US, S. Korean forces boost intelligence collection, not combat readiness

May 29, 2009
US, S. Korean forces boost intelligence collection, not combat readiness
Posted by Jonathan Landay
McClatchy Blog

Ever since North Korea conducted its second nuclear test and fired off volleys of missiles and red-hot rhetoric, there has been some degree of hyperventilation in international media coverage of the latest crisis in Northeast Asia. One example are reports that the United States and South Korea put their troops on high-alert after what appeared to be Pyongyang's renunciation of the 1953 truce accord.

But former senior U.S. intelligence officer John McCreary, who produces NightWatch, a sterling daily analysis of international events that he compiles from open sources, notes that there are "two systems of graduated alerts" for U.S. and South Korean forces. One is for combat readiness - or Def Con - and the other is for intelligence collection, or Watch Con. And, he explains, it's U.S. and South Korean intelligence collection assets that have been placed on higher alert, not their combat forces.

In his latest NightWatch, McCreary points out that the South Korean Defense Ministry announced on Thursday the implementation of "Watch Con II" and that "surveillance over the North will be stepped up, with more aircraft and personnel mobilized."

"Watch Con II is the condition in which intelligence collection assets are surged," McCreary writes. "In addition, the analytical corps devoted to an intelligence problem is supposed to be surged and operating 24x7. More sensors are devoted to a problem and more people stand watch."

"The South Koreans have increased their intelligence watchfulness to the second highest level. Watch Con I signifies a wartime level of intelligence effort," McCreary explains.

The other alert metric is the Defense Condition system, which determines the level of combat readiness, like the cancelling of leaves, the calling up of reserve forces and the boosting logistics preparations. In South Korea, that system remains at Def Con IV, the lowest level, McCreary writes, quoting the Yonhap news agency.

McCreary knows of what he speaks. As a member of the U.S. National Warning Staff and a senior intelligence officer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he participated as an adviser and observer in the formulation of the Watch Condition system.

And by the way, McCreary's overall analysis of the current Korea crisis is second to none.