Intelligence

DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE

COLONEL(U) MOHD SHARIF BIN DATO PADUKA HAJI IBRAHIM
Director of Intelligence

Mohammad Sharif Ibrahim (Sharif) joined the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) in February 1993 and was later commissioned in February 1994 after completing Initial Officer Training at the Royal Air Force (RAF) College, Cranwell in UK.  He completed basic flying training with the Royal Brunei Air Force (RBAirF) and in 1996 returned to RAF Cranwell to undergo multi-engine advanced flying training.

On completion of flying training, he joined 5 Sqn, RBAirF as one of the first few qualified pilots on the CN235.  In 1999 he completed the Flying Instructor’s Course with the Republic of Singapore Air Force and returned to instruct on the CN235.  After a tour as Officer Commanding (OC) of 3 Sqn/FTS, instructing on the Pilatus PC7 MkII, he returned to 5 Sqn to take over as OC.  His flying experience includes logging over 2,800 flight hours, mainly in maritime surveillance missions, over 500 instructional flight hours and HADR operations flying the CN235 in Aceh in 2005.

On 1st Jan 2009, he was assigned as the first Commanding Officer of the newly formed Officer Cadet School (OCS), Defence Academy, RBAF.  During his command he saw the completion of three commissioning courses with the Sovereign’s Parades. This post was followed by Programme Manager at the Centre of Science and Technology Research and Development (CSTRAD), responsible for the management of the acquisition of defence capability solutions for the RBAF. In June 2012 – December 2013, he served as the RBAF’s first Defence Attaché in Washington D.C., USA. Prior to taking up his current post, he served as Commander Operations Group, RBAirF.

Staff training has included the Royal New Zealand Air Force Junior Staff Course in 2001, the Joint Services Command and Staff College, Shrivenham, UK in 2008 and the National Defence College in New Delhi, India in 2014. During his time in Shrivenham and New Delhi, he took the opportunity to complete an MA in Defence Studies from King’s College London and an MPhil in Defence and Strategic Studies from Madras University respectively.

He is married to Noraidah and they have two sons; Shafiq (1999) and Shaqil (2001). Sharif enjoys keeping fit and taking part in triathlons. He has recently taken up golf and considers it his handicap.

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INTRODUCTION - HISTORY

The Directorate of Intelligence is one of the three military Directorates within the Ministry of Defence alongside Personnel and Logistics.  Prior to July 2012, this directorate was also responsible to oversee matters of Security before that function was handed over to the Defence Security Branch, Directorate of Strategic Planning/The Defence Minister’s Office.

VISION AND MISSION

The Directorate’s vision is to provide superior intelligence that would ensure success and effectiveness of any operations.  In relations to this, the Directorate’s mission is to enhance strategic military intelligence capability of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defence.

ROLES

The Directorate of Intelligence has four (4) major roles, which are:    

a.    Provide intelligence services in a timely and accurate manner;

b.    To provide strategic and operational military threat assessment for the  country, MINDEF and the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF);

c.    As a point of contact for all kinds of interactions between the MINDEF and foreign defence organizations as well as foreign missions in Brunei Darussalam;

d.    To produce and oversee the implementatoin of intelligence and training policies for MINDEF and RBAF personnel.

INTELLIGENCE ORGANISATION CHART

Roles and Responsibilities

In supporting the directorate’s vision, mission and roles, the four branches within the directorate are tasked with roles and ressponsibilities as shown.

Intelligence and Operations

The Intelligence and Operations branch is responsible in:

a.    Acting as the information manager, to manage the collection of data and information to support and assist research tasks and security operations;

b.   Coordinating intelligence activities;  

c.    Updating the Joint Intelligence Doctrine;

d.  Overseeing the execution of roles by units and sections under the Intelligence Branch which are the Imagery Cell, Mapping Cell, Intelligence Information System Cell and the Intelligence Operations Cell.

Research

The Research branch’s major roles are undertaking research on defence and strategic issues, responding to information requirements from top echelons, and updating the Directorate of Intelligence information database.

Foreign Military Liaison/Defence Attaches

With regards to the Foreign Military Liaison Branch, its main roles and responsibilities include:

a.    Acting as the focal point for corespondence and communications by foreign military organizations with MINDEF and RBAF;

b.    Planning, coordinating and organising visits by senior foreign military leaders for the Commander of RBAF;

c.    The branch also oversees the administrative functions of the offices of the Defense Attaches and Defence Advisers of Brunei Darussalam abroad.

Brunei Darussalam has placed Defence Attaches/Advisors in nine (9) countries which are Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, People’s Republic of China, United Kingdom, the US and Thailand.

Intelligence Training Wing

Intelligence Training Wing is responsible in designing, planning and executing training programmes in order to:

a.    Fulfill MINDEF and RBAFs requirement of sufficiently trained intelligence operatives;

b.    Maintaing acceptable standard of intelligence personnel

ACTIVITIES

Defence Diplomacy and Cooperation.

The Directorate of Intelligence also contributes to the defence diplomacy and cooperation efforts at the regional and international levels.  These are through its participations in meetings and gatherings such as the ASEAN Military Intelligence Informal Meeting (AMIIM) and the Asia Pacific Intelligence Chiefs Conference (APICC). The Directorate of Intelligence Is also an active participant in the ASEAN Militaries Analysts-to-Analysts Intelligence Exchange (AMAAIE) in Manila, Philippines and Jakarta, Indonesia respectively. It hosted AMAAIE just recently in May 2015 in Brunei Darussalam. Interactions from these Meetings are regarded as important platforms for confidence building and enhancing cooperation and military relations between countries.

Recently, the Directorate of Intelligence, together with United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) had co-chaired the 8th APICC, held in Negara Brunei Darussalam, for the first time, from 6th September until 9th September 2015.  The conference hosted participants from twenty five (25) countries from the Asia Pacific Region including the US, the UK, Australia and France, just to name a few.

In the effort to establish and enhance networking with regional and international military intelligence establishments, the Directorate of Intelligence is also actively cooperating in bilateral intelligence exchanges (INTELEXES) with the military intelligence agencies of friendly countries.  The benefits from these INTELEXES are two-folds, firstly, sharing of information and perspectives on the security issues of respective countries as well as security issues of common concerns. Secondly the exchanges promote closer defence relations with the partners hence enriching the defence diplomacy drive. The Directorate of Intelligence currently holds regular INTELEXES with the US, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

CONTACT US

Directorate of Intelligence
Ministry of Defence
Bolkiah Garrison BB3510
Negara Brunei Darussalam

Tel No: 2386343
Fax No: 2338867
E-mail: iac.int@mindef.gov.bn