ALI AL SALEM AIR BASE, Kuwait -- Anybody who has remodeled their kitchen knows about the “golden triangle” or “kitchen triangle”. It’s the triangle that the main work areas form to provide the most efficient work zone possible. In a relatively seamless culinary dance, the sink, refrigerator and stove are at each point of the geometric shape that will make that dinner for friends and family an efficient cooking experience.
In the past six months, a similar “golden triangle” of sorts has popped up on the grounds of Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. This one dishes up intelligence.
The Intelligence Fusion Cell is a collaboration between local agencies within the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, such as security forces, intelligence, anti-terrorism and the office of special investigations. Each serves a different function, but works towards the same goal: protection of the base and its resources.
“The job of the fusion cell is to gather information and also analyze it for consumption so that Wing leadership is best informed on current threat levels to ensure base security,” said 1st Lt. Afron Guze, the antiterrorism officer with the 386th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron.
The IFC looks at potential threats to the installation and the region. Information and intelligence received can be immediately relayed to the installation Threat Working Group, which brings all squadrons together to discuss what the current threat is and how to combat it. It then provides recommendations to the installation commander for action.
Another analogy is that of an Emergency Operations Center after a natural disaster, when all areas of emergency response come together in one location to more effectively work the problem as issues arise in real time.
“So as things happen, live, I just shuttle across the room and say, ‘hey, I've got this going on,'
The communication is there,” said Master Sgt. Jeremy Defour, the antiterrorism program manager with the 386th ESFS.
“As things develop, we all discuss it, come up with that plan of action, digest the information, and then immediately decide where to go from there,” said Defour.
“It allows for quicker communication and notification to intel driven threats, in order to more effectively counter those threats,” said Guze.
In short, what caused the formulation of the IFC six months ago was the desire to decrease the delay of information by having all relevant agencies centralized in one spot.
That's why it’s called the fusion cell because all aspects of intelligence collecting are fused together in one room, as one unit, thinking and formulating together. It’s a mission that is successful due to the partnership that security forces, intel, OSI and antiterrorism all bring to the table.
“The biggest thing we want people to know is that we're working here to protect them,” said Defour. “We give leadership a really good picture on exactly what they're facing so they can make more informed decisions.”