Knowing Your Opponent and Knowing Yourself

Lessons from comparing U.S. and Russian geospatial intelligence

“If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.”

This article speaks to the necessity of a comparative view of yourself and an opponent in GEOINT. We illustrate the need for a comparative approach in education by examining GEOINT in the United States and the Russian Federation (RU). Our example is to illustrate that reliable GEOINT demands knowing both your opponent and yourself. The results of the study are more relevant to GEOINT educational goals and the comparative process than informative of RU GEOINT capabilities since there is little open source and explicit information about RU GEOINT doctrine.

GEOINT is easy to distinguish in the U.S. (it’s called GEOINT by law) and its governmental structures. Since few other countries have such openness, use similar definitions, or mirror the U.S. structure, it is essential to identify the reasoning and basic behaviors of people performing GEOINT.

As part of a summer 2018 research seminar, Penn State graduate students and faculty applied comparative methods to examine GEOINT in the U.S. and RU. Our process was modeled after that used in comparative education, which is a long-established academic field that examines abstract units of a system of systems. Our units of comparison were aspects of the GEOINT Community and work. A nine-cell table was used to compare the work of GEOINT communities. The major aspects of community that were examined included mission, organization, and business processes. This was compared in the table to GEOINT work, which included tradecraft, people, and technology.

The U.S. GEOINT Community is comprised of varied professionals, most of whom have college degrees. NGA and industry contractors train their GEOINT analysts, require certifications, and provide professional development. Geospatial foundational knowledge, as well as an ability to apply emerging technologies, are important, as are soft skills such as cognitive thinking, creativity, and communication. The cultural diversity of the U.S. GEOINT workforce is valued to maintain varied perspectives.

The U.S. and RU have obvious similarities in their GEOINT activities. Both countries use GEOINT to achieve a decision advantage. Both the U.S. and RU use GEOINT to reveal how human action is constrained by the physical landscape. Both have craft-based approaches. There are, however, striking differences:

These differences are manifested in a nation’s tradecraft. Since RU tradecraft is guided by political goals, RU is using GEOINT not only for military and humanitarian purposes but to achieve economic and geopolitical goals. This includes using GEOINT to reshape the human landscape to their advantage. This is contrasted with the U.S. GEOINT tradecraft, which is focused on providing information about environmental elements to project their future status.

In summary, RU understands the competitive nature of GEOINT. However, this research also showed the importance of understanding the GEOINT capabilities of competitors. This essential element of comparative advantage must be incorporated in the U.S. GEOINT educational community’s body of knowledge. Without it, the U.S. educational community is limiting its effectiveness. The U.S. GEOINT educational community needs to adopt a view embodying the philosophy of knowing your opponent while knowing yourself.

Based on this research, the U.S. GEOINT educational community should use the comparative approach to give equal balance of the human geographic aspect of GEOINT with that of the technologic aspects of the discipline. The following recommendations are made to achieve the balance:

Success in GEOINT is to combine the utilitarian aspects of technology with a sophisticated understanding of ourselves and our rival. Knowing these things, we can develop and apply GEOINT based on knowledge and skill rather than on speculation and blind action. Since comparative studies are neither common in U.S. GEOINT curriculum nor is there a specific competency pertaining to the skill of knowing an opponent, the community cannot be certain the advancing student has the skills to understand their opponent. Without the depth and agility of this comparative thinking, the U.S. GEOINT Community is opening itself to failure. Not knowing how to examine an opponent, the analyst cannot penetrate their “geospatial mind;” the analyst cannot anticipate how the opponent might attempt to stymie their progress. Until we formalize the competency of analyzing how others think and/or act geospatially, GEOINT education in the U.S. is incomplete.

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