Feasibility of Creating a Comprehensive Real Property Database for Colombia
Abstract
The Defense Intelligence Agency asked the Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO) to determine the feasibility of producing a digital database of Colombian real property, and to express the usefulness of such a database. The resulting study determined that it is feasible and highly recommended that such a database be constructed. United States government foreign policy decisions pertaining to Colombia are inadequately informed if made in the absence of intelligence regarding the ownership of real property. Only a few years ago such an assertion would have been not only curious but unreasonable -- not so much because property ownership did not influence political actors in foreign countries, but rather because such intelligence could rarely be had. Even when U.S. decision-makers recognized the potential benefits of knowing who owned what in foreign countries, the intelligence challenge was generally insurmountable, at least beyond immediate and anecdotal investigation. Today, property data can be obtained, organized, analyzed and presented in ways that support foreign policy and strategy. A convergence of new technologies, including global positioning satellites, and expanding technical protocols, such as the National Spatial Data Infrastructure, makes provision of property intelligence practicable. The implication for the intelligence community is compelling: Property ownership intelligence should figure along with economic, political, social and military intelligence as part of the suite of product types regularly provided by the intelligence community.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA435105
Entities
People
- Geoffrey B. Demarest