TP3 edited

Comparative Analysis of a Domestic Intelligence Agency for the United States

MEMO

TO: Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs

FROM: (Student’s Name)

PURPOSE: Comparative Analysis of a Domestic Intelligence Agency for the United States

BACKGROUND:

Over the past decades, the intelligence organizations have made several attempts to change its activities to monitor threats posed by terrorists through the use of other means. However, this has been deemed as a very complicated task. Besides, the complexity has been compounded by the disregard for the terrorist groups for their contempt for the transnational financing, law, as borders (Dahl, 2011). For this reason, the United States has made several attempts to make some changes towards the concept of domestic intelligence. Besides, there have been efforts to make reforms through the enactment of legislation coupled with several other initiatives.

Overall, there has been certainty whether such efforts could provide positive outcomes through improved intelligence. However, the challenges for establishing the intelligence capabilities mainly revolves within a broader structure to ensure that information gathering and sharing capabilities focus on building them through implementing oversight roles to protect the public, as well as civil liberty (Dahl, 2011). Moreover, the arrangements, coupled with gathering intelligence information sharing and oversight roles, are considered to be very vital components. As such, the best alternative is to establish a domestic intelligence agency. As such, the report offers an analysis of various issues that are associated with instituting domestic intelligence agency.

Also, it examines and analyzes organizations of other nations that have instituted democratic institutions. The best nations to learn from are the UK, India, as well as Australia. Furthermore, the examination will be used to determine whether the United States Intelligence reforms will mainly be centered on targeting the intelligence shortfalls. Moreover, it will also explore whether the establishment of the intelligence organization is a feasible idea to deal with the threats that are culminating in the present era caused by the terrorists.

DISCUSSION:

Several paradigms have changed the intelligence community after the 9/11 attacks in the US. These mainly focus on various state actors, which are currently facing threats that are posed by the terrorists. Also, the intelligence agency needs to deal with the threats that is represented by the terror groups that mainly make use of the relatively simple approaches to cause harm and inflict lows of life and other damages. This requires a more sophisticated intelligence tasks. Moreover, due to the disregard by the terrorists for the national borders, there is an urgent need to change the concept of domestic intelligence versus foreign intelligence.

The current era of domestic intelligence has raised several issues. These comprise of law enforcement as well as how intelligence operates in other parts of the world. For these reasons, one could seek to prosecute others to gather information. The next issue is associated with the development of many state fusion centered as well as the establishment of new agencies that focus on intelligence. As such, there is a need for corresponding needs in the area of bureaucratization. However, this also adds to the challenge of sharing intelligence information (Dahl, 2011). Perhaps, the most crucial issue should focus on the protection of civil liberties to provide useful oversight tasks.

The main drawback of establishing an effective domestic intelligence capability mainly focuses on how to organize such skills within the national intelligence frameworks. Also, it is essential to take into consideration how to focus on intelligence gathering and information sharing between the law enforcement agencies and how to establish and implement oversight mechanisms to offer protection to civil liberties (Svendsen, 2012). The other important area is to focus on how to ensure accountability with intelligence operations. As such, the most central regions comprise of organizational mechanisms, oversight, as well as information sharing. These are essential areas to establish and implement a useful domestic intelligence capability.

The current decentralized structure of FBI, coupled with inadequate and ineffective information technology, has made the body unable to acquire intelligence and knowledge that are under the custody by its components. Besides, the intelligence body cannot gather intelligence from several sources to produce an overall assessment of terrorist threats (Svendsen, 2012). Also, most of the FBI field offices cannot make counterterrorism a top priority since they understood very little concerning the 9/11 attacks. Moreover, the FBI never informed the policymakers of the magnitude of the terror attacks in the US. However, they carried several investigations, but the information they gathered did not align well with the extent of the attacks. The findings indicated that there had been a domestic intelligence gap that resulted in several more significant government initiatives coupled with internal FBI reforms.

RECOMMENDATION:

One of the proposed guidance, to achieve the organizational and information sharing challenges, is to establish a domestic intelligence agency. However, it has been observed that the United States is a unique nation, especially when compared with other highly industrialized countries that lacks domestic intelligence agencies. As such, it is essential to assess the feasibility, suitability, as well as the acceptability of establishing a domestic intelligence agency. This should be taken into consideration from the perspective of the organization, information sharing, as well as instituting an oversight (Svendsen, 2012). To achieve this, it is essential to examine the domestic intelligence organizations, which have well established liberal democratic organizations. As such, it is necessary to consider the United Kingdom’s Military Intelligence. This is necessary to determine how effective the organization is towards gathering intelligence and information sharing with regards to countering terrorism. Also, this will assist in identifying their strengths and weakness and in deciding the suitable policy recommendations for the United States.

There are specific criteria that can be applied to establish a measure for a domestic intelligence agency (Treverton, 2008). The organization partners with several countries to boost governance and also to determine the best policy recommendations that can enhance government reforms. For instance, some of the criteria entail the subordination of intelligence agencies to national laws, oversight, as well as effective coordination of the intelligence tasks.

It is important to examine regions that have put in place similar democratic agencies and threats. In this regard, nations such as Australia and India have a geographic scope, which can assist in determining the key factors that can be used to institute useful domestic intelligence capability for the U.S (Treverton, 2008). Moreover, the examinations are also beneficial since it will assist in determining whether the current intelligence reform policies are mainly geared to target the perceived intelligence challenges. Also, it will help in providing additional policy recommendations. Moreover, it will assist in determining whether the establishment and implementation of a domestic intelligence will be feasible and acceptable.

The other crucial alternative is to establish an intelligence agency that should solely focus on local intelligence and information gathering in the U.S. Proponents of domestic intelligence organizations have proposed the alternative as the most effective approach that can assist in addressing the domestic intelligence gap effectively. Also, advocates for the domestic intelligence agency argue that it will mainly emphasize on the government's commitment to preventing threats.

References

Dahl, E. (2011). Domestic Intelligence Today: More Security but Less Liberty?. Homeland Security Affairs, 7(2). Retrieved from https://rampages.us/keckjw/wp-content/uploads/sites/2169/2015/01/20110900Domestic-Intelligence-Today-More-Security-but-Less-Liberty%EF%80%A5.pdf.

Svendsen, A. D. (2012). The Federal Bureau of Investigation and change: Addressing US domestic counterterrorism intelligence. Intelligence and national security, 27(3), 371-397. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02684527.2012.668080.

Treverton, G. F. (2008). Should the United States Establish a Dedicated Domestic Intelligence Agency for Counterterrorism? Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. Retrieved from https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9369.html.