The Various Intelligence Agencies in the US - Case Study Example

US Intelligence Agencies, Their Evolution and Role In Relation to Homeland Security s Title Date: US Intelligence Agencies, Their Evolution and Role In Relation to Homeland Security The main threat to the US national security as outlined by White House Washington (2010, p.4) is that of terrorism. Other threats include threats of cyber crime, and increased proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The main responsibility of the country’s leadership is to ensure the safety and security of its entire people as argued by The White House Washington (2010, p.4). To adequately protect the national security, United States has intelligent agencies that gather and generate domestic and foreign intelligence. The agencies form a community as noted by Priest, (2011, p. 5) of sixteen agencies working separately and in cooperation. The agencies comprise of the military intelligence, independent intelligence agencies, and civilian agencies in addition to the analysis offices within the federal executive departments. This paper will explore the various intelligence agencies in US, their evolution and their role in ensuring homeland security. Central Intelligence Agency established 64 years ago on September 18th, 1947. As pointed out by Priest (2011, p. 10), the agency is a civilian intelligence agency for the government. Priest (2011, p. 10) notes that the agency succeeded Office of Strategic Services which had been formed during World War II. Established under the National Security Act of 1947, CIA lacks police or law enforcement responsibilities neither at home nor abroad. CIA’s primary role as noted by Priest (2011, p. 10) is to gather information on foreign governments, individuals and corporations and advise the public policy makers. The Agency has gone through evolution over the last 64 years since its formation. As explained by Turner (2006, p. 24), CIA gained more authority to conduct overt operations against hostile groups or foreign nations or and in support of friendly nation or group which are organized that the responsibility of America’s government for them is not evident. Consequently, Turner (2006, p. 24) describes that in 1949; CIA was authorized by Central Intelligence Agency Act to use confidential administrative and fiscal actions and exempted it from the rigorous limitations on its expenditure of Federal money. The Act further exempted CIA from disclosing its organization, titles, functions, salaries and number of employees. Moreover the 1949 Act established the PL-110 program charged with the responsibility of handling defectors and critical aliens. According to Turner (2006, p. 24), CIA went through a major transformation in December 2004 when its responsibilities and organization changed with the creation of the office of the Director of National Intelligence following the passage of Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. The new office took over the leadership and management of the intelligence community from CIA. Central Intelligence Agency has a key role in ensuring homeland security in America. Turner (2006, p. 10) argues that the main threat that CIA tries to deter is terrorism. Terrorism was noted by The White House Washington (2010, p.4) as the greatest threat to the security of America and therefore with CIA working to prevent terrorism, it helps to guarantee homeland security. CIA collects information on weapons of mass of destruction which could be used against America by hostile countries and groups. This information is then used to advise the policy makers. As pointed out by Turner (2006, p. 19), CIA monitors the implementation of agreements and therefore can adequately advise on the impacts of the agreement to the security of America. Since CIA is involved in collection of intelligent information on the threats facing the country, the agency can help enhance homeland security by deterring criminal activities before they are undertaken. This is because with adequate preparation, prevention of terrorism is easier. The other way that CIA helps ensure homeland security is being at the forefront in trying to bring peace in countries at war and this ensures stability in most states. With stability within and beyond the Americans borders, the citizens are under less under threat of external attacks. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is charged with the responsibility of producing and managing the foreign intelligence needed by Department of Defense as explained by Priest, (2011, p. 13). DIA is the chief member of the America’s Intelligence Community. The agency was established on 1st October, 1961 but in 1986 it was nominated as a combat support agency. According to Priest, (2011, p. 12) the mission of the agency is that it of conducting defense intelligence from all-sources to prevent planned surprises and give decisions relevant to the army, policy makers and those involved in planning for defense. The agency works globally with its partners to guarantee America’s national security. Until the formation of Defense Intelligence Agency, the three military departments gathered, processed and shared intelligent information for single use. This was observed to be costly and duplication of tasks and was consequently deemed to be ineffective as observed by Priest, (2011, p. 12). The 1958 Defense Reorganization Act was passed to correct this by introducing a proposal for the formation of Unified and Specified Command group to carry out intelligence activities. Despite this, the responsibilities and coordination were not encouraging and this lead to the formation of a joint group in 1960 by the president to propose better ways of enhancing military intelligence. The group recommended the formation of Defense Intelligence Agency. According to Priest, (2011, p. 13), DIA has gone through evolution to make it effective in ensuring the national security. In 1962, National Defense Intelligence College was formed by DIA and in 1963, the agency it formed a production Center. In 1963, the agency acquired automated data processing center and a technical Intelligence Directorate. In the same year it took over the J-2 staff support functions. In 1965, Priest (2011, p. 13) explains that the agency was charged with the responsibility of Defense Attaché system. In the 1970s, DIA focused its efforts in merging its responsibilities and asserting it as a reliable producer of national intelligence. Priest (2011, p. 13) observes that there was massive Congressional review between 1975 and 1976 which created upheavals within the intelligence community. During this period, DIA enhanced support to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Unified and Specified Commands and the Joint Chiefs of staff. Through a charter revision in 1977, the DIA’s relationship with JCS and Secretary of Defense was clarified. In 1979, the Executive Order 12036 was promulgated and this better defined the responsibilities of DIA where the agency was organized into five major directorates of production, operations, external affairs, J-2 support and resources. In 1983, there was creation of Project Socrates within DIA by Regan’s administration to research on flow of technology in USSR but later its mandate was strengthened to monitor foreign technology advancement. The project came to a halt in 1990 following reduced funding from the government as described by Priest (2011, p. 13) In 1992, Defense Intelligence Agency acquired the Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center and Missile and Space Intelligence Center which were previously linked with the army as part of merging production of intelligence. In December 2007, Defense Intelligence Operations Coordination Center (DIOCC) was established by DIA to bring together all defense intelligence resources on the international threats to America’s national security and strengthen collaboration in production of defense intelligence. The Defense Intelligence Agency plays a critical role in ensuring homeland security. Its prime responsibility of the production of strategic military intelligence helps to secure the borders of America from external attacks. This is important to prevent America from its greatest threat of terrorism. To enhance this, the agency collects information on weapons of mass destruction which could be used to attack Americans. Further, DIA is mandated to assess the present and expected threats to the national security. This is critical for homeland security as this helps to identify threats to homeland security early enough and therefore put up preventive measures. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is another intelligence agency in US which helps to enhance homeland security. The agency is threat-based and intelligence motivated organization with the tasked with the function of protecting US from key threats and safeguard human rights. It is main responsibility is to combat threat of terrorism, counter-intelligence and deal with cyber crime. To discharge its mandate of countering terrorism, the agency pays keen attention to efforts by terrorists to procure and use weapons of mass destruction as asserted by Priest (2011, p. 67). The agency must remain dynamic to the ever-changing trends of terrorists in their financing, recruitment, training and development of new weapons. In counterintelligence, the agency is involved in collection of information on possible foreigners who may be out there with intention of stealing technological innovations for a foreign government. FBI also monitors closely cyber crimes where terrorists may target to intrude to the national information, or individuals spreading malicious codes. Charles (2007, p. 8) describes that FBI is mostly involved in monitoring national and international criminal groups, dangerous escapees and kidnappers. It is also involved in deterring of crimes that affect health and economy, money laundering schemes and environmental crimes. FBI has been in existence for a long it and during this period it has undergone transformations to make it more responsive to the security needs of US. FBI has a long history and its formation is linked to the Supreme’s Court observation in 1886 in Wabash that states had no power to regulate interstate trade as noted by Charles (2007, p. 17). In 1887 therefore, an Interstate Commerce Act established a federal responsible for enforcement of interstate responsibility. In the early 1900, the Attorney General stepped in to enhance collaboration among agencies but was faced with opposition from the Congress who opposed use of treasury employees as investigators. Charles (2007, p. 29) argues that to counter this, the attorney general in 1908 came up with Bureau of Investigation that had its own staff. The staff mostly came from the Secret Service. Charles (2007, p. 10) describes that in 1932, BIO changed its name to United States Bureau of Investigation and in 1935 the name was changed to Federal Bureau of investigation. With the 1984 Olympics beckoning, FBI formed a special elite unit to help in problems that could arise during the event mostly dealing with crime and terrorism. In the same year, the Agency formed Computer Analysis and Response team. In the early 1990s and late 1980s, FBI redeployed its agents assigned in foreign counter-intelligence to combating violent crimes. During this period, the agency made violent crime the sixth national priority. The agency has implemented major technological innovations with the development of fingerprints identification in 1924 by BIO, introduction of DNA test to investigate crime and adoption of forensic accounting in 1980s. This agency is critical in maintaining of homeland security by ensuring that they remain high alert on the most important threat to the national security; that is terrorism. The agency also helps to combat violent crimes as a way of ensuring there is stability with the US borders and beyond the borders. This is important since with stability, security is easy to maintain. The agency also carries out investigation on threats to the national security like revolution which is critical to homeland security. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is also involved in developing map and image based intelligence to the national defense for homeland security and safe navigation. The agency provides information of where and when the threat may come from. The agency uses modern technology to acquire information from remote sources. Other intelligent agencies within US defense as noted by Priest (2011, p. 7) include the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity, National Security Agency, Office of Naval Intelligence, and Air intelligence and security command. There are also other agencies that are under different departments such as energy, treasury, and justice. All this agencies play a role in ensuring that homeland security is upheld by identifying national and international security threats to US homeland security. In conclusion, US have multiple intelligence agencies that are tasked with ensuring homeland security. Defense Investigation Agency, FBI and CIA are among these agencies and the work towards ensuring that the major threat to the US security which has been identified as terrorism is combated. The agencies detect and produce intelligence reports on threats to the national security early to ensure proper planning to ensure the citizens are safe. The agencies are also involved in advising the policy makers and planners on the correct steps to ensure security. To increase their effectiveness and efficiency in operations, the agencies have gone through major transformations over the years. Apart from efforts to gather information to help deter terrorism, the agencies participate in investigating cyber crimes and violent crimes which are a threat to national security. References Charles, M. (2007). J. Edgar Hoover and the Anti-interventionists: FBI Political Surveillance and the Rise of the Domestic Security State, 1939–1945. Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University Press. Priest, D. (2011). Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State. Little, Brown and Company. Turner, S (2006). Burn before Reading: Presidents, CIA Directors, and Secret Intelligence. Hyperion. The White House Washington (2010). National Security Strategy. Retrieved 17th January, 2012 from http://www.dni.gov/overview.pdf Read More