Intelligence Issues for Congress
Intelligence Community
The Intelligence Community (defined at 50 U.S.C. 401a(4)) consists
of the following:
- Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
- Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State
(INR)
- Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)
- National Security Agency (NSA)
- National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)
- National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA)
- Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
- Army Intelligence
- Navy Intelligence
- Air Force Intelligence
- Marine Corps Intelligence
- Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
- Coast Guard (CG)
- Treasury Department
- Energy Department
- Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)
Except for the CIA, intelligence offices or agencies are components
of cabinet departments with
other roles and missions. The intelligence offices/agencies,
however, participate in Intelligence
Community activities while supporting the other efforts of their
departments.
The CIA remains the keystone of the Intelligence Community. It has
all-source analytical
capabilities that cover the whole world outside U.S. borders. It
produces a range of studies that
address virtually any topic of interest to national security
policymakers. The CIA also collects
intelligence with human sources and, on occasion, undertakes covert
actions at the direction of
the President. (A covert action is an activity or activities of the
U.S. Government to influence
political, economic, or military conditions abroad, where it is
intended that the U.S. role will not
be apparent or acknowledged publicly.)
Three major national-level intelligence agencies in DOD—the National
Security Agency (NSA),
the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and the National
Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
(NGA)—absorb the larger part of the national intelligence budget.
NSA is responsible for signals
intelligence and has collection sites throughout the world. The NRO
develops and operates
reconnaissance satellites. The NGA prepares the geospatial
data—ranging from maps and charts
to sophisticated computerized databases—necessary for targeting in
an era in which military
operations are dependent upon precision guided weapons. In addition
to these three agencies, the
Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is responsible for defense
attachés and for providing DOD
with a variety of intelligence products. Although the Intelligence
Reform Act provides extensive
budgetary and management authorities over these agencies to the DNI,
it does not revoke the
responsibilities of the Secretary of Defense for these agencies.
There is a need for close
cooperation, but also an opportunity for disagreements that could
greatly complicate the
intelligence effort.
The State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) is
one of the smaller
components of the Intelligence Community but is widely recognized
for the high quality of its
analysis. INR is strictly an analytical agency; diplomatic reporting
from embassies, though highly
useful to intelligence analysts, is not considered an intelligence
function (nor is it budgeted as
one).
The key intelligence functions of the FBI relate to counterterrorism
and counterintelligence. The
former mission has grown enormously in importance since September
2001, many new analysts
have been hired, and the FBI has been reorganized in an attempt to
ensure that intelligence
functions are not subordinated to traditional law enforcement
efforts. Most importantly, law
enforcement information is now expected to be forwarded to other
intelligence agencies for use in
all-source products.
The intelligence organizations of the four military services
concentrate largely on concerns
related to their specific missions. Their analytical products, along
with those of DIA, supplement
the work of CIA analysts and provide greater depth on key military
and technical issues.
The Homeland Security Act (P.L. 107-296) provided the new Department
of Homeland Security
(DHS) responsibilities for fusing law enforcement and intelligence
information relating to
terrorist threats to the homeland. The Office of Intelligence and
Analysis in DHS participates in
the inter-agency counterterrorism efforts and, along with the FBI,
has focused on ensuring that
state and local law enforcement officials receive information on
terrorist threats from national-level
intelligence agencies.
The Coast Guard, now part of DHS, deals with information relating to
maritime security and
homeland defense. The Energy Department analyzes foreign nuclear
weapons programs as well
as nuclear nonproliferation and energy-security issues. It also has
a robust counterintelligence
effort. The Treasury Department collects and processes information
that may affect U.S. fiscal
and monetary policies. Treasury also covers the terrorist financing
issue.
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