Who Are the Customers for Intelligence?
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Association of Former Intelligence Officers From AFIO's The Intelligencer 7700 Leesburg Pike, Suite 324 Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies Falls Church, Virginia 22043 Web: www.afio.com, E-mail: [email protected] Volume 23 • Number 2 • $15 single copy price Fall 2017 ©2017, AFIO Intelligence Communities — Plural There are four communities that use intelligence: the national security community, the homeland secu- rity community, the law enforcement community, and GUIDE TO THE STUDY OF INTELLIGENCE the private sector. When thinking about intelligence, often the first thought one has is of the national intelligence commu- nity. This is the grouping of 16 agencies (not including the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Who Are the Customers its several centers) that are involved in intelligence sup- for Intelligence? port to national security, foreign and defense policy, military support, and counterespionage.3 The clients and customers of national security by Peter C. Oleson intelligence include the President and his national security team. While the President and members of ho uses intelligence and why? The short the National Security Council represent the apex of answer is almost everyone and to gain an this team, the national security team extends across advantage. While nation-states are most many departments and agencies of the federal gov- W ernment and geographically to the commanders of closely identified with intelligence, private corpora- 4 tions and criminal entities also invest in gathering the combatant commands and their subordinates. and analyzing information to advance their goals. Since the attacks of 9/11, other intelligence Thus the intelligence process is a service function, communities have evolved in the US senior officials or as Australian intelligence expert Don McDowell of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) refer describes it, to “homeland security intelligence” (HIS) and the “homeland security intelligence community” as some- Information is essential to the intelligence process. thing distinct from the national intelligence commu- Intelligence… is not simply an amalgam of collected nity.5 This homeland security intelligence community information. It is instead the result of taking infor- mation relevant to a specific issue and subjecting it includes governmental elements not included in to a process of integration, evaluation, and analysis the national intelligence community, including the with the specific purpose of projecting future events intelligence entities within the DHS Immigration and actions, and estimating and predicting outcomes.1 and Customs Enforcement Bureau, the Customs and Border Protection Bureau, the Transportation Secu- It is important to note that intelligence is pro- rity Administration, the US Secret Service, and state spective, or future oriented (in contrast to investiga- and regional intelligence fusion centers throughout tions that focus on events that have already occurred). the US. There is some overlap between the national As intelligence is a service, it follows that it has intelligence community and the homeland security customers for its products. McDowell differentiates intelligence community, as the Department of Home- between “clients” and “customers” for intelligence. land Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis and The former are those who commission an intelligence the US Coast Guard are members of both communi- effort and are the principal recipients of the resulting ties.6 According to a former head of DHS intelligence, intelligence product. The latter are those who have an homeland security intelligence interest in the intelligence product and could use it for their own purposes.2 Most scholars of intelligence do not make this distinction. However, it can be an 3. See http://www.odni.gov for the listing of the organizations of the important one as there is an implied priority associ- national intelligence community. ated with a client over a customer. 4. See the chart “Who Are the US Customers for Intelligence?” on pp. 57-58. 5. Remarks of Charlie Allen, former DHS undersecretary for intel- ligence to the International Association for Intelligence Education, Washington Chapter, September 14, 2010, from the notes of the author. 1. Don McDowell. Strategic Intelligence: A Handbook for Practitioners, 6. For a detailed overview of the HSI enterprise, see Mark A. Randol Managers, and Users, Rev. Ed., (Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow 2009, The Department of Homeland Security Intelligence Enterprise: Op- Press, Inc., 2009), 53. erational Overview and Oversight Challenges for Congress, Congressional 2. McDowell, 85. Research Service 7-5700, (2009) http://www.crs.gov, R40602. Fall 2017 Intelligencer: Journal of U.S. Intelligence Studies Page 55 “…needs to be more than just counterterrorism. Instead of the other members of this intelligence community. HSI needs to be a strategic effort based on creating a new Elements of the law enforcement intelligence commu- tradecraft rather than focusing on traditional formulas nity include the Drug Enforcement Administration 7 in terms of intelligence collection.” (DEA); the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Customers for homeland security intelligence Explosives; the US Marshals Service; the Bureau of include some of the same as above. The President, Prisons; and state, local, and tribal law enforcement the secretary of homeland security, and the attorney agencies. Both the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department general are all principal customers for such intelli- and the New York Police Department maintain sizable gence. But so are governors and other officials at the intelligence elements. As with the homeland security state, local, and tribal levels of government. Under intelligence community, there is overlap. For example, the US political system, if an incident occurs in a the FBI is a member of all three intelligence commu- state, the governor of that state is the principal in nities, and DEA is a member of the national and law charge of responding. The federal government plays enforcement intelligence communities. a supporting role. The establishment of intelligence Law enforcement intelligence has many of the fusion centers8 in many states represents a significant same customers that homeland security intelligence customer base for homeland security intelligence. does. At the federal level, principal customers would be These fusion centers are managed by state officials or the attorney general and the secretaries of the Treasury a consortium of regional and local law enforcement and homeland security, and the enforcement arms of officials. One example is the regional fusion center in their departments. Principal customers at the state the Cleveland, Ohio area, which is manned by state level include the state police organization and local and local police agencies and DHS assignees. Other jurisdictions, including tribal police. Many of the state fusion centers serve an entire state.9 intelligence fusion centers are “all threat” centers. While there is a strategic aspect to HSI, the great This term means that they focus on criminal activity emphasis is on operational and tactical intelligence other than terrorist activity, such as drug production that will allow prevention of a terrorist incident. and smuggling and gang activity. Principal customers for this level of homeland secu- Intelligence is no longer the exclusive purview of rity intelligence include the enforcement arms of the the government. Intelligence techniques have been DHS, the Department of Justice, state and local police adopted by private businesses seeking to be com- departments, and other first responders.10 Special petitive in an increasingly global marketplace. Many mechanisms have been created to allow the sharing major corporations now employ analysts that utilize of classified national intelligence with often uncleared the intelligence skills and techniques traditionally state, local, and tribal police.11 identified with the national intelligence community. Similarly, with the adoption of the “intelli- These include market analysis for business planning gence-led policing” concept since 2000, there has been and investment, the protection of critical infrastruc- a growing law enforcement intelligence community. tures against criminals and others who would exploit The FBI uses intelligence for more than counterterror- them, and identification and pursuit of counterfeiters ism and counterespionage investigations, as do many of a company’s goods. 7. INSA Insider, November 23, 2010. This is an e-mail sent periodically Uses of Intelligence to Intelligence and National Security Alliance association members. 8. “State and major urban area fusion centers serve as focal points Intelligence has no intrinsic value. Intelligence within the state and local environment for the receipt, analysis, gath- collected, analyzed, and put on the shelf is worthless. ering, and sharing of threat-related information between the Federal Government and state, local, tribal, territorial, and private sector It is wasteful of expensive and often dangerous efforts. partners.” US National Intelligence: An Overview 2013, at http://www. Intelligence is a service, and should be evaluated as ODNI.gov. 9. Briefing by the Cleveland fusion center to the annual AFIO confer- such. Its raison d’être is to assist others in the accom- ence in 2011. plishment of their goals. This could be a national 10. See Chapter 2 of Carter, D. L. (2009). Law Enforcement Intelligence: