Thaindian News

BAGHDAD, IRAQ (BNO NEWS) — The National Training Center (NTC) opened in Baghdad on Monday, the U.S. Forces in Iraq said.

The new center will be expanding investigative training capabilities for National information and Investigation Agency personnel.

National investigators will be trained at the NTC, where they will be taught to collect criminal information and conduct investigative operations at the national level in coordination with other intelligence and security elements to penetrate major criminal networks and defeat domestic criminal activities that threaten Iraq’s national security in today’s counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency fight.

Additional training and instructional areas are part of the newly-expanded center, which began in 2005, triples the capability of the previous center.

The Government of Iraq and United States Forces in Iraq partnered up for the construction planning of the NTC, upgrading the center with an administrative building, 12 classrooms, a dining facility, billeting for 520 students and outside training areas including a firing range, an obstacle course and a practical exercise area.

The NTC can now “provide instruction to several thousand basic, intermediate and advanced students annually, across various professional disciplines, in a secure environment,” said Iraq Training and Advising Mission Director Army Major General Richard Rowe. The construction of the NTC also, “represents the beginning of another phase of USF assistance - that of providing advice and mentoring to a growing cadre of instructors and specialized trainers,” Rowe added.

Classes taught at the NTC include: intelligence, collection and analysis, document exploitation, advanced security training, airplane protection and law enforcement training to include criminal investigations and secured raids.