Mission and Objectives of the National Intelligence

National Intelligence Strategy

The Five Mission Objectives

Under the leadership of the Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, in 2005, the National Intelligence Strategy was developed. The strategy had a clear description of how the United States of America intelligence community was going to overhaul its function in intelligence in and out of America. It had five Mission Objectives in the effort of predicting, penetrating, and preempting the possible threats that face the security of the United States of America. The five objectives were (National Intelligence, 2005):

Defeating terrorists

The National Intelligence was out to ensure that all the efforts posed by terrorists in the fulfillment of their terrorism activities against the U.S.A. were defeated. They intended to do this through destabilization of their systems of support, leadership and the entire network. The strategy went further to state whose responsibility it was to carry this objective by naming the National Counterterrorism Center. The objective seemed to be driven by the past terrorism activities, whose consequences the U.S.A. has fatally suffered. For instance, one may think of the terrorist attacks on U.S. soil that occurred in 2001 on September 11, which are commonly referred to as the September 11 attacks. They were simultaneous attacks launched in New York City and Washington DC.

2. Countering the spread of mass destruction weapons

The second objective aimed at ensuring that there is the elimination of the use of weapons of mass destruction has been stopped or drastically slowed down to a final stop. The National Intelligence was aware that it was a hard nut to crack: the National Intelligence Strategy (NIS) stated that this objective had no single approach but instead a multi-faceted approach. However, it does not give the explicit details of ways in which it was to be executed except for stating that the focus was to be on transportation and the movement of these weapons of mass destruction. A good example of these weapons of mass destruction includes the chemical weapons that were manufactured and used by Iraq. The U.S., in its commitment to the objective, intercepted and ensured that these weapons had been recovered. It was to be implemented through the able support and leadership of the National Counter-Proliferation Center, alongside the integration of the analytical efforts of the intelligence community.

3. Supporting the democratic governments or those governments aspiring to be democratic

This objective was developed on the hypothesis that failed states favor the spread and expansion of extremism, which is the main cause of terrorism. The NIS stated that the intelligence community was to support new democratic governments by giving them intelligence predicting the possible threats to their economies and governments. It was also to support the military and diplomatic efforts, whenever intervention was necessary. The other role was to support the legislatures in the promotion of democracy within such governments. It was to be followed and implemented by the Deputy Director of National Intelligence. A good example is the support that the U.S.A. has given to Afghanistan to help rebuild it and empower the Afghan people.

4. Developing of innovative ways of penetrating and analyzing the difficult targets

The NIS was out to develop new methodologies of intelligence and improve the collection of human intelligence since the U.S. now is facing diverse and changing front of the adversaries. The effort was also to include the mechanisms of assessing the intelligence of these adversaries to have a cutting edge in countering them. An example where this objective applied was in the early cold war between the Soviet Union and the U.S.A. (Catino). The individual responsible for carrying out the objective was with the Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Collection, Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis, National Counterterrorist Center, and the National Counterintelligence Executive. They were to work in mutual liaison and support.

5. Increasing the role of strategic forecasting to the policy makers

NIS argues that besides the response of the intelligence community to the policy makers' requests, the community has to give predictive intelligence too. It implies that the legislatures have to be given prior information on the possible looming problems of national security. Therefore, the intelligence community has to develop, sustain, and be accessible to expertise across the nation. NIS proposed the promotion of a deeper cultural understanding, scientific and technological knowledge, and better language proficiency by the intelligence community. It can also be seen in the application in the war to reclaim Afghanistan and its people. The sole responsibility of identifying the existing gaps in the area, region, or expertise was to be with the Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis.

From a strategic intelligence perspective, these Mission objectives are the correct ones to be pursued with the introduction of a few other details. According to strategic intelligence, which involves the collection, processing, analysis, and dissemination of intelligence, the mission objectives have incorporated all these to provide reliable intelligence for policy or military plans (Powell & Bradford, 2000). However, that is not good enough alone. Strategic intelligence has various systems of abilities, which qualify a given intelligence. The system of abilities includes foresight, visioning, system thinking, motivating, and collaborating (Rolington, 2013).

Looking at foresight, the National Intelligence Strategy (NIS) seems to have clearly identified the threat against the U.S.A. As terrorism. Therefore, it is geared towards fighting terrorism and protecting the American soil and its people. In strategic intelligence, the identification of any threats or opportunities is a key factor considered in foresight. The five mission objectives have considered the threat confronting the U.S. On the other hand, visioning involves the conceptualization of a future state that is ideal based on foresight and the initiation of the implementation process. The NIS has also put this into consideration since the five objectives seem to suggest a possible course of action to fight the threat at hand and protect U.S. citizens.

System thinking involves the perception, synthesis, and integration of various elements that work together to achieve the desired purpose. The NIS has also considered this in its mission objectives. It is evidenced by the perfect layout has been put in place on how various arms in the intelligence community will co-work in the collection, analysis and integration of intelligence which can be acted upon by the policy makers and the military.