I have had an intel/espionage team on a neutral alien world for over 2 years. I also have a colony on said world. How do I gain intel on their military level and troop numbers? I see thermal 3069, em 30471(I suspect these readings include my colony). I have 2 heavy assault divisions and a garrison there with my colonists and a SAG(Battle fleet no cv; "surface action group" in other games) in system running war games. I have scanned several times with active scanners.
On an unrelated note, how many systems must I colonize to get a sector commander? I have colonized 3 systems so far. Sol. Procyon. and Alpha Centauri
Edit to add ground combat strength is 38. What does that actually mean? I now have 5 divisions and an HQ ground side. Is that enough to beat them?
You assign sector commanders the same way you assign planetary governors, with the caveat you need a sector command installation on one world (which becomes the sector capital). You need to research Improved Command & Control before the sector command installation is available.
Actively scanning NPRs will degrade relations with them.
As for your ground forces, you have 5 divisions, or 20 brigades on planet? That should be enough I'd think. Though going by your stated combat strength, I'd say you have 5 brigades on planet. The strength is the sum of the attack strength (I believe). You can check this out on your own Ground Unit tab on your Economic screen.
FYI, ground forces go Unit (Assault, Infantry, etc) to Brigade to Division. Each Brigade HQ can control 4 units, each Divisional HQ can control 4 Brigades (full or otherwise). So 5 Divisions would be 20 units plus associated HQ elements.