Intel Official: 2016 Budget Factors Asymmetrical Warfare Needs

By Amaani Lyle

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2015 – The 2016 budget will reflect how intelligence capabilities and other investments align with defense challenges such as asymmetrical warfare, a Pentagon official said today during the 2015 Potomac Officers Club second annual Intel Summit.

Jim Martin, assistant under secretary of defense for intelligence portfolios, programs and resources, said asymmetrical warfare is a major focus not only for the intelligence community, but the Defense Department writ large.

“In many ways, we have a unique problem that’s common to our defense planning scenarios,” Martin said. “Initiative, space and time are on our opponents’ side.”

Asymmetric Threats

The United States’ distance to North Korea, China, Russia or the Middle East, Martin noted, can pose challenges in larger war-fighting scenarios.

“When you see state-sponsored asymmetrical warfare, it’s really aimed at the United States because of that unique challenge, which is different than the European wars of the past where you have nation states right next to each other,” he said.

As such, China and Russia emphasize capabilities such as mobile ballistic missiles, cyber warfare and counter-space systems, which Martin explained are designed to stymie U.S. response and to limit the movement of its forces.

And over the last 20 years, according to Martin, the United States has enjoyed significant war-fighting technological, logistic and combat advantage.

“But if you can only get a trickle of forces into a theater because of those asymmetrical techniques that would be used against us, then it becomes much more manageable from a China, North Korea, or Iran perspective,” he said.

Through a functioning day-to-day lens, he said, the DOD has recognized the importance of integration between defense intelligence and other elements of the intelligence community and the 2016 budget will indicate intel investments to address issues across the spectrum.

“It’s the greatest degree of integration I’ve seen,” Martin said. “There’s a tremendous amount of cooperation among the defense intelligence establishment, the associated intel agencies, and with CIA and [the Office of the Director of National Intelligence] as their oversight.”

Ultimately, Martin said, he and ODNI officials predict national security could meet various futures based on world events, from economic stagnation to a strategic consensus between the United States and China that could lead to a “golden age of technological innovation and competition.”

“We have some exciting challenges that are not insurmountable, but they are serious, and they will take a cooperative attitude in order to get where we need to be,” Martin said.