Paul Mobbs & MEIR:
USAF Croughton:
Networked Warfare and the Intelligence-Fusion Complex
In commerce, data is the new financial ‘gold’. This same transformation has been under-way in the military and intelligence services too.
The nature of militarism and geopolitical conflict is being fundamentally changed by information systems and networks; the peace movement must understand these technologies if it is to make the opposing case. This was the starting point for my review of operations at USAF Croughton, and the proposed development of the NATO Joint Intelligence Analysis Centre (JIAC).
The study, 
USAF Croughton: Networked Warfare, and the Intelligence-Fusion Complex was commissioned by the Oxfordshire Peace Campaign, and funded by the Green House Environmental Funding Charity. It was prepared in early 2018, and finalised for publication in June 2018.
The purpose of the report was to review the issues surrounding the development of a new military intelligence centre at the USAF Croughton site – the NATO Joint Intelligence Analysis Centre (JIAC).
This facility, like other JIAC facilities developed by US intelligence and security agencies since 2001, will connect together many different sites and agencies, network them using communications links, and share continuously updated information prepared using the latest machine learning and artificial intelligence systems.
The history of operations at these other site, however, suggests that the operations carried out here in the UK might infringe international law, as well as the rights and freedoms granted under the European Convention on Human Rights.
The report was launched at the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space’s annual international conference in Oxford, June 2018.
For that conference I also prepared a special presentation on the issues raised in the report, entitled, ‘The Global Military Infrastructure and You’ (slides from the presentation).
You can watch a video of the presentation on YouTube.
A poster presentation on USAF Croughton and the JIAC development is also available.
Further updates on the JIAC development are provided via the CroughtonWatch site.