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Fighting adversaries in the digital space: How this intelligence expert defends S'pore against hidden threats
With the digital domain becoming a new battlefront in military warfare, this SAF scholar decodes unseen clues to safeguard the nation
Once set on becoming a surgeon, ME4 Jason Cheong now deciphers digital threats as a senior military intelligence expert in the Singapore Armed Forces' Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS).
PHOTO: MINDEF SCHOLARSHIP CENTRE
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From a young age, being a surgeon was all that Military Expert 4 (ME4) Jason Cheong had ever dreamed of.
Yet today, the 26-year-old finds himself not in an operating theatre, but as a senior military intelligence expert in the Singapore Armed Forces’ (SAF) Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS), playing a crucial role in keeping Singapore safe.
Instead of diagnosing what ails patients, he deciphers digital threats. And the clues can be found in Open Source Intelligence (OSINT).
As an officer within DIS’s Counter Terrorism and Intelligence Group (CTIG), ME4 Cheong and his team operate in what he calls the “grey zone” – a space where non-traditional threats are brewing.
“It's very different from conventional warfare,” he says.
Learning to find clues anywhere, like a detective
Like detectives, ME4 Cheong and his team sift through information from OSINT like mainstream media and social media platforms.
“We keep an eye out for emergent properties or factors that might not be evident individually, but their interactions together make them significant,” he explains.
Human intention is complex and challenging to interpret, yet vital for protecting Singapore from threats – and getting to work on this excites him.
“The opportunity to work on emerging threats and the sense of purpose that comes from knowing that our defence depends on my team’s accurate, relevant and timely intelligence collection and analysis really brings home the gravity of my ‘why’,” says ME4 Cheong.
A culture of innovation and collaboration
Knowledge sharing is particularly salient for a new organisation like the DIS, established in 2022.
“Intelligence is an information game,” ME4 Cheong says. “It’s about remembering the right things at the right time.”
This is why he spearheaded an initiative to create a shared wiki within CTIG, letting servicemen from the organisation contribute to a communal repository of knowledge.
Additionally, the smaller size of DIS – SAF’s fourth service – allows for quicker implementation of changes, allowing younger or junior service personnel to drive initiatives based on their technical expertise and qualifications.
“In a traditional military setup, most ideas usually come from the top down,” he says.
In fact, ME4 Cheong is often struck by how closely the culture at CTIG – and by extension, the DIS – resembles a private sector tech start-up, except that everyone is in the pixelated grey of the DIS’s no. 4 uniforms.
“It’s like a programming standup,” says ME4 Cheong. “Everyone just shares very quickly what they’re working on, and then it's back to work. It’s done very fast.”
Emphasis on critical thinking, adaptability
While he initially signed on as an armour officer in the Singapore Army, The SAF Scholarship recipient’s keen interest in data and the intelligence domain ultimately led him to the DIS – even though he did not have a strong technical background.
Through The SAF Scholarship, ME4 Cheong pursued a liberal arts education at Brown University in the US, majoring in international relations and religious studies, and a few courses in data analysis and programming. This diverse background provided a rigorous and solid foundation for a career in intelligence.
“The various lenses that I have learned in my studies allow me to approach multifaceted issues from different angles, whether in operations and training, or policy and planning,” he says.
For military intelligence experts like himself, a technical degree in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) is not a must.
“Many military intelligence experts come from social science and humanities backgrounds, which can prove invaluable in bringing different perspectives and insights into what is a multi-disciplinary endeavour,” says ME4 Cheong.
“It’s not just about what you study,” he continues. “What the SAF has always emphasised is that critical thinking and adaptability are more important.”
Plus, there is ample opportunity for industry-standard training once in the organisation, even if you’re not necessarily good at it, he adds.
When he first made the switch from the Army in 2023, he was earmarked and sent for various courses in information security, including one run by the cybersecurity giant The SANS Institute.
“I’d definitely recommend the DIS to someone who feels like they would enjoy lifelong learning,” he says.
For more information about the SAF Scholarship and a career with the Digital and Intelligence Service, visit the Mindef Scholarship Centre.
