Knowledge gives strength to the arms: Framing and defining Combat Intelligence as a discrete function within Military Intelligence

The expansion of intelligence studies into new areas shows that intelligence behaves differently in different environments. Taking Military Intelligence as a context, this article will frame and define Combat Intelligence as a distinct field of activity within that context, with a unique set of behaviours and characteristics. It will also demonstrate that examination of Combat Intelligence through perspectives used to look at state level intelligence – role, oversight, failure, politicisation, and processes – offers up new insights into the production and use of intelligence in a military context that improve our understanding of it as a discrete sphere of activity.