Intelligence: What They Have and We Lack

El Líbero, May 17, 2024

Organized crime knows its competition, the territory, and all relevant actors. Without this knowledge, they could not make informed decisions.

The security is that intangible we wish we did not have to think about, as that would mean things are going well and we can focus on other matters. However, reality shows us the opposite. In the survey published this week by Athenalab it is observed that 85% of the general population and 95% of experts perceive drug trafficking as a crucial or determining threat to national security. This is a problem that cannot be resolved with police or military forces alone. Much more is required.

Intelligence, with a capital ‘I’, is what the country lacks. That is, useful information that informs the decision-making process and guides actions in security matters. However, none of this can be achieved with the current structure.

The discussion about whether to strengthen the National Intelligence Agency (ANI) or the role that other state units can play in this area is not sufficient. A comprehensive perspective is needed, aimed at creating a State Intelligence System that incorporates police, military, and state agencies while ensuring data flows from other institutions, services, and units. Only then can the available information be reviewed in an integrated manner, truly allowing for the generation of useful information.

If anything has been demonstrated by the trial of Los Gallegos it is the importance that such groups place on intelligence. They gather information, analyze it, and decide on the best location to establish themselves. They know their competition, the territory, and all relevant actors. Without this, they could not make informed decisions.

This is what Chile needs. To understand the behavior of criminal groups, identify them, model their conduct, and generate public policies in security matters. And all of this with a single purpose: to achieve a context of peace where Chileans can exercise all their freedoms.

The task is not easy. A system must be built that includes actors generating useful information, drawing from data collected from various sources, and interacting with other institutions and services. We have stated that we need the State as a whole to respond to the security problem. This is one way to do it.

Internationally, there are cases like that of the United States which only advanced toward integrating its information flows after the New York attack in 2001. Generally, traumatic events are what drive change. In Italy in the early 90s, two anti-mafia judges had to die to change the way the State approached organized crime. Chile should not wait to experience such trauma.

In security, the best indication that actions are effective is that, by preparing for trauma, it does not occur. Our main threat operates in a network, functions as a system, and all its parts work toward the same objective. If the State does not manage to adopt this perspective in its work, it does not matter the narrative, it does not matter the ideology, because crime will always be one step ahead.

Pilar Lizana
Senior Researcher, AthenaLab