TOWARD INTEGRATING COMPLEX NATIONAL MISSIONS LESSONS FROM THE NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER’S DIRECTORATE OF STRATEGIC OPERATIONAL PLANNING February 2010 TOWARD INTEGRATING COMPLEX NATIONAL MISSIONS LESSONS FROM THE NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER’S DIRECTORATE OF STRATEGIC OPERATIONAL PLANNING Feburary 2010 About the Project On National Security Reform The Project on National Security Reform is a non- partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to helping create a national security system for the 21st century. in November 2008, PNSR’s Guiding Coalition, comprised of distinguished Americans with extensive service in the public and private sectors, stated unanimously that “the national security of the United States of America is fundamentally at risk” and endorsed the extensive analysis and recommendations in the PNSR report, Forging a New Shield. iv Foreword James R. Locher, III President and CEO, Project on National Security Reform in 2009, in partial fulfillment of its congressional mandate, Norman R. Augustine the Project on National Security Reform conducted a Retired Chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin Corporation comprehensive study of the National Counterterrorism Joel Bagnal Former Deputy Assistant to the Center’s (NCTC) mission to integrate whole-of-government President for Homeland Security counterterrorism capabilities into strategic plans. A team of Robert D. Blackwill Counselor, Council on Foreign Relations distinguished professionals from across the counterterrorism Gen. Charles G. Boyd community informed and guided the study. President and CEO, Business Executives for National Security LTG Daniel Christman Senior Vice President for International The report calls for strengthening the interagency processes Affairs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce that serve as the connective tissue among government Gen. Wesley Clark Former Supreme Allied Commander, agencies charged with countering the terrorist threat. it Europe Ruth A. David focuses on the Directorate of Strategic Operational Planning President and CEO, Analytic Services Inc. (DSOP) within NCTC, but identifies many systemic Leon Fuerth impediments with implications for the broader national Project on Forward Engagement, George Washington University security system. The review, based on the results of extensive Adm. Edmund P. Giambastiani Jr. Former Vice Chairman, research and engagement with government stakeholders, Joint Chiefs of Staff includes steps that the President, National Security Staff, Newt Gingrich Former Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives NCTC, and Congress could take immediately to further Adm. James M. Loy national security reform. Former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Jessica Tuchman Mathews President, Carnegie Endowment for Most of the analysis for this report was completed before International Peace the unsuccessful attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Mike McConnell Former Director of National Christmas Day. However, findings of the initial assessment Intelligence John McLaughlin conducted after this attack serve to validate the conclusions Former Deputy Director, Central Intelligence Agency and recommendations of this study and make an even James A. Nussle stronger case for action. This incident and other recent Former Director, Office of Manage- ment and Budget events reinforce the need for effective and integrated whole- Joseph S. Nye, Jr. University Distinguished Service of-government planning. Professor, Harvard Kennedy School Thomas R. Pickering Former Permanent Representative to the United Nations Brent Scowcroft President and Founder, The Scowcroft Group Jeffrey H. Smith Partner, Arnold and Porter Kenneth R. Weinstein James R. Locher iii Chief Executive Officer, Hudson Institute President and Chief Executive Officer Gen. Anthony Zinni Former Commander, U.S. Central Command v CORE STUDY TEAM Robert S. Kravinsky Project Director Daniel R. Langberg Deputy Project Director Creighton Vilsack Lead Research Analyst and Project Coordinator Cody M. Brown Senior Counsel and Chief of Legal Research CONTRIBUTING MEMBERS Elaine Banner Editor Nancy Bearg Senior Advisor Lauren Digby Project Coordinator Michael Drohan Project Coordinator Brian Helmer Senior Advisor Ken Hunter Senior Advisor Kurt Krausse Research Analyst Matthew Leatherman Research Analyst Alan Mangan Senior Advisor Glen Milan Editor Bob Polk Senior Advisor Jeffrey Ratner Legal Research Myra Shiplett Senior Advisor Julie Sokol Editor Ed Stevenson Senior Advisor Rei Tang Research Support NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER LIAISON Robert Newton Senior Group Chief, Programs and Resources, National Counterterrorism Center Directorate of Strategic Operational Planning PROJECT SPONSORS Lisa Gordon-Hagerty Senior Advisor, Good Harbor Consulting Former Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Usec, Inc. Former Director of the Office of Combating Terrorism, National Security Council Juan Zarate Senior Advisor, Center for Strategic and International Studies Former Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes vi ADVISORY TEAM Louis Bremer Vice President, Veritas Capital Former White House Fellow and Director of Strategy and Resources, HSC Former Vice President, Morgan Stanley Kevin Brock Principal, Booz Allen Hamilton Former Principal Deputy Director, National Counterterrorism Center Former Assistant Director, Directorate of Intelligence, FBI Dell Dailey Former Ambassador-at-Large for Counterterrorism, State Department Retired Lieutenant General, United States Army Ronnie Edelman Former Principal Deputy Chief of the Terrorism and Violent Crime Section, Criminal Division Former Deputy Chief of the Counterterrorism Section, National Security Division, Department of Justice Karen Marmaud Director of the U.S. Africa Command Office, Joint Staff Former Executive Director of the Office of International Affairs, Department of Homeland Security Former Director the Office of Combating Terrorism, National Security Council Pat O’Brien Principal, Booz Allen Hamilton Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing Former Department of Justice Counsel and Representative to the Terrorist Financing Policy Coordination Committee James Q. Roberts Principal Director of Special Operations Capabilities, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations / Low-Intensity Conflict and Interdependent Capabilities Marc Sageman Founder, Sageman Consulting LLC Forensic Psychiatrist and Counterterrorism Scholar, Universities of Pennsylvania and Maryland, CSIS, and the Foreign Policy Research Institute Former Case Officer, Central Intelligence Agency Mike Smith Director, Global Initiatives, Infrastructure Security and Energy Restoration Division, Department of Energy Retired Active Duty Army Judge Advocate David Trulio Director of Homeland Security Programs, Raytheon Company Former Executive Secretary and Special Assistant to the President, Homeland Security Council Caryn Wagner Former Budget Director, House Budget Committee Former Chief Financial Officer, Office of the Director for National Intelligence vii To meet the challenges of the 21st century – from terrorism to nuclear proliferation; from pandemic disease to cyber threats to crushing poverty – we will . use all elements of our national power. President Barack Obama viii Contents Preface . ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xi Executive Summary . xiii 1: Strategic Framework . 1 2: Overarching Assessment . 15 3: Evolution of a Mission. �������������������������������������������������������������������� 21 4: A New Paradigm: The Creation of Strategic Operational Planning . 29 5: DSOP Today . ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 39 6: Planning and Assessments . ���������������������������������������������������������� 45 7: Resource Oversight . 81 8: Managing the Enterprise . 93 9: DSOP’s Customers . ���������������������������������������������������������������������� 111 10: A View from the Hill . 139 11: Conclusions and Lessons for the Interagency Community. ���� 149 Appendix 1: Recommendations. ������������������������������������������������������ 155 Appendix 2: List of Abbreviations and Acronyms . ������������������������ 165 Appendix 3: Interagency Missions: Comparative Analysis of Existing Authorities. ���������������������������������������������������������������� 169 Appendix 4: Sec. 1242. of the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act: Success in Countering Al Qaeda Reporting Requirements Act. 173 ix P r e f a c e 2009 / 2010 Preface Established in 2004 within the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), the Directorate of Strategic Operational Planning (DSOP) is the nation’s first dedicated, whole-of- government planning cell for counterterrorism. Recommended by the 9/11 Commission and enacted by the intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act (iRTPA), DSOP was chartered to provide the “connective tissue” between national counterterrorism policy and strategy established by the President, normally via the National Security Council system,1 and counterterrorism operations conducted by the departments and agencies. in June 2009, the Project on National Security Reform (PNSR) launched an effort to conduct the first comprehensive study of DSOP. To conduct this study, PNSR chartered a Study Team (“Team”) and established an Advisory Team, comprised of a diverse group of distinguished