News From USJFCOM: Newsmakers: Navy Captains Kevin Frank and Susan Chiaravalle

Newsmakers: Navy Captains Kevin Frank and Susan Chiaravalle

U.S. Joint Forces Command's Newsmakers series allows the command's leaders and subject matter experts to highlight command priorities, challenges, and solution paths for the future in their fields. Navy Captains Kevin Frank, head of USJFCOM's Intelligence Directorate, and Susan Chiaravalle, commander of Joint Transformation Command - Intelligence, discuss how USJFCOM is working to transform military intelligence.

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By MCC(SW/AW) Chris Hoffpauir
USJFCOM Public Affairs

(NORFOLK, Va. - Feb. 26, 2007) -- Two intelligence officers lead U.S. Joint Forces Command's (USJFCOM) efforts in changing the way the military collects, analyzes and uses intelligence, both today and in the future.

Navy Capt. Kevin Frank, head of USJFCOM's Intelligence Directorate (J2), leads an organization that supports the command's intelligence needs and provides innovative solutions to the challenges joint warfighters meet on today's battlefield.

Navy Capt. Susan Chiaravalle, commander of Joint Transformation Command - Intelligence (JTC-I), leads a subordinate command that directly impacts USJFCOM's mission of transforming the U.S. military. JTC-I provides intelligence capabilities that are incorporated into joint force training, joint capability development, and joint innovation and experimentation.

"We've tried to develop an intelligence enterprise within USJFCOM," Frank said. "Some of that is due to our assets being so spread out, especially with JTC-I having assets both here in Norfolk and in Suffolk. Another reason is how the job structure breaks out.

"The task of executing what the command needs for intelligence support falls to JTC-I because they have the resources, expertise and capability to do it. J2 provides the interface with the rest of the staff and helps define where we want to take the entire enterprise."

JTC-I replaced Joint Forces Intelligence Command on April 1, 2005 in a move designed to better align its mission with USJFCOM's. Chiaravalle said JTC-I accomplished a number of milestones since opening its doors 22 months ago.

The first was continuing a partnership with the Army initiated by J2 called Joint Intelligence Operations Capability-Iraq (JIOC-I). The capability gave intelligence analysts the ability to find the information they needed more quickly and allowed them to spend more time on analysis.

"Our role in that was to develop the training as they were going to deploy it, as well as develop the tactics, techniques and procedures," Chiaravalle said. "There were a number of survey trips to Iraq so we could then incorporate the technology into how they would do it once they deployed."

"That's been a real success story for JTC-I," Frank said. "It really plays to many of their strengths, both in the ability to understand the technology and how it can best be used, and to turn that knowledge into a training opportunity that really moves ahead. They've really set the standard for how to do this kind of joint training."

Chiaravalle said the command's effort on JIOC-I laid the groundwork for later work on the Joint Intelligence Operations Center - Transformation (JIOC-X) concept. The Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence (USDI) ordered the command to develop the concept last summer.

Chiaravalle said the purpose of JIOC-X is to identify capability gaps and find viable solutions for the warfighter, as well as improve ties between intelligence and plans and operations in the current fight. That task began with establishing a starting point.

"The big thing we ended up doing in support of JIOC-X was the baseline assessment team survey," she said. "Our folks led the team. We had great support from across USJFCOM, as well as the combat support agencies. The team was about 20 people who went to all of the COCOMs (combatant commanders). The intent is to work their problems and develop solutions."

"That's the crux of why USDI wanted a JIOC-X," Frank said. "We were ordered to develop a JIOC-X to ensure that there would be a developmental process that would move the concept forward and see if it's applicable at the joint task force level.

"There's more to this than just intelligence. The true benefit of a JIOC is going to come from the integration intelligence, operations and planning. That is much easier said than done, because the operations and plans folks aren't organized in the same way the intelligence community is. That's why we're working so closely with the Joint Innovation and Experimentation Directorate (J9) to make sure we're not just looking at the intel side."

Chiaravalle said JTC-I used the resulting baseline to develop a concept map and JIOC-X work plan. JTC-I continues to play a key role in JIOC-X since conducting the assessment. The command opened the JIOC-X facility in Suffolk in September 2006 and used it in the Urban Resolve experiment and continues to use it as a facility to test new ideas.

While working on JIOC-X, JTC-I stood up the Joint Intelligence Lab (JIL) in USJFCOM's Joint Technology Exploration Center. Chiaravalle said the lab is charged with taking advantage of new technology and refining concepts and technologies early.

JTC-I also developed the Training Assessment Program (TAP), a Web-based training tool that lets training audiences give instructors immediate feedback.

"The TAP is actually part of our follow-on assessment," Chiaravalle said. "The students give us their initial reaction to the training, and then the mentors can determine if the training is adequate. That feedback from the field has allowed us to improve the curriculum."

"You don't only do the training here," Frank said. "You don't only send a training team forward to do training there. You also embed mentors and you ensure that the folks who are using that equipment have somebody to backstop them, so it's not just them making it up as they go along. That way they have somebody who is able to look at the bigger picture and help guide them."

"We've now been able to actually use that for other things," Chiaravalle said. "For example, the Defense Human Management Office was looking for an ability to assess HUMINT (human intelligence) across DoD. So we essentially took our TAP tool and transitioned it for those folks to do their assessment last summer."

J2 has numerous programs in development. One currently at the forefront is intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) integration.

"Probably the biggest thing that we're doing now is deploying a system that we developed with the MITRE Corporation called ISRIS, or the ISR Information Service," Frank said.

"What ISRIS does is allow you to get full motion video from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and move it out to more users. We've demonstrated in exercises that we can send that information down through tactical communication suites to laptops in the field."

Another JTC-I effort is the Joint Forces Intelligence School, located at JTC-I in Norfolk. Chiaravalle said most of the COCOMs have some form of JFIS to train their own intelligence workforce on basic processes.

"Given what USJFCOM does, that would be very limiting," Chiaravalle said. "Our schoolhouse doesn't just train our workforce, but does much of the academics and support for mission rehearsal exercises, as well provide mobile training teams that support the other COCOMs and units deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Their primary mission is to provide basic intelligence training, not to replicate what's taught at the service schoolhouses. It's very focused on the joint aspect and gives the folks who are ready to deploy the skills they need."

Looking to the future, both officers said the focus is on increasing effectiveness.

"We have to make it more useful to the operators and get it to the operators - the folks who are going to use it to make decisions and take action on it," Frank said. "It can't be just dumping intelligence on the operations folks or the planners. There's got to be an integration of the two so they understand what their part of the process is. That way they can provide us with information so we can better focus our capabilities on what they need."