Cameroon, US come together for military intelligence training

U.S. forces provided training on basic intelligence processes to Cameroon forces, Sept. 21 through 25, at Douala Naval Headquarters Base in Cameroon.

The course was designed to standardize reporting formats for information collected during military operations and that is provided to the Maritime Operations Center ensuring efficiency during the processing of all information.

"This course assists our maritime operations center personnel by being able to process information from littoral forces. Understanding how to collect, and what to do with the information is crucial to supporting the MOC," said CdV Christophe Ndzana Mvondo.

Marines with U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa and Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa focused on tactical collections like patrol briefing, debriefing and site exploitation. Efforts by the Combined Task Force-68, led by Navy Lt. Chris Jordan, focused on turning that information into a clear, simple product and correctly disseminating the information to support maritime awareness.

"This training ties our units together so we can support each other and make information move more quickly up and down," said EV1 Max Sieyoji, a student-officer taking part in the training.

The event, supported by Africa Partnership Station, is the first joint intelligence engagement in West Africa. Further collaboration in intelligence security cooperation between SPMAGTF-CR-AF, U.S. Naval Force Africa and CTF-68 will occur in other West African maritime nations during 2016, and skills will be tested through exercises such as Obangame Express.

"This was an important event for us, not only in terms of fusing Partner Nation Services’ capabilities together, but by planning and instructing a curriculum in concert with U.S. Naval officers, we simultaneously increase our own understanding and respect for our fellow services. And by instructing together, we send a clear message about working together," said Capt. Jeremy Phillips, intelligence security cooperation officer with SPMAGTF-CR-AF.