"In 2003, the Department of Defense established the Under Secretary for Intelligence (amended in 2020 to the Under Secretary for Intelligence and Security); the office acts as a chapeau for Defense Intelligence. Its role in oversight of the Military Intelligence Program arguably could give it influence over the defense intelligence agencies and services, if the office leaned into its leadership role."
"Important technological advancements need to be the heart beat of how the IC does its work. Global conditions are emphasizing the need for gray zone work/cognitive warfare which currently is a side hustle of the IC and needs to become a focus."
"Congress is proposing changes to the , legislating procurement, and legislating definitions of covert warfare versus irregular warfare, but that remains piecemeal and not far reaching enough. As a whole, the IC has been directed to downsize. This is sorely needed as the overlap and bloated bureaucracies help to develop the go it alone mindset. A leaner IC will force integration."
The 1947 National Security Act created the CIA and subsequent changes have been incremental rather than transformational. The Department of Defense created an Under Secretary for Intelligence in 2003 and Congress created the DNI in 2004 without reengineering the community's structure. Three critical junctures demand fundamental reorganization: rapid technological advances, escalating gray‑zone and cognitive warfare, and an overly unwieldy, dispersed bureaucracy. Congressional fixes and procurement rules remain piecemeal. Directed downsizing is necessary to eliminate overlap, reduce bureaucratic bloat, and force integration so the intelligence community can prioritize technology and focused covert and irregular operations.
#intelligence-community-reform #technology--innovation #gray-zonecognitive-warfare #organizational-downsizing
Read at The Cipher Brief
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]