In my experience, intelligence staff officers often provide poor advice about tactical situations, battlefield decision-making and strategy. However, they are often outstanding when it comes to providing dossiers about enemy commanders and the hierarchy of an adversary.
A good example of this is the way they compiled evidence for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. During my second operational tour in the Balkans, I was involved in operations to capture those responsible for war crimes, otherwise known as PIFWCs (see sheet below). And the evidence from those operations is that once your name is on the list, you will be hounded forever.
The Media is very quiet about this aspect of the current wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, but I have no doubt that there are dedicated teams that are working relentlessly to interview survivors, compile evidence and track those responsible for war crimes. In the case of the former Yugoslavia, the mandate for the court lasted 24 years from 1993 to 2017. I can see the current work on Ukraine and the Middle East lasting twice as long – a job for life.
Rupert Wieloch 