Helping the U.S. Intelligence Community Do Its Work

LTG Patrick M. Hughes, USA (Retired)

There has been some discussion recently about U.S. intelligence in the context of the attacks against our homeland, and other ongoing activities. With this in mind, here are some suggestions with regard to the U.S. intelligence community.

The Director of Central Intelligence: Give the DCI a national mandate to direct the resources of the U.S. IC, without unnecessary outside involvement. Define the position as a distinct separate office from the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Ensure that the DCI has appropriate national "operational" authority over all the elements of the U.S. IC. The Director of Military Intelligence: Formally designate the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency as the DMI, with responsibility to represent the Department of Defense in the deliberations and decisions of the larger intelligence community.

Human Intelligence: Over the past ten years we have given much lip service to the concept of rebuilding and re-energizing our human intelligence capabilities, and some progress has been made to do just that.. However, our efforts lack clear central guidance and direction, and our efforts have not been fully supported by all the parties involved. Form a National HUMINT Agency now, bring it more directly under the control of the Director of Central Intelligence, eliminate the involvement of agencies and elements of government that are unnecessary to its function, and change the culture in which the practitioners of this art and science labor. Recruit, train, sustain and nurture the very best we can entice to do this work.

Counterintelligence: In the recent past we have sadly discovered significant espionage inside our intelligence and security organizations. One might imagine how big a problem we have in people, organizations, and activities that are not subject to the frequent and active scrutiny that those organizations are. The CI function is now dispersed among many elements of the government. Consolidate national counterintelligence efforts now in an appropriate agency or element -- form the National Counterintelligence Agency - and give it the investigative, screening, policing and enforcement powers that this vital discipline needs.

Technology: Modern intelligence requires the very best technology we can generate. Some technologies are so esoteric, so arcane, and so theoretical or problematic that they require the very best technologists, scientists, engineers, and other learned people that we can muster, in the best facilities we can provide. Nearly every agency and element of the U.S. intelligence community now has its own technology effort, sometimes uncoordinated among other IC elements and in some cases unnecessarily redundant and duplicative. The National Reconnaissance Office is one of the most capable repositories of technology expertise in the U.S. government. Give the mission of primary technology research, development, and acquisition for the needs of the U.S. IC, to the NRO. Broaden their mission to include the technology requirements of the U.S. government in support of intelligence and perhaps other functions. Give the NRO the people, money, connections, and specific responsibilities necessary to carry out their new national mandate while carefully preserving the excellent work they have done in the past. Ensure that the NRO is fully associated with and connected to appropriate centers of science and technology in order to achieve national technical synergy. Change their name to the National Technology Organization.

Automation and Connectivity: The U.S. IC has achieved considerable automated interconnectivity between agencies and elements especially at the finished product level. But, more needs to be done to optimize the exchange of and the utility of current and raw information. The current sharing mechanism is woefully inadequate. However, for good reasons such as the inherent threat to security that access to information by more and more people represents, the hope and promise of full IC interconnectivity has yet to be realized. The technology is there to do it. It is procedure, policy and parochial organizational viewpoint that have to be changed. Decide now to achieve appropriate IC interconnectivity goals. Insert the best technologies and the best processes to optimize the delivery of intelligence to decision makers now. Do the same thing with technologies that assist the decision maker in understanding and using the information the IC provides. Link these capabilities to the intelligence production system in the most effective and efficient manner.

Analysis: We need balanced and experienced analysts who have been out in the world, and who have the language and cultural affinity or the science and technology expertise necessary to understand their area of responsibility. Seldom can such experience be found in the entry-level analyst. Thus older "retired" people, many of who have never worked directly in the IC, but have the practical knowledge, expertise, and the salting of wisdom that only comes with time and life experiences, should be brought into the U.S. IC analyst community and applied to the difficult problems of the day. This is already the case in some analytic efforts. Expand this concept and formalize the IC's ability to muster the right people for temporary duty or for longer-term work. Improve the training and the tools that analysts throughout the IC use. There are ongoing efforts to do this. However, we need a modern and innovative approach that includes the application of technology-based tools in the context of all sources, sensors and methods. We need enough analysts, active and reserve, to meet our global military, technical, informational, cultural, political, diplomatic, economic, and homeland security intelligence needs, including very specific criminal and terrorism intelligence. We don't have enough now. Grow this part of the IC to a level adequate to the tasks ahead.

Patrick M. Hughes is a retired Army Lieutenant General and the former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency

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