Description of the Intelligence Community

From the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) http://www.dni.gov/

An IC member is a federal government agency, service, bureau, or other organization within the executive branch that plays a role in the business of national intelligence. The Intelligence Community comprises many such organizations.

Except for the Central Intelligence Agency, intelligence offices or agencies are components of cabinet departments with other roles and missions. The intelligence offices/agencies, however, participate in Intelligence Community activities and serve to support the other efforts of their departments.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has all-source analytical capabilities that cover the whole world outside US borders. It produces a range of studies that cover virtually any topic of interest to national security policymakers. 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 US Government to influence political, economic, or military conditions abroad, where it is intended that the US role will not be apparent or acknowledged publicly.)

The four major intelligence agencies in the Department of Defense (DoD) are the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), National Security Agency (NSA), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). DIA is responsible for meeting the military intelligence analysis requirements of National and Military decision and Policy makers.  DIA is the only all-source military intelligence agency and manages Defense-wide capabilities for HUMINT, MASINT and the Global Defense Communications Network.  NSA is responsible for signals intelligence. 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 dependent upon precision guided weapons.

DIA is responsible for managing National all-source production efforts of the intelligence organizations of the four military services (Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marines) concentrating largely on strategic and tactical concerns related to their specific missions.  DIA facilitates intelligence operations and planning by bringing analysts and collectors from National and Defense intelligence agencies together under the Defense Joint Intelligence Operations Center (DJIOC).  The DJIOC along with a network of Joint Intelligence Operations Centers (JIOC) at the combatant commands are providing the war fighter greater access to national level intelligence community expertise and capabilities.

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 Federal Bureau of Investigation (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 (Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marines) 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 technical issues.

The Homeland Security Act provided the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responsibilities for fusing law enforcement and intelligence information relating to terrorist threats to the homeland. The Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate 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 non-proliferation and energy-security issues. It also has a robust counterintelligence effort.

The Department of the Treasury collects and processes information that may affect US fiscal and monetary policies. Treasury also covers the terrorist financing issue.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is the agency responsible for enforcing the controlled substances laws and regulations of the United States.