Here’s a collection of additional resources to guide you through the creation and maintenance of your Area Study. Some of the manuals are very useful; others contain only short sections that are relevant to the Area Study mission. Still, I recommend at the very least skimming through them for valuable pieces of information, as I will outline below.
- Army Intelligence Officer Responsibilities (DOWNLOAD) – Lessons 2 and 3 cover Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB) and some basic analysis techniques.
- FM 34-8-2 – Intelligence Field Officer’s Handbook (DOWNLOAD) – Appendix B covers IPB, which may provide you with some additional ideas (although much of it is tailored to conventional military planning). Appendix C covers reconnaissance and surveillance planning, which may be of some use to your intelligence gathering efforts.
- Small Town Insurgency: The Struggle for Information Dominance to Reduce Gang Violence (DOWNLOAD) – Primarily about law enforcement countering the gang threat and reducing violence, this paper contains some really great information about ‘information dominance’. It’s also an interesting analysis to intelligence-led policing.
- Environmental Factors that Affect Violence in Salinas, California (DOWNLOAD) – This should be considered a companion article to the Small Town Insurgency. This paper covers the various factors that contributed to gang violence in this study.
- Non-Traditional Forms of Intelligence (DOWNLOAD) – Chapter Three contains some great information to consider when looking at population, geography, economics, and technology.
- Population Analysis: A Methodology for Understanding Populations in COIN Environments (DOWNLOAD) – Pay particular attention to Chapters III to VI about populations, sub-groups, and exploiting motivations. Lots to think about here.
- Small Unit Leaders Guide to Counterinsurgency (DOWNLOAD) – Chapter 5 has some great advice on information operations and intelligence operations for small, irregular conflicts.
- MIPB Vol 29 Num 3 (DOWNLOAD) – Read “Visualizing the Information Environment” starting on page 5 and “Determining Battlefield Effects” starting on page 28.
- MIPB Vol 31 Num 2 (DOWNLOAD) – Read “Significant Characteristics of the Urban Environment” starting on page 7 and “Urban Operations” starting on page 16, if the urban environment applies to you.
- An Adaptive Methodology for Developing Enemy Courses of Action (DOWNLOAD)
- Battlefield Effects: MOUT Terrain Analysis (DOWNLOAD)
- Why Geography Matters (DOWNLOAD)
- Human Terrain Elements in Combat (DOWNLOAD)
- Street Smart – IPB for Urban Operations (DOWNLOAD)
- Police Intelligence Operations (DOWNLOAD)
- FM 34-3 Intelligence Analysis (DOWNLOAD)
- Combat Commander’s Handbook on Intelligence (DOWNLOAD)
- Stability Techniques (DOWNLOAD)
- Stability Operations (DOWNLOAD)
- Civil Affairs Operations (DOWNLOAD)
- FM 3-55 Information Collection (DOWNLOAD)