Photo By Spc. Noah Jensen | U.S. Army and Canadian soldiers collect information from buildings during Panther...... read more read more
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CAMP WILLIAMS, Utah — Military intelligence professionals from across the U.S. Army and Canadian Armed Forces gathered at Camp Williams Aug. 5–7, 2026, for Panther Strike, a training event focused on countering hybrid threats, increasing lethality, and enhancing readiness.
For more than two decades, Panther Strike has brought human, signal, and counter intelligence together in a single exercise. These elements work toward a single goal- reinforcing collaboration between branches of the MI structure to enable warfighter lethality and readiness to meet the complex nature of the modern hybrid battlefield that extends beyond the front lines, into cyber space, and the civil infrastructure supporting the nation.
The 300th Military Intelligence Brigade (Linguist) planned and executed the mission, focusing on expanding HUMINT skills and proficiencies by conducting assessments, interrogations, and collecting information. They also used role players in simulated environments to help Soldiers build proficiency in an integrated intelligence team in a realistic scenario.
“This is an exercise to refine our intelligence gathering skills and teach us how everything comes together to create a coherent picture," said Sgt. Gregory Thomson, a signal intelligence analyst, assigned to the 300th MI who has participated in Panther Strike twice. “Part of the Panther Strike roleplayer position is being interrogated by the Human Intelligence Collector (35M) soldiers to help get their reps in,” Thomson added.
Among the HUMINT Soldiers participating, Canadian intelligence personnel brought new perspectives to the exercise and gained valuable experience. Working closely with U.S. soldiers, they learned how to operate in a multinational environment and face real-world challenges.
“Attending Panther Strike was incredibly valuable,” said Master Cpl. Suliman Elatrash, 6 Intelligence Company, Canadian Armed Forces. “As an intelligence operator, stepping out of my usual role and directly into the HUMINT collection environment completely shifted my perspective. Forcing myself to operate outside my standard analytical comfort zone ultimately makes me a more versatile asset to the Canadian Armed Forces.”
Panther Strike is an evolving exercise that pushes the boundaries of what intelligence professionals can do. The exercise employs many native speakers as roleplayers during the exercise, several of them are intelligence professionals and this level of intelligence gathering forces the participants to exercise their own language skills and work closely with interpreters. Interpreters add a level of real world complexity to the mission of intelligence gathering that comes with additional costs of time and effort.
“Many of us in the 300th MI have a secondary language that we go to the Defense Language Institute to learn,” said Staff Sgt. Gabriel Cavazos, Panther Strike observer-controller. “A lot of people overlook the importance of working with an interpreter. I utilized an interpreter during a previous deployment of mine in Afghanistan.” Panther Strike prepares every component of intelligence gathering, from increasing lethality, enhancing readiness and working with allied international forces for real-world missions to synchronize efforts to counter hybrid threats.
Covering so many elements of the intelligence environment in one comprehensive exercise trains participants for the real world, where knowing how each piece of the fight functions is the difference between success and failure. Panther Strike is that exercise for the National Guard and continues to ensure the U.S and its allies are trained to fight whenever and wherever they are called.
| Date Taken: | 09.09.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 09.10.2026 15:55 |
| Story ID: | 574218 |
| Location: | CAMP WILLIAMS, UTAH, US |
| Web Views: | 21 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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