Today, I delivered a keynote address at the Nigerian Army Inter-Agency Workshop on Collaboration: ‘Harnessing the Potentials in Inter-Agency Collaboration.” Grateful to the General Officer Commanding, One Division Nigerian Army, Major General Usman Mohammed and his team for the invitation.
Here is excerpt of the keynote address:
“I must admit that when I received this invitation, I was a little nervous. My appointment into my current role came as a surprise, and I dare say, including myself. Being a journalist, I felt right at home in my previous role as Spokesperson to the Governor and Government of Kaduna State. So, it was a bit puzzling to me when, after successfully navigating the 2019 elections into a second term in office, the Governor began sending me what I considered to be strange books. These include books such as “Open Source Intelligence Techniques” by Michael Bazzell, “Invisible Armies” by Max Boot, “Intelligence: from Secrets to Policy” by Mark Loventhal and “Social Intelligence” by Daniel Goleman, amongst others. Little did I know that he had already earmarked a role for me as the pioneer Commissioner of the Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, with the daunting task of coordinating the State’s intelligence gathering machinery.
“The mandates of the Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs include coordination of internal security matters and intelligence gathering, as well as liaison with Federal and State security agencies. In pursuing the mandates of the Ministry, one of the most critical factors I have come to acknowledge is collaboration. Creating a cohesive security management system rests largely on the effective collaboration between the individual elements or agencies. Considering the current profile of security challenges where banditry is now fused with insurgent threats, collaboration is more pertinent than ever.
“Furthermore, given the different constitutional mandates of Security Agencies and the great strain on their numerical strength, they must be on the same page, especially in terms of intelligence gathering and sharing. In my experience and going by information available to me, several attacks by criminal elements could have been prevented if there was more robust collaboration amongst Security Agencies. There have been instances where available intelligence indicated a high likelihood of attacks by armed bandits, but due to lapses in collaboration, sadly the responses by security agencies fell through the gaps.
“While appreciating the roles of security agencies in tackling insecurity, it is no secret that inter-agency rivalry has been a factor in efforts against banditry and insurgency. This is not peculiar to security agencies in Nigeria. It is a global challenge which usually manifests when handling and dealing with security problems, even in advanced countries.
“For the benefit of doubt, here is a prominent case in point. One of the most definitive security breaches in living memory is the 9/11 attack in the United States. Starting with the aspect of Airspace Management, the two Federal agencies responsible for defense of the U.S. airspace – the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) – failed to collaborate effectively leading to the hijacking of the aircrafts. As at September 11th, 2001, the FAA was mandated by law to regulate the safety and security of civil aviation, which mainly meant maintaining a safe distance between airborne aircrafts. The FAA operated 22 air route traffic Control Centres, working closely with a central Command Centre. FAA Control Centres often received information and make operational decisions independently of one another. On 9/11, the four hijacked aircrafts were monitored by independent centres in different cities. Each centre thus had part of the intelligence of what was going on across the system. What one centre knew was not necessarily known by other centres, or for that matter by the Headquarters. This presents a clear lapse in information sharing.
“Secondly, in scrutinizing the National Security Departments and agencies themselves, there has also been the belief that better information-sharing among could have prevented 9/11. The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States (also known as the 9/11 Commission), in its final report noted the greatest impediment to strategic warning of terrorist attacks was “human or systemic resistance to sharing information.” The Commission summed up the problem with a metaphor: “The agencies are like a set of specialists in a hospital, each ordering tests, looking for symptoms, and prescribing medications. What is missing is the attending physician who makes sure they work as a team.”
“This lack of synergy on display ultimately proved disastrous. In early to mid-2001, the level of reporting on terrorist threats and planned attacks increased dramatically. In the words of then CIA Director George Tenet, the system was blinking red. Unfortunately, efforts from domestic intelligence agencies were disjointed and responses were limited, showing a lack of coordinated direction. Despite the “system blinking red”, in the months leading up to 9/11, officials did not connect the cases in their files to the threat reports. As such, the individual cases did not become national priorities. The isolated signals did not crystallize into the bigger picture. The institutional failings within the U.S. Government and security structure were eventually exploited by al Qaeda. One of the most catastrophic security breaches in history could thus have been prevented simply by better inter-agency collaboration.
“Bringing this back home, I urge you to imbibe the essence of teamwork. In security, every element is important. As it is said “teamwork makes the dream work.” From the core of the Armed Services, to the Police, and paramilitary agencies, each element brings a crucial piece to the intelligence puzzle. The Immigrations Service for example, can provide useful travel information of a suspect being investigated. Knowing where the suspect has been can guide investigations quickly, and enable effective action. The same can be said for the Customs Service. Likewise, the Department of State Services. Every element is important, in what must become an effective team.
“Former Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell captured the essence of collaboration and teamwork among security agencies in his argument, “One Team, One Fight”: He opines that “When a team takes to the field, individual specialists come together to achieve a team win. All players try to do their very best because every other player, the team and the hometown are counting on them to win….This is our history, this is our tradition, this is our future.”
“I believe that this is the underlying psychology security agencies must work with. All units must work as one team, with one fight. A lack of this collaborative spirit has made our security agencies to sometimes become liabilities instead of assets to themselves and the entire security architecture. The absence of effective cooperation has not only claimed hundreds of civilian lives, but scores of security operatives as well. From our intelligence gathering, we have discovered, and it is important for us to keep this in mind: criminals, bandits, terrorists and threats to our security, are now collaborating more, to devastating effect. It they do, then shouldn’t our security agencies do the same?
“Importantly, interagency collaboration is mainly knowledge centric. We must realize that creating and leveraging superior knowledge in the battlespace enables decision superiority, reduces operational risk, and increases the pace, coherence, and effectiveness of responses.
“In Kaduna State, the Government supports the State’s dedicated inter-agency security response outfit known as Operation Yaki (comprising the Army, Navy, Airforce, Police and Department of State Services and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps including the State Vigilance Service). It is our most compact inter-agency collaboration, and while we strive for improvement, it has recorded appreciable levels of success. The most desirable state of events is for the successes to be replicated in larger scale, seamless collaborative efforts to rid the entire region of banditry and insurgency.
“From the perspective of the Government, inter-agency collaboration is both a means of achieving an objective, and an objective itself. The benefits to the State, and indeed the security agencies, are numerous.
“Closer collaboration will enable the government plan for adequate financial support to fill logistic and technical gaps. Inter-agency training agendas can also be developed to improve synergy. Crucially, a central system of intelligence coordination can be created. This is the basis of the Kaduna State Government’s vision for a durable, purpose-built, cohesive response system which will upgrade security responses and provide a modern working security structure.
“Officers and Gentlemen, as you prepare for Operation Crocodile Smile VI and beyond, I enjoin you to harness the potentials of Inter-agency collaboration. Inter-agency collaboration, as a process of enhancing an active working relationship among multiple security agencies with a view to improving process outcomes in the most efficient way, should be your utmost consideration, as you seek to make a decisive charge against banditry.
“I wish to end by saying that our success on kinetic and non-kinetic approaches hinge on sound inter-agency and government collaboration. The time to rejuvenate, rekindle, and calibrate is now, and we must work assiduously to achieve and sustain the collaboration.”
