Intelligence Community

The Intelligence Community (IC) of the United States Government

Definition
"The IC is a federation of executive branch agencies and organizations that work separately and together to conduct intelligence activities necessary for the conduct of foreign relations and the protection of the national security of the United States. These activities include:


 * "Collection of information needed by the President, the National Security Council, the Secretaries of State and Defense, and other Executive Branch officials for the performance of their duties and responsibilities;
 * "Production and dissemination of intelligence;
 * "Collection of information concerning, and the conduct of activities to protect against, intelligence activities directed against the US, international terrorist and international narcotics activities, and other hostile activities directed against the US by foreign powers, organizations, persons, and their agents;
 * "Special activities;
 * "Administrative and support activities within the US and abroad necessary for the performance of authorized activities; and
 * "Such other intelligence activities as the President may direct from time to time."

Members of the IC

 * Source:

DoD Members

 * Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) - provides timely and objective military intelligence to warfighters, policymakers, and force planners.


 * National Security Agency (NSA) - collects and processes foreign signals intelligence information for our Nation's leaders and warfighters, and protects critical US information security systems from compromise.


 * National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) - coordinates collection and analysis of information from airplane and satellite reconnaissance by the military services and the CIA.


 * National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency - provides timely, relevant, and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security.


 * Army Intelligence and Security Command - organized on January 1, 1977 as a combination of the US Army Security Agency (USASA), the US Army Intelligence Agency (USAINTA), and a number of different intelligence production agencies, most of which had been under the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence (ACSI) for direct control.


 * Office of Naval Intelligence - the oldest of America's intelliegence agencies, the ONI "no longer has only a Navy focus. It provides national products to national consumers and focus on all aspects of maritime intelligence vice Navy-only. Maritime intelligence includes the technical and operational intelligence needed to support training and equipping of the nation's seagoing forces as well as the detailed tracking and evaluation of civil maritime shipping. ONI is the only source for intelligence on civil maritime shipping worldwide and emphasize the national interests associated with weapons proliferation, chemical/biological/nuclear materials transfer, technology transfer, terrorism, drug smuggling, illegal migrant transfer, and the overall national and international concerns regarding ocean environment."


 * Marine Corps Intelligence Agency - intelligence division of the USMC, works closely with ONI.


 * Air Intelligence Agency - created in 1948 as the The United States Air Force Security Service, the USAFSS evolved into the Air Force Intelligence Comman in 1991 and the AIA in 1993. IN February, 2001, the AIA was realigned as a primary subordinate unit under the Air Force's Air Combat Command.  AIA uses information in real time to support missions as well as reconaissance missions to ensure treaty obligatins are met.


 * Counterintelligence Field Activity: "Formed in 2002, CIFA was established to oversee Defense Department counterintelligence investigations and training and to assess potential terrorist threats at home and abroad. It has gathered domestic and international data, including criminal, financial, credit and other records, as well as background information about foreign workers and scientists employed by the Defense Department and other U.S. agencies."

Non-DoD Members

 * Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) - provides accurate, comprehensive, and timely foreign intelligence on national security topics to national policy and decision makers.
 * National Clandestine Service: post 9/11 agency that is semi-dependent of the CIA
 * Department of Homeland Security (DHS) - prevents terrorist attacks within the United States, reduces America's vulnerability to terrorism, and minimizes the damage and recovers from attacks that do occur.
 * Coast Guard Intelligence
 * Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection
 * State Department - deals with information affecting US foreign policy.
 * Bureau of Intelligence and Research
 * Energy Department - performs analyses of foreign nuclear weapons, nuclear non-proliferation, and energy security-related intelligence issues in support of US national security policies, programs, and objectives.
 * Treasury Department - collects and processes information that may affect US fiscal and monetary policy
 * Office of Intelliegence and Analysis
 * Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelliegence
 * Federal Bureau of Investigation - deals with counterespionage and data about international criminal cases.
 * Drug Enforcement Agency
 * Office of National Security Intelligence

Responsibilities
"All the responsibilities of the CIA, DIA, NSA, NRO, and NGIA are concerned with intelligence. Therefore each of these organizations in its entirety is considered to be a member of the Intelligence Community.

"The other organizations are concerned primarily with missions and business other than intelligence, but do have intelligence responsibilities. In these cases, only the part of the organization with the intelligence responsibility is considered to be a part of the Community. In the case of the US Navy, for instance, only their Office of Naval Intelligence is an IC member. The rest of the Navy supports the DoD in missions other than intelligence."

SourceWatch Resources

 * Advanced Research and Development Activity
 * Bureau of Intelligence and Research
 * Bush administration homeland security
 * Bush administration militarization of government
 * domestic spying
 * George W. Bush's domestic spying
 * globalization
 * National Clandestine Service
 * National Counterproliferation Center
 * National Security State
 * National Security Strategy
 * Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive
 * Office of Homeland Security
 * President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board
 * Private security consultants