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Marine Corps Intelligence Activity |
(U) Military Culture of Organizations and Institutions
Ahram Ariel(U) Service Branches
This section describes the competition between the Artesh’s professionalism and the IRGC’s ideological fervor as well as competition between the army, air force, and navy.(U) Besides the intra-military rivalry between the regular army, navy, and air force, post-Revolutionary Iran has seen intense rivalry between the Artesh and the IRGC and its Basij adjuncts. Under the Shah, the army was always the largest branch of the service, but the air force was considered the Shah’s favorite, since the Shah himself was a pilot and was known to be enamored of high technology and of flying. The navy was the least regarded of the services, but as the Shah’s interest in force projection in the Persian Gulf grew, so, too, did his interest in the navy. The navy and air force continue to be manned by volunteers with higher technical skills than the conscript army.
(U) The IRGC distrusts the Artesh as a stronghold of royalist counterrevolution, elitism, and Occidentosis. The Artesh, in turn, views the IRGC as undisciplined and under-trained. As the purges of royalist officers and indoctrination of the lower ranks of the Artesh began in the early 1980s and as the IRGC began to focus more heavily on training for conventional warfare against Iraq, however, the effect of many of these stereotypes has decreased.
(U) Still, there remains a serious rivalry between the IRGC and the Artesh. The IRGC has developed its own naval and air forces alongside its land warfare units and is in command of Iran’s ballistic missile and WMD programs. The Artesh still claims greater professional expertise, but has tried to remain outside of the political fray. The Artesh navy continues to be the most secular branch of the military. The IRGC has increased its level of professionalism, but its main asset is its zealous loyalty to the Supreme Leader. The IRGC is far more active in political and ideological debates of the Islamic Republic and actively supports hardline conservative clerics, while the Artesh privately advocates for its own institutional interests, but does not take political positions.
(U) A crucial point of dispute between the Artesh and the IRGC remains over the role of the Basij. To the Artesh, the Basiji is an undisciplined mob at best, thugs and hoodlums at worst; they are unworthy of consideration in training and exercises. The IRGC, however, looks on the Basij as a strategic asset for mobilization in case of another large scale war and works with the Basij in training and indoctrination. However, some elements in the IRGC have come to view the Basij as a civilian body that should not be too closely integrated into the professional military ranks.
(U) In general, the different branches rise and fall according to current Iranian ambitions. When exporting the revolution abroad or consolidating it at home is considered crucial, the IRGC increases in prominence. With economic and ethnic unrest in the provinces, or geopolitical positioning in question, the Artesh becomes more significant.
Ahram Ariel(U) Reserves
This section describes Iran’s neglect of the reserves.(U) The Islamic Republic carries on the tradition of the Shah in neglecting reserve forces. Technically, men can be called up from the reserves until age 44, yet these reserves are the very last resort for national defense. They receive little training and resources after leaving active duty. During the Iran-Iraq War, the regime opted to mobilize the Basij rather than call up ex-conscripts.
Ahram Ariel(U) National Police
This section describes how the national police have been detached from the military, but the IRGC and Basij still have police duties.(U) Due to the complexities of political power in Iran, several agencies share responsibility for internal security. The IRGC exerts considerable influence within the national police, as they do other political institutions in Iran. Sometimes this influence is exercised when IRGC veterans are appointed to head organizations outside the IRGC, but other times IRGC officers receive joint appointments in the IRGC and a non-military organization simultaneously. Additionally, the Basij often serves to back-up law enforcement branches. The national police are nominally under the control of the Interior Ministry, but the Supreme Leader, not the Minister, selects the chief of police.
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