Although the United States has a very strong and effective intelligence community, there are several unavoidable challenges that set back some of the processes and hinders the intelligence community from working to its full potential. The most important challenges that I see include flow of information, civil liberties and secrecy.
Since the United States does not have one large domestic intelligence agency that completes all intelligence-related tasks, it is much more difficult for them to be able to transfer information to the right people in a timely manner. I think it is very beneficial that we are able to have such a wide variety of intelligence agencies, each with a specific mission set so subject matter experts can focus on their mission to the best of their abilities, however, on the flip side, many of them have to jump through hoops to get additional information on certain subjects or track down the originator of a product. Having so many different agencies requires a lot more work to get a good flow of communication between the agencies and a lot of valuable information can be lost in the process.
Civil liberties always has and always will be a major challenge for the intelligence community. In order to do their job effectively, intelligence personnel need to be able to conduct surveillance around the clock. Especially in today’s world, people do not want their rights to private taken away, making this jobs very difficult for intelligence and law enforcement personnel. With the rise of domestic terrorism and homegrown extremists, the IC will continue to need increased access in to people’s lives and workplace in order to detect these criminals and prevent future activity.
Lastly, secrecy has been a major challenge to the IC because much of the information dealt with is classified and needs to remain a secret for national security concerns, however, people do not want information kept from there. It is difficult to determine what information should be released to the public to ensure their safety while at the same time, not disrupting an operation. I think the IC has done everything right so far in regards to these issues. There is really no way to fix these challenges while at the same time maintain the high level of national security that we have.
Resources:
Aftergood, S. (1996). Three categories of secrecy. Secrecy and accountability in U.S. intelligence. Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved from https://www.hsaj.org/articles/147
Burch, J. (2007). A domestic intelligence agency for the United States? A comparative analysis of domestic intelligence agencies and their implications for homeland security. Homeland Security Affairs 3, 2. Retrieved from https://www.hsaj.org/articles/147
Office of the Director of National Intelligence. (n.d.). Organization. Retrieved from http://www.dni.gov/index.php/about/organization
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