Lessons in Strategic Intelligence and International Deception

By SAM FRIMPONG

While the en­tire world was led to believe that an inva­sion of Venezuela was imminent, especially after all the latest military and nuclear weapons and missiles were stationed in the Caribbean Sea, and alleged narco-boats and oil tankers were seized over the last couple of months, the United States used its strategic intelligence to capture Maduro and his wife.

It is alleged that the US clandestinely re­cruited the closest dis­enchanted bodyguards to Maduro for close to a year, complying with their demands for US status for themselves and families, including new identities, homes and money to last a lifetime.
Such was the level of betrayal and decep­tion that led to a highly successful covert op­eration that led to the capture of Maduro and his wife.
The United States, with its special Delta Force Unit was able to execute with precision intelligence, strategic and operational efficacy is a timely reminder of the advanced world of covert operations and human intelligence.
Such was the modus operandi of many great spies who succumbed to the wiles of the for­mer Soviet Union, De­partment of Clandes­tine Operations.
Flattery, seductive allurements of women employed by the State, and monetary rewards were part and parcel of accessing state se­crets and reliable in­telligence concerning nuclear weapons and armaments during the Cold War.
This covert opera­tional success chal­lenges the UN charter under Section 2(4) and Chapter VII where even senior military commanders, policy-makers or regional defence leaders who focus on form and not operational importance of article 2(4) of the UN Charter risk doing so at their own peril.
In contra-distinction, operational efficacy looks beyond the ob­vious form of the UN Charter and consid­ers the sovereignty ef­fects that are achieved through zero-visibility operations, precision intelligence and strate­gic ambiguity.
The US achieved the zero-visibility principle by diverting Venezu­ela’s military attention away from the presi­dency to the airbases that were attacked si­multaneously with oth­er targets.
The US used stra­tegic intelligence that utilized hybrid warfare, naval supremacy en­meshed in Mahan’s no­tion of territorial domi­nance, and Sun Tzu’s warning on taking the enemy by surprise.
In this way, naval blockade was used to neutralise Venezuela’s military.
As one writer noted, “Airspace dominance by Delta Force and support from the Night Stalkers created a situ­ation where State bor­ders may remain intact while authority and decision autonomy are subtly constrained by a rival.
The greatest lesson from that is that op­erational military ef­fect is the currency of sovereignty today, not the form of compliance with legal instruments at national or interna­tional levels.
In this way, strategic ambiguity which has long been the US’ pol­icy allows hyperpow­ers to act operationally without breaking the law on paper.”
The surgical opera­tion by the US shows precision, speed, intel­ligence-led, low-visi­bility operations. Its use of diversionary tactics focusing on attacking the military base led to sovereignty erosion in Venezuela’s decision cycles, not necessarily territory.
The Venezuelan mili­tary prioritized the need to protect its military base and left the real target, that is, the presi­dency, exposed.
“The decision au­tonomy of the US be­comes clear in its supe­rior ability to prioritise, respond and control tempo of the attack on the real target.
This is because mili­tary and security intel­ligence frame threats in tactical, operational and strategic ways; law authorizes escalation; and military command acts within strategic ambiguity or intelli­gence.”
A military expert stated that, “In the age of irregular, hybrid and surgical warfare, State sovereignty is challenged not by who moves first, but by who controls perception or the mind of States, de­cision tempo and legiti­macy.”
Furthermore, “mili­tary forces that inte­grate law, intelligence and strategy will pre­serve sovereignty; those that do not will be out-paced even while ostensibly compliant with international law.
Hopefully, these les­sons will help to shape and fashion our level of defense and strategic intelligence as we must chart the way forward, not with antiquated ideas, but more mod­ern initiatives. .