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Task Force on Domestic Security Structures and Processes

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Task Force on Domestic Security Structures and Processes Task Force on Domestic Security Structures and Processes Blue Ribbon Panel Material September 2014 Contents REQUEST FROM GENERAL NORTY SCHWARTZ ................................................................................ I A NOTE FROM THE TASK FORCE CHAIR .......................................................................................... II BLUE RIBBON PANELISTS ............................................................................................................... III EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................... IV THE CASE FOR CHANGE................................................................................................................... 1 FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................ 3 I. LEADERSHIP OF DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL .............................................. 3 II. CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT ......................................................................................................... 13 III. FEDERAL LEVEL AGENCIES ............................................................................................................... 15 IV. FIELD LEVEL ENTITIES ...................................................................................................................... 25 V. VERTICAL INFORMATION FLOWS AND SHARING ............................................................................ 34 VI. HUMAN RESOURCE ISSUES ............................................................................................................. 39 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................. 42 GLOSSARY ...................................................................................................................................... 44 REQUEST FROM GENERAL NORTY SCHWARTZ Dear Blue Ribbon Panelists, Thank you all for agreeing to participate as Blue Ribbon Panelists for the BENS’ Task Force on Domestic Security Structures and Processes. As you know, a dedicated group of BENS members has been working over an extended period on evaluating the efficacy of post-9/11 intelligence reforms. We present to you now a report on their findings and suggested recommendations for improving the performance of those who produce domestic intelligence and those who provide for public safety. Your role as members of the Blue Ribbon Panel is to review the report; vet it based on your extensive experience; and help identify and come to agreement on the most salient and actionable final recommendations necessary to achieve critical changes. In short, we ask you to help us shape this product—to make it a compelling call to action. Our timeline commences on September 18th, with a welcome dinner in Washington from 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm at Bobby Van’s Grill, 1201 New York Ave NW, followed by a half-day meeting the morning of the 19th from 8:00 am- 12:00 pm at the BENS office, 1030 15th Street, NW. We plan for a second in- person meeting in Washington on October 28th, details will be forthcoming. In addition, we will leave open the possibility of a third and final meeting or all-participant conference call(s) to ensure consensus. Throughout this process, BENS staff and the BENS members who have drafted this report will be available to answer questions, conduct additional research as needed, and to generally assist Blue Ribbon panelists in all aspects of your work. We look forward to seeing all of you at our welcome dinner on September 18th and the inaugural meeting on September 19th. You will also receive separately a package of research and background material to assist you in your review of the findings and recommendations. In the interim, should you have any questions, comments or ideas, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly or our Staff Director, Lauren Bedula ([email protected]/ 202-296-2125). Thank you once again for your participation, and we here at BENS look forward to working with you toward a truly important and meaningful outcome: making our nation safer. All the best, General Norton A. Schwartz, USAF (Ret) President and CEO Business Executives for National Security (BENS) I A NOTE FROM THE TASK FORCE CHAIR II BLUE RIBBON PANELISTS Michael Allen Hon. Thomas Kean Former Majority Staff Director House Chair The National Commission on Terrorist Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Attacks Upon the United States United States House of Representatives Former Governor of New Jersey Alfred Berkeley Michael Leiter Vice Chair National Infrastructure Advisory Former Director of the National Council Counterterrorism Center Former President NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. Senator Joseph Lieberman Hon. Michael Chertoff Former United States Senator (CT) Former Secretary of Homeland Security Former Chairman Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee United States Commissioner Edward Davis Senate Former Commissioner, Boston Police Department James Locher Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Hon. Robert Graham Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict Former Governor of Florida Former Chairman Senate Select Committee on Steven McCraw Intelligence United States Senate Director, Texas Department of Public Safety Homeland Security Advisor to the Governor of Captain David Hall Texas Director Missouri Information and Analysis Center Norton Schwartz President & CEO Business Executives for Hon. Lee Hamilton National Security Former United States Representative (IN) Vice Chair The National Commission on Maurice Sonnenberg Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States Former Member President’s Intelligence Advisory Board Michael Hayden Vice Chair Report of the National Commission Former Director CIA on Terrorism Former Director NSA Frances Townsend Brian Michael Jenkins Former Assistant to the President for Homeland Senior Advisor to the President RAND Security and Counterterrorism Corporation Juan Zarate Dr. Loch K. Johnson Former Deputy Assistant to the President and Regents Professor of Political Science University Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating of Georgia Terrorism III EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Storm clouds are gathering: home-grown, self-radicalized extremists and Latin American human and drug traffickers; Al-Qaeda spin-offs occupying swaths of ungoverned territory; jihadists trained abroad and jihadists returning home; all are joining forces in ways unimagined by the 9/11 Commission and creating threats that were not directly addressed by the post-9/11 reforms. Empowered by the internet and social media, the new threats draw their power and ability to surprise from the very nature of their dispersion and interconnectedness at the same time. These terrorist and criminal actors are finding new ways to communicate, collaborate and conspire. The gathering storm is a challenge to the brittle structure of our post 9/11 intelligence apparatus, perched atop a 1947 security architecture. America continues to be at risk, the terrorist threat is evolving, and the 21st century Maginot Line of our post 9/11 reforms, and their imperfect implementation, will not likely keep the threat at bay for much longer. After interviews with over 100 senior and knowledgeable people in the intelligence community, its overseers, managers and consumers, as well as multiple visits to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), the National Security Council (NCS) and a number of fusion centers, we can state that there is broad agreement that reforms and improvements in the domestic intelligence structures and processes are required. The changed nature of the terrorist threat puts ever-greater emphasis on the need for a domestic counterterrorism architecture to be as organized, as nimble and as effective as possible; and it places heightened importance on the ability of federal, state, and local governments to acquire, process, and share high value information rapidly and securely, using common standards and procedures. We have learned from our research there is no single cure-all for a challenge this vast and vital. Yet, if forced to highlight the greatest weakness in our domestic intelligence apparatus we reply there is little doubt that our national failure to treat the domestic intelligence enterprise as a whole – as is foreign intelligence – is its greatest flaw. This failure results in a number of follow-on problems, the most significant one being that the domestic security efforts of the United States Government – to say nothing of the activities of the 50 states and thousands of local entities – are performed in a disparate and relatively spontaneous array of agencies and entities that not only lack a planned, holistic and connected effort, but also the crucial ingredient of central and empowered leadership. Our findings point us to recommendations that are “of a piece.” Interlocking, they fit together as a rational scheme without upsetting the apple cart of existing structures and processes. We have sought to examine form and function, and through that process offer our management appraisal of how the rough edges of our domestic intelligence apparatus can be polished and smoothed, so that the existing gears of this early detection, prevention and warning machine can operate with greater precision and with fewer
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