending drill has become more meaningful and filled with a greater sense of purpose,” Church said. “They are able to stay connected to the intelligence enterprise through live networks … they would have access to and intimately work with while being forward-deployed.”
| Date Taken: | 08.12.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 08.12.2015 17:29 |
| Story ID: | 172974 |
| Location: | LOS ALAMITOS, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 1,179 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Los Alamitos JRIC named tops for 2014: Secure facility puts MI weapon into troops’ hands, by Brandon Honig, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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