Unorthodox Intelligence

Why would the US military want to distribute publicly its new directive on intelligence gathering in Afghanistan?

Why would the military publish its new directive in cooperation with a think tank, the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), instead of posting it on the Pentagon’s own website?

In fact, it seems that the Pentagon was surprised by this unusual approach.

Naturally, this has led to all sorts of speculation about what kind of bureaucratic agendas are being advanced.

I say ignore all that and read the directive. It calls for a major rethinking of how intelligence is collected in counterinsurgency operations. It gores a lot of oxen within the defense and intelligence communities, but won’t have a partisan impact, like Gen. McChrystal’s assessment. However, it may have a greater influence on the actual conduct of the war.