Vision 2015

Vision 2015: A Globally Networked and Integrated Intelligence Enterprise

Background on Vision 2015

Academic Influences

Dr. Jennifer E. Sims is currently Director of Intelligence Studies and Visiting Professor in the Security Studies Program at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.

Dr. Sims spoke at the Building Strategic Concepts for the Intelligence Enterprise Conference in January 2008. She was a part of the panel and touched on the following topic of Intelligence being a part of a competitive business.

:* She states that intelligence is part of a competitive business. Due to the preponderance of bureaucratic competition, intelligence can get roped into bureaucratic politics and even become privatized to advance the careers of individual bureaucrats.

:* The competition in which the IC is engaged is anarchic in nature, and in this kind of environment, the goal should not be getting analysis exactly correct, but ensuring that the IC can provide policymakers with a competitive advantage. Overall, the IC should have the latitude to be wrong, but to be less wrong than the adversary, because the United States does not want analysts to be risk averse in scoping out policy options.

Dr. Sims along with other professionals in academia were among those who attended this conference. They participated in Panel Discussions and were among the key note speakers. Through a collaborative effort between Intelligence professionals and professionals in academia at this conference, IDeaS that were shared likely had an influence on the drafting of Vision 2015.

On the topic of bureaucratization. Dr. Arvind Gupta, who is a professor at Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis in New Delhi. In his critique of Vision 2015 is that there is a lesson in the document for highly bureaucratized intelligence organizations elsewhere as well, in terms of how they can keep ahead of their adversaries like non-state actors whose key strength is that they are networked, adaptable, scalable and agile. And they do not suffer from the weight of bureaucratized functioning and seem to have the “decision advantage over state agencies.

Vision 2015 relationship with other main intelligence documents

National Security Strategy

The National Security Strategy of the United States of America is a document prepared periodically by the executive branch of the government of the United States for congress which outlines the major national security concerns of the United States and how the administration plans to deal with them.

On March 16, 2006, the latest National Security Strategy was issued. It is a return to the more multilateral approach of previous administrations. It restates America's commitment to supporting democracies and defeating [...], puts forth a plan to restructure institutions related to national security, and discusses the challenges of globalization.

As mentioned in the 2002 National Security Strategy globalization is affecting the way we address issues in national security. These new flows of trade, investment, information, and technology are transforming national security. Globalization has exposed us to new challenges and changed the way old challenges touch our interests and values, while also greatly enhancing our capacity to respond.

The major institutions of American national security were designed in a different era to meet different challenges. They must be transformed. In the report it mentions that the capacity of agencies to plan, prepare, coordinate, integrate, and execute responses covering the full range of crisis contingencies and long-term challenges still needs improvement. This would overlap with the call for agencies to collaborate with one another and share information as mentioned in Vision 2015.

One problem with this push for intelligence agencies to work together and share information is the fact that the agencies in the Intelligence Community usually work in a compartmentalized fashion. The agencies that make up this community are highly protective about their information and share it with others only with great reluctance. Vision 2015 stresses the need to change this secretive mindset, noting that the information collected by intelligence agencies should be owned by all so that it is available to others who need it in a timely fashion. Joint ownership of information is a novel concept. and is key to addressing the issues of cooperation among agencies.

National Intelligence Strategy

The National Intelligence Strategy states that Enterprise Objectives “relate to our capacity to maintain competitive advantages over states and forces that threaten the security of our nation.”[13]

In relation to Vision 2015, some over lapping themes found in the National Intelligence Strategy that relates to the main objectives within the Vision 2015 are listed below.

:*Create a new culture that promotes alternative viewpoints and uses expertise: Changing the internal culture of the intelligence community is essential for avoiding strategic failures. It is necessary to create an intellectual culture that promotes discussion as well as dissenting opinion. It will require the use of collaborative technology, where subject expertise is maximized, increased cross-agency communication, and the exploration of alternative analysis. The responsibility for meeting this objection falls under the Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis.

:* Optimize Collection Capabilities: It is necessary that the US intelligence community maintains its technological edge in the world, however, it must also become more agile in its deployment.Doing so requires an increase in collection from open-sources, human sources, and better utilization of technology among the entire intelligence community.

:* Change the culture from ‘need-to-know’ to ‘need-to-share’: Increasing collaboration at all levels requires reversing the perception of how information is disseminated. The intelligence community must embrace a “need-to-share” mentality rather than a “need-to-know,” with the purpose of allowing policymakers to find and access intelligence in a timely manner. New collaborative tools are likely required to accomplish this objective.

:* Increase cooperation among allies’ intelligence services: The NIS seeks to increase collaboration and coordination among other nations’ intelligence agencies. The US and other nations face certain common threats, and therefore, increasing cooperation among other nations is desirable. However, intelligence gained from such partnerships is to be scrutinized against against US-collected intelligence - for the purpose of corroboration.

Overview of Vision 2015

In July 2008, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a document entitled Vision 2015: A Globally Networked and Integrated Intelligence Enterprise. This vision charts a new path forward for a globally networked and integrated Intelligence Enterprise for the 21st century, based on the principles of integration, collaboration, and innovation. It also makes the argument that the fundamental mission of intelligence is to create a decision advantage for our customers—policymakers, military commanders, law enforcement, and homeland security officials; the ability to collect and analyze intelligence to improve our customer’s ability to make a decision while denying our competitors the same advantage. The Vision establishes some core concepts:

:*Develop integrated capabilities to stay ahead of the threat and address emerging challenges and new missions such as cyberspace and energy security.

:*Create a new customer engagement model that both broadens our customer set while deepening our relationships. This will also require a new definition of “customer” to include intelligence partnerships, clients, customers, and consumers and new approaches to tailor our services to each customer set.

:*Improve our ability to anticipate the “unknown unknowns” and prevent strategic surprise through better Global Awareness and Strategic Foresight capabilities.

:*Create and sustain a mission-focused integrated operating model that transcends agency and functional silos to focus intelligence resources and collaborate on the critical mission areas that challenge our national security and put our nation at risk.

:*Field a Net-centric information environment that enables end-users to discover, access, and exploit intelligence information in a secure, tailored manner. This also requires us to network our collection assets to allow them to work autonomously and cooperatively in near-real time.

:*Remove the barriers to cross-agency collaboration by integrating the strategic enablers of the Intelligence Enterprise— human capital, knowledge management, business systems, logistics and facilities, science and technology, and acquisition and procurement.