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Blackanthem Military News
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Last Updated:
Jan 5, 2009 - 8:24:33 PM |
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Blackanthem Military News
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| As one additional element of realism, concertina wire surrounds the new Intelligence Security Command Detention Training Facility (IDTF), at Camp Bullis, Texas. Members of 338th Military Intelligence Battalion (U.S. Army Reserve) were the first to use the new building for detention facility management and interrogation training Aug. 27 and 28. The 470th Military Intelligence Brigade is responsible for the IDTF and provided exercise control and assistance with scenario development. (U.S. Army photo by Gregory Ripps) |
CAMP BULLIS, Texas - If it wasn't for the concertina wire and the sign that read Camp Bullis Detention Facility, the new 9,800 square foot rectangular building gave no indication from the outside anything significant was going on.
Inside, however, on Aug. 27 and 28, Soldiers of the 338th Military Intelligence Battalion were undergoing thorough, realistic, state-of-the-art training in the operation of a facility for interrogating detainees.
The 338th, which is the U.S. Army Reserve's first interrogation battalion, was the first unit to utilize the new Intelligence Security Command Detention Training Facility (IDTF). The 160-member battalion will soon depart for its mobilization site for additional Soldier training prior to deployment overseas in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Ground was broken for the IDTF, located in a remote area of Camp Bullis, last December, and construction was finished in April. Electrical and technological installations were completed earlier in August.
"The IDTF was built to train and validate Army interrogation battalions on the performance of collective intelligence tasks associated with theater detention operations," said Mark Stanley, the IDTF director. "It provides a great training environment for Soldiers with an interrogation mission."
While the 470th Military Intelligence Brigade, headquartered at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, was responsible for assisting with scenario development, exercise control and for providing the IDTF as the training venue, the Military Intelligence Reserve Command and numerous observers provided the 338th commander with feedback regarding task performance.
Stanley, who views the mission of the IDTF as to provide a realistic training venue to assist commanders in validating unit preparedness prior to unit deployment, explained that the training at the facility was designed to "replicate" current operations of a theater detention facility.
The Soldiers of the 338th trained to process and interrogate detainees, and monitor and record these interactions, all while being observed and recorded themselves for future training and ongoing process improvement.
Underlining the realism of the training, Arabic speakers played the roles of detainees and translators. Detainee role players received their initial screenings in one corner of the IDTF where they were also relieved of any items on their person that might provide additional intelligence. Afterwards they proceeded to a holding area where they received information on and reviewed the roles they would play. From there they were assigned to a specific interrogator and escorted to an interrogation booth, where an interrogator speaks with them through an interpreter.
The IDTF's13 interrogation booths facilitate comprehensive oversight of the interrogation. They feature not only two-way glass with microphones and earphones in adjoining observation/monitoring booths, but also two cameras offering two views of each interrogation. Each interrogation is fully recorded both visually and audibly for retention and timely dissemination, and can be viewed live via laptops in another part of the IDTF.
Following each training interrogation, the interrogators went to another part of the IDTF to compile their reports that analysts reviewed in turn. All activity took place under the watchful eyes of IDTF and 338th MI Battalion staff, and other advisers and instructors.
"The facility fit into our training very well," said Command Sgt. Maj. Alfred Jacob, senior noncommissioned officer for the 338th. "We had all the players here," he continued. This facility gave our Soldiers the opportunity to do what they will be doing overseas."
Members of the 338th MI Battalion, which officially "stood up" in October 2007, knew from the first that they would be deploying overseas within the next year.
"Soldiers came in from reserve units from almost 30 different states to fill requirements for interrogators and analysts along with staff support," said the senior NCO.
The Soldiers of the 338th will be validated in their interrogation, analysis and detention facility management skills as well as their "warrior" skills at their mobilization station.
"We are the validating authority," said Ronnie Coney, Intelligence Warfighter Division chief, Headquarters 1st Army. "But many agencies are involved in making sure these people are trained."
Among the advisers involved in the training week's proceedings were three members of the 201st MI Battalion, which is currently serving in Iraq. They brought with them 11 months' experience in operating the Camp Cropper Detention Facility.
Maj. Chris Tomlinson, officer in charge, Joint Intelligence Training Center J3, said they came to see "where we are and where we are moving to," answer questions and offer ideas.
Suggesting that military police be involved in the IDTF training, he said, "Care and custody of detainees play into reality."
Both he and Chief Warrant Officer 4 Juan Santana, a senior human intelligence interrogator, agreed that the IDTF, in a more compact format, was similar to the real facility.
"They [the trainees] need to understand the process of operations downrange [in Iraq]," said Santana. "It's important to have a place [such as the IDTF] that offers reality…."
Lt. Col. Fredrick Francis, 338th MI Battalion commander, said the experience of the 201st MI Battalion was central to the success of the training.
"They've been on the ground, seen it, done it," he said. "My hope is that our Soldiers can absorb as much knowledge as possible and put it into practice."
Because of the training Soldiers of the 338th received at the IDTF, what they find in Iraq won't seem foreign to them.
"With the tools they have been using and the environment so realistic, it will be like they have been there before," Francis said. "The facility at Camp Cropper should seem very familiar to anyone who has been through this exercise.
"In 20 years in the intelligence community, this is by far the most realistic interrogation exercise I've been involved with," said Francis.
Comments
MR CHRIS
15 Nov 2008, 08:51
I SECOND THE OPSEC NOTE ABOVE... WONDERFUL!!! GLAD TO SEE THE ARMY IS
TAKING CARE OF ITS OWN. I'LL MAKE SURE THAT WHEN I HEAD TO CAMP BULLIS I
MAKE SURE TO TALK TO A REPORTER TOO.
MR BOB
08 Oct 2008, 19:24
GREAT OPSEC FOR THAT UNIT....GREAT JOB!! THEY ARE SURE TO BE SAFE AND IN
GOOD HANDS WITH ALL THIS KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRAINING AND "THE LOOK AND LAYOUT
YOU GAVE OF THE FACILITY" I AM SURE THAT THE UNIT "338TH" FEELS SO SAFE
THAT ALL THIS INFORMATION WAS LET OUT TO EVERYONE. WHERE IS IT THAT THEY
ARE GOING??? I AM SURE ALL THE BAD GUYS LIKE TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION.
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