Information Sources in the Urban Environment
information through their intelligence channels or directly from the center via its Web site. In an emergency, up-to-date medical intelligence assessments can be obtained by contacting Defense Intelligence Agency, 2000 MacDill Boulevard, Washington, DC 20340-5100, Attention: NCMI, Director, MA. The message address is DIRNCMI FT DETRICK MD. Medical intelligence elements and the center can provide the following reports: Medical capabilities studies. Disease occurrence—worldwide reports. Foreign medical materiel studies. Disease and environmental alert reports. Foreign medical facilities handbooks. Scientific and threat intelligence studies. Foreign medical materiel exploitation reports. Quick reaction responses. 3-14. The National Center for Medical Intelligence 24-hour service/request for information telephone number is (301) 619-7574 or Defense Switched Network 343-7574. The center’s email address is ncmiops@ncmi.detrick.army.mil. 3-15. During the planning process, medical support personnel at individual units can provide information on the nature of local health risks associated with the urban environment in which operations will take place and provide preventive measures that the unit or unit personnel may take to mitigate or avoid these risks. Medical personnel can also help coordinate a medical survey to pinpoint existing hospitals, clinics, sanitariums, blood banks, pharmaceutical industries, medical supply warehouses, and veterinary and public health facilities, as well as to identify key indigenous medical personnel within the urban area. 3-16. During an operation, medical personnel monitor and report any new health risks that emerge. Intelligence on the enemy medical status is also valuable. It not only discloses enemy strengths and weaknesses but also can alert friendly medical units of diseases and conditions that enemy prisoners of war and detainees might require treatment for. 3-17. Medical personnel are a prime source of intelligence provided that they are trained on how to observe and report pertinent data. Types and frequency of wounds and disease, attitudes of enemy prisoners of war and detainees undergoing treatment, type and utility of captured enemy medical supplies, and observations of the local populace are all important sources of information that medical personnel should provide. 3-18. Medical personnel can also be invaluable in detecting the use of chemical or biological weapons by seeing their effects on people. These agents may be more difficult to detect in urban areas specifically because of the closeness of the population, the sanitary problems associated with cities, and the general breakdown of support services and infrastructure.
AVIATION 3-19. When determining enemy capabilities and courses of action, aviation units can provide intelligence personnel with information on what air operations are feasible in any given urban environment. During operations, gun camera video and surveillance systems carried by aircraft can provide timely, thorough, and on-demand information to intelligence personnel. The stand-off capability of most aircraft can allow observation of threat forces and activities from tracking individual vehicles through city streets to determining locations of enemy obstacles in the urban environment. (See ATP 3-06.1 for TTP for aviation urban operations.)
CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, RADIOLOGICAL, AND NUCLEAR 3-20. During the planning process, chemical corps personnel can provide estimates on the effects of CBRN use in urban environments as well as the location, types, and potential effects of toxic industrial materials. Due to the prevalence of biological hazards and toxic industrial materials in many urban areas, chemical corps personnel may be crucial in identifying CBRN hazards that Soldiers may not normally recognize as a
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