Intelligence and National Security Alliance

The Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) is a "non-profit professional association created to improve our nation's security through an alliance of intelligence and national security leaders in the private and public sectors," its website states. "INSA provides the leadership needed to solicit collaborative solutions that draw on the experience of public and private sector experts."

INSA, "a nonprofit professional association for members of the intelligence community -- including private contractors, academics and members of U.S. spy agencies -- is largely unknown," Alec Klein wrote April 2, 2007, in the Washington Post.

"That's quite a feat," Klein wrote, "because its chairman, retired Navy Vice Adm. John M. McConnell, the former head of the National Security Agency, left recently to be sworn in as director of national intelligence, the president's top intelligence adviser."

INSA "is working to introduce a growing network of private contractors, large and small, to government intelligence agencies. Like much of the rest of the government, U.S. intelligence agencies are increasingly outsourcing what they need in the name of expediency: cutting-edge technology, goods and services, such as gee-whiz satellites, particularly to protect against another terrorist attack," Klein wrote.

Jeremy Scahill, who has documented a number of private military corporations, wrote August 15, 2007, in The Indypendent. that INSA is "the private intelligence industry's lobbying arm". However, INSA's media contact Jason Kello responded to Scahill, writing in the article's comments section that


 * "The reporter mischaracterizes the organization of which Director McConnell served as chairman–the Intelligence and National Security Alliance–which by its charter and by law does not lobby. Instead, it includes current government officials, professors, academics and private sector intelligence practitioners in a public policy forum. INSA funds a teaching position at Georgetown University to teach intelligence policy and partners with the University of Maryland. INSA also had a strong relationship with the former DNI Negraponte who asked INSA to host some conferences in partnership with the ODNI. This topic is important enough to deserve more accurate reporting."

INSA Professor in the Practice of Intelligence
In October 2006, Georgetown University's Center for Peace and Security Studies (CPASS) and INSA announced "the establishment of the INSA Professor in the Practice of Intelligence for the 2006-2007 academic year", with Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. James R. Clapper, Jr., formerly director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, to "hold the one-year position and teach three courses exposing Georgetown students to the complex concerns of intelligence professionals."

Founding members
According to the INSA website, the following are cited as founding members.


 * BAE Systems
 * Booz Allen Hamilton
 * Computer Sciences Corporation
 * General Dynamics
 * Hewlett-Packard Company
 * Lockheed Martin
 * ManTech International Corporation
 * Microsoft
 * Potomac Institute
 * SAIC

Key personnel

 * Timothy R. Sample, President
 * Frank F. Blanco, Executive Vice President
 * Jason Kello, Media Inquiries
 * Rachel Patricca, Event Inquiries
 * Jared Gruber, Member Inquiries

Board members
INSA lists the following are members of the board of directors.


 * John O. Brennan, Chairman
 * Donna Bucella
 * RADM Isaiah Cole, USN (Ret.)
 * Robert A. Coleman
 * Barbara A. Duckworth
 * Claudia A. Erland
 * Terrance M. Ford
 * Thomas A. Gandy
 * MG Harry D. Gatanas, USA (Ret.)
 * Keith R. Hall
 * MG Robert A. Harding, USA (Ret.)
 * Tom Hempfield
 * LTG Patrick M. Hughes, USA (Ret.)
 * Michael J. Jacobs
 * Terry S. Kees
 * Dr. Kathleen L. Kiernan
 * Ellen E. McCarthy
 * Barbara A. McNamara
 * Carmen Medina
 * LTG Robert W. Noonan, USA (Ret.)
 * James R. O'Neill
 * Lloyd B. Rowland
 * Richard C. Schaeffer, Jr.
 * Jim Sheaffer
 * William G. Shernit
 * James F. Sloan
 * Lou Von Thaer
 * Samuel S. Visner
 * Caryn A. Wagner
 * Linda K. Zecher

Contact information
Intelligence and National Security Alliance (INSA) Ballston Metro Center Office Towers 901 North Stuart Street, Suite 205 Arlington, VA 22203 Phone: 703 224-INSA (224-4672) FAX: 703 224-4681 URL: http://www.insaonline.org

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Bush administration militarization of government
 * defense contractors
 * intelligence community
 * National Clandestine Service

External articles

 * "Booz Allen Senior VP McConnell Elected Chair of Prominent Intelligence Community Advocacy Group," BoozAllen.com, February 2, 2006.
 * Shane Harris, "Career officials hope new chiefs will stabilize spy agencies," National Journal (GovExec.com), January 12, 2007.
 * "Spies' Group Gets New Boss," UPI, April 27, 2007.
 * John Brennan, "With right system, spies can safely share secrets," Federal Times, May 21, 2007.

External resources

 * Intelligence and National Security Alliance in the Wikipedia.