The National Security Act of 1947 provided the foundation for today's Intelligence Community (IC). That act established the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), headed by the DCI, who is charged with both conducting foreign intelligence activities and coordinating those of other US Government elements. The collection of agencies and organizations involved in foreign intelligence evolved over time and became known as the "Intelligence Community." (See Appendix I.)
Today, the Intelligence Community consists of 13 agencies and organizations that receive resources through the National Foreign Intelligence Program (NFIP), for which the DCI is responsible. Associated also are Department of Defense (DoD)-wide intelligence activities funded in the Joint Military Intelligence Program (JMIP)-and military service/agency activities funded in the resource aggregation known as Tactical Intelligence and Related Activities (TIARA). The Secretary of Defense is responsible for JMIP and TIARA resources. The process for managing this complex array of resources has recently been reinvented. (See Appendix II.)
The DCI has three principal responsibilities: serving as the head of the US Intelligence Community, the principal advisor to the President for intelligence matters related to national security, and head of the CIA. The DCI is responsible for providing timely and objective intelligence-independent of political considerations and based on all sources of information available to the Community-to the President, heads of executive departments and agencies, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and senior military commanders, and where appropriate, to the Senate and House of Representatives. The DCI is also responsible for performing "such other functions as the President or the National Security Council may direct." (1)
In today's uncertain world, the mission of US intelligence is to provide an information advantage to those who formulate and execute national policy. Unlike the more predictable needs of Cold War intelligence consumers, the needs of today's consumers are in constant motion. To meet these needs with significantly decreased funding and personnel, the Community has set forth four basic principles: "To strive for responsive global reach, to emphasize flexibility in collection resources, to develop expert and diversified personnel, and to ensure that surge capacity is available for the highest priority crises or wartime targets on demand-and that it is used effectively for peacetime needs." (2)
Footnotes
(1) National Security Act of 1947, as amended by the FY 1995 Intelligence
Authorization Act.
(2) Unclassified extract from the classified document entitled
A Framework for US Intelligence in the 21st Century, November
1994.
A top priority of DCI Deutch is to consolidate management of all Community imagery activities into a National Imagery Agency (NIA). The main objectives are to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of resource allocation, and to provide more responsiveness to national- and tactical-level customers. The DCI has established a Steering Group composed of principals from all parts of the Intelligence Community that are involved with imagery. The Steering Group is co-chaired by the DCI's Executive Director for Intelligence Community Affairs and the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Steering Group established an interagency Task Force to develop criteria for evaluating NIA options. The Task Force developed an internal benchmarking process and conducted two rounds of evaluation of potential options with respect to consolidating imagery resources, facilities, and support services. Based on recommendations from the NIA Task Force and Steering Group, the DCI and Secretary of Defense are expected to make a final decision on the functions and composition of the NIA in October 1995, with implementation to occur by October 1, 1996.
Today, major space initiatives are limited by budgets, but the intelligence needs of those who plan and implement US policy have not diminished. In particular, warfighters have come to recognize the advantage gained from the fusion of space-based information in planning and executing military operations, and their requirements are on the increase.
In response, the IC is working with the DoD to integrate the management of space programs in an effort to reduce costs. To accomplish this integration, the IC and DoD are considering the establishment of a Joint Space Management Board composed of senior officials from the Defense and Intelligence Communities.
The DCI is committed to a major reform of human resource management at CIA and throughout the Intelligence Community over the next decade. Groundwork has been done both at CIA and across the Community that will pave the way to reform.
At CIA, the Executive Director has established-and will chair-a Senior Human Resources Oversight Council. Members will include the Deputy Directors, whom the DCI has charged with bringing in a "new generation" of managers. Along with immediate policy decisions, the Council will review and approve implementation of initiatives designed to make sure that we have a human resources system providing CIA with the very best people to do the job for the future. The Council will address recruitment, diversity, work force planning, performance management, career development, training, managerial accountability, promotion processes, and award systems. A program office reporting to the Executive Director will implement Council decisions. The DCI believes these efforts will improve the morale of employees by institutionalizing better development of work force skills and abilities and by eliminating no-value-added administrative burdens that characterize the current system. In the short term, employee morale will also be the focus of a working group established by the Executive Director to formulate quality-of-life initiatives.
For the Intelligence Community, a Task Force on Personnel Reform has recently completed its work. The Community study "benchmarked" a number of other human resource management systems inside and outside government (as did the CIA study), and their recommendations include a number of "best practices" found elsewhere. The Task Force's report identifies a number of areas in which it recommends Community-wide improvements-even wholesale change. These include performance appraisals, career development, promotion systems, "broadbanding" of grade levels, awards, management training, diversity goals, and systematic management of initial appointments and separations. Many of the Task Force recommendations parallel those stemming from the CIA work. The Task Force recommends the adoption of Community-wide human resource management practices and policies wherever possible. The Task Force published its report in early August 1995.
Based on changing customer priorities, reduced resources, and supported in part by new technologies, the Community plans to reduce the number of sites used for intelligence collection efforts worldwide. This effort-which is ongoing and will be accomplished over the next several years-will result in improved effectiveness and significant cost savings.
Due to changing collection priorities, the National Security Agency (NSA) will eliminate a number of collection sites.
To respond to changing customer needs and to reduce costs, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is making comprehensive changes to its collection programs. These changes will provide flexible worldwide coverage with timely, integrated reports, higher performance, and a lower cost.
The Department of Defense will terminate, consolidate or reduce many collection programs in order to accommodate ongoing resource cutbacks, reorient activities to address the highest priority threats to US national security, and provide maximum responsiveness to customer needs. Of particular note was the creation of the Defense Human Intelligence (HUMINT) Service, which consolidated and streamlined military HUMINT operations under a single entity.
To reduce costs, the Community is consolidating many of its operations in the greater Washington, DC area.
CIA will vacate several leased buildings and occupy only a very few new buildings leased at reduced market rates.
Changes in mission requirements, organizational restructuring, personnel reductions, and communications improvements will permit NSA to terminate the leases of a number of buildings by FY 1997.
NRO colocation at the new Westfields facility, and potential additional tenants, will eliminate leases on several buildings by the end of FY 1997.
The Community manages about 1.3 million sq. ft. of warehouse space in the Washington, DC area. Through the use of improved inventory management techniques, large reductions of required space are possible. These inventory management techniques are exemplified by just-in-time stock acquisition systems such as the NSA Vendor Agreement Partnerships (VAP), cooperative agreements with the General Services Administration (GSA) and Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) on excess property, and modern inventory and material handling techniques such as "cross-docking," which has eliminated the need for off-loading, staging, and double handling of incoming shipments. Together, NSA and CIA will eliminate approximately 55 percent of overall warehouse space by the end of FY 1997.
The Community spends over $100 million every year on supplies and equipment, ranging from paper clips to personal computers. A sizable work force and infrastructure has been established over the years to purchase, store, and distribute these supplies to customers throughout the Community. The VAP, a new acquisition and distribution concept pioneered by NSA, may revolutionize the way supplies and equipment are purchased by the Community. This concept is based on agreements with private vendors to deliver supplies directly to customers under strict timelines at market-rate prices.
To further reduce the cost of administrative supplies, the Community will explore central contract agreements that establish the best price, delivery, and payment terms with commercial vendors for large-volume purchases. Although accurate cost savings for Community-wide adoption of new supply acquisition initiatives are not available at this time, this new procedure is likely to reduce substantially the size and number of government-owned and -operated warehouses and supply rooms, shrink distribution networks, establish government-contractor partnerships, and enable the supply systems to meet critical mission requirements in a timely fashion. (See Annex A for additional details.)
NSA operates a microelectronics chip design and manufacturing facility in partnership with the National Semiconductor Corporation. The facility produces specialized chips for highly sophisticated collection and processing components needed for classified Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) and information security (INFOSEC) systems. NSA's microelectronics production facility could franchise a limited amount of the excess capacity to other Community components and possibly to other government agencies needing classified microelectronics components on a fee-for-service basis. (See Annex B for additional details.)
Community personnel conduct about 120,000 business trips every year. Under current travel policy, significant resources are expended on the administrative aspects of the travel process such as ticket acquisition, monetary advances, and post-travel accounting. In one agency, administrative costs in excess of $230 are incurred for every trip that is conducted. A reengineered and automated process developed by NSA, and based primarily on the concept of flat per diem travel and the use of electronic funds transfer, will greatly streamline the administrative aspects of government-sponsored travel. This new process, which is currently under pilot, will be investigated for use throughout the Community. (See Annex C for additional details.)
Each member of the Community maintains its own courier service for delivering classified material throughout the Washington, DC area. There is significant overlap between the destinations and routes of the different courier services. Total travel for Community couriers is more than 1 million miles per year. Efficiencies and cost savings are possible through better cross-agency work-sharing agreements and through the establishment of one or more hubs. Preliminary estimates indicate that total mileage could be reduced by 30 percent with no diminution in customer service. (See Annex D for additional details.)
Development of a highly trained and flexible work force will be essential to realize the intelligence strategies of the 1990s and beyond. To create a qualified work force will require significant improvements in intelligence training programs. At present, several members of the Community maintain their own training components, with little cross coordination between programs. Reforms such as CIA's fee-for-service training concept will be expanded, where feasible, to other Community components, as could the NSA/Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) distance learning network. All aspects of Community training will be examined to eliminate duplication, terminate marginal courses, explore opportunities for further privatization, and leverage the use of technology. (See Annexes E1-E3 for additional details.)
Process reengineering by NSA has significantly reduced cycle time, handling costs, and storage costs for removing and disposing of excess equipment. This reengineering gained DLA waivers from bureaucratic processes, eliminated some external advertising, and eliminated many steps from the equipment pick-up process. Community-wide adoption of these new procedures and better cross-agency coordination of excess equipment disposal efforts will likely result in savings across the Community. To facilitate the distribution of excess equipment that may be of use to other Community components, excess equipment lists will be "advertised" via Intelink (a classified computer network patterned after the Internet). Improvements are also possible in the distribution of equipment outside the Community and the federal government. To increase the availability of computer equipment for educational purposes, there will be a Community effort to maximize distribution of excess equipment to schools and universities. (See Annex F for additional details.)
The Security Policy Board, co-chaired by the Director of Central Intelligence and the Deputy Secretary of Defense, is guiding an extensive review and reform of security systems. The Intelligence Community is reinventing its security systems to ensure that they match threats, are flexible, consistent, cost effective, and affordable. Seventy-seven Joint Security Commission recommendations are actively being reviewed. Long-term savings will be significant to the IC and to our industrial partners. (See Annex G for additional details.)
The DCI Foreign Language Committee, as the focal point for all foreign language-related issues within the Community, will standardize foreign language testing. It will also develop and coordinate plans for a unified language training system and explore ways to open the system to other federal agencies, to create partnerships with the private sector, and to market government-developed language training materials for secondary commercial use. Finally, it will explore ways to leverage the use of technology for improved training and operational use. (See Annex H for additional details.)
The Intelligence Community will use savings identified in this report to help accomplish its mission within the funding and manning levels set forth in the President's FY 1996 budget submission to Congress. Based on figures in that submission, overall funding for US intelligence will decrease nearly 21 percent, in real terms, between FY 1990 and FY 1997. Overall personnel strength will decrease more than 23 percent between FY 1990 and FY 1999.
Savings identified in this report do not decrease intelligence funding needs identified in the President's budget request. In fact, savings associated with several of the major actions in this report are already incorporated in that submission. These include "Consolidating Intelligence Collection Activities" and "Consolidating Office Space." A number of the other recommended actions have been implemented by one or more elements of the Intelligence Community, and investigation of wider application is warranted. Finally, several of the actions are new and need to be evaluated for cost savings and effectiveness to determine how best they should be pursued.
Develop partnerships with vendors for direct delivery of supplies and equipment to customers. These items generally have a line-item value of less than $25,000. Develop a program to purchase office supplies for the Intelligence Community.
In the current supply process, the government is involved in costly warehousing and distribution functions. This proposal will mirror private-sector supply systems and will streamline this process by having the supplier deliver goods directly to the customer under strict time requirements. In November 1994, NSA initiated a pilot program to acquire computer spare parts and plans to expand the program to other commodities.
Each IC organization has its own mechanism for purchasing supplies. The Community could reduce the cost of standard supplies through volume buying if we purchased these goods from a single source.
Orders are placed on a daily basis by soliciting potential vendors. Award is based on "best value" to the government, which includes delivery of what the customers want, when they want it, at the lowest price. Contractors are continually evaluated on their performance, and those receiving the highest ratings will receive more business.
This initiative could save dollars by:
The National Security Agency operates a microelectronics chip design and manufacturing facility in partnership with National Semiconductor Corporation at Fort Meade, Maryland. The facility was justified and constructed because it was becoming increasingly cost-prohibitive to contract out for highly classified, small-production-run chips necessary for the highly sophisticated collection and processing components needed in SIGINT and INFOSEC systems. Commercial manufacturers were also becoming hesitant to bother with production runs which, by their standards, were extremely small and compounded by the security requirements necessary for their protection during manufacture.
Franchise any excess capacity at the NSA Microelectronics Facility to other IC agencies and possibly to the government at large for any classified or specialized microelectronics components on a fee-for-service basis.
The NSA facility is increasing production every year for its SIGINT and INFOSEC missions. Nonetheless, additional capacity exists that could be used for another agency on a fee-for-service basis.
The Community Management Staff (CMS) will coordinate with the appropriate acquisition and technology personnel in each IC agency to describe the capabilities of NSA's Microelectronics Facility and to solicit work to use any excess capacity and be competitive in the commercial market place.
This would use excess capacity at an already government-owned facility rather than incur expensive contracted costs encountered with small, specialized and/or classified microelectronics chip requirements.
Each IC agency has its own temporary duty travel requirements. The current process used to approve, administer, account for, and reconcile such travel is labor-intensive and bound by bureaucratic rules developed over the years to prevent employee cheating. The costs simply to process the paperwork are excessive. These costs are multiplied by the estimated 120,000 trips per year conducted in the Intelligence Community.
The travel process will be reengineered throughout the IC to incorporate the following key actions:
At NSA, the travel process has been reengineered. The new process will: decrease processing time by 93 percent; reduce man-years to administer the process by 83 percent; cut the time involved for the traveler by 74 percent; and most importantly lower administrative costs by 71 percent. This approach could be adopted by all IC organizations. Once fully implemented, the streamlined process developed at NSA would save significant administrative costs. DoD is now considering a streamlined system based on the NSA and other models.
NSA has submitted a series of waiver requests to DoD, GSA, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to make the current process more efficient. Most of these waivers have been granted, and the remainder are expected to be approved. One of the strongest impediments to success has been and will continue to be cultural in nature. Formidable bureaucratic processes have been built over the years to prevent "cheating" by employees. The improved process has post-travel-audit safeguards.
At NSA, a Travel Project Management Office has been established and a transitional pilot is currently being conducted. Intelligence agencies will establish Process Action Teams to investigate the NSA reinvention actions for use in their respective components.
Ten separate IC organizations have courier staffs servicing numerous common destinations and "clients" in the Washington, DC area. Currently, there are security and cultural barriers that prohibit the courier services from delivering mail to other organizations in a fully cost-effective and timely manner.
Alternative Proposal 1: Create one hub. For example, NRO would continue to carry mail between its nearby buildings, but NRO's mail to and from more distant sites could be routed through a hub for subsequent delivery by another IC courier service.
Alternative Proposal 2: No hub consolidation. Allow couriers from any IC agency to deliver between any pair of locations in the Washington, DC area.
Alternative Proposal 3: Multiple hubs. For example, NSA would continue to carry mail between its nearby buildings. Long distance items would travel from the originator, to the originator's hub, to the destination's hub, to the destination, by another courier service.
It may be possible to increase efficiency and decrease total courier costs by consolidating trips among organizations. If consolidation in the Washington, DC area were undertaken and successful, then a worldwide scenario could potentially reap even more benefits.
Currently, each IC organization delivers its own mail and secure equipment. Some agencies have routes that pass near other agencies' destinations. Many shipments are small, and trucks often have spare capacity. It may be possible to increase efficiency and decrease total courier costs by consolidating trips among organizations.
An extensive study of DIA, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), NSA and State resources was conducted by DIA in early 1993. Modeling techniques concluded that the most savings would be achieved by the one-hub consolidation idea ($477,000 per year), followed by the multiple-hub ($456,000) and the no-hub ($407,000) with the same level of customer service.
The Intelligence Community courier services will investigate best practices and develop a recommendation for implementation.
On December 13, 1994 the Director of Central Intelligence signed DCI Directive (DCID) 3/27 establishing the Intelligence Community's Training Directors' Consortium (TDC) as the DCI's focal point for training and education issues. The mission of the TDC includes fostering interagency communications and working relationships in training matters and facilitating the consolidation and sharing of training facilities, techniques, equipment, and other resources. Members of the Consortium are the directors of training (or functional equivalents) from CIA, NSA, DIA, FBI, Central Imagery Office (CIO), NRO, and the Department of State (National Foreign Affairs Training Center and the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR)). Representatives from the Intelligence Community Management Staff and the Assistant Secretary of Defense/C3I (ASD(C3I)) participate in Consortium meetings.
In NPR Phase II the Training Directors' Consortium will do the following:
The above strategy will allow the Training Directors' Consortium to meet Consortium and NPR goals of fostering greater cooperation, stimulating joint training ventures, and sharing resources by avoiding unnecessary duplication. This strategy also will improve quality and cost-effectiveness through introducing competition.
The TDC will solicit input from the leadership of member agencies in identifying and assessing the core knowledge and skills required to perform the IC mission. Maintenance of the on-line catalogues will require the appointment of a lead agency with focal points in each member agency. Alternatively, each agency could maintain its own catalogues of available courses and depend on Intelink to provide seamless interconnectivity for easy customer access. The industry, academic, and government expositions for training tools and technology could be sponsored by the Consortium or individual members of the Consortium and be based on the training identified in the needs and capabilities assessment exercise.
Benefit: The TDC assessment will facilitate identifying the need for skills and knowledge training to rise to the challenge of changing requirements, tasks, and functions in a downsizing environment. It also will lead to the increased use of shared resources, facilities, and automated tools.
Benefit: This strategy also introduces constructive competition, with resultant drops in costs and increase in quality. Early indications suggest that CIA's tuition-based training program contains costs and sets curriculum priorities by placing funding decisions in the hands of the customers. CIA has customized a number of regular curriculum courses and delivered them to customers in the desired form and time frame.
Issue: Compiling and maintaining both hardcopy and on-line catalogues requires commitment of resources from all agencies. Some up-front expenditures to establish on-line catalogues will also be necessary.
IC managers, as major customers of the Training Directors' Consortium, will have to work with the Consortium in assessing needs. Increased introduction of competition, including tuition-based training, will require hard budget decisions by customer offices. The result of this extra effort will be more control over the training being offered and more efficient use of training resources. For employees, this strategy will result in more choices, opportunities, and tools to obtain the necessary skills and knowledge to survive and contribute in a constantly changing workplace.
All IC training offices are facing the challenges of reduced or flat resources at the same time requirements for developing a highly trained and flexible work force are increasing. To meet these challenges, several agencies are already undertaking some joint activities to make the most efficient use of resources. Although the IC Training Directors' Consortium has a lot of coordination work ahead, several ongoing or planned activities should be used as models and seeds for future reinvention.
DIA's Joint Military Intelligence Training Center (JMITC) has developed a videotape series on the fundamentals of intelligence resource management to supplement a 5-day training course. It has also completed a computer-based multimedia training program on the intelligence process/cycle. Both of these products will be shared with the Community. An NSA/CIA/DIA working group sponsored by the IC Training Directors' Consortium is developing a computer-based multimedia program to ensure that employees understand the intelligence oversight process and conduct their mission operations in accordance with the requirements of Executive Order (EO) 12333.
DIA and NSA, under the auspices of the Training Directors' Consortium, have transferred funds to a central source to facilitate savings through bulk purchases of commercial training support software, joint renegotiation of annual software site licenses, and sharing of developmental and operating costs for on-line training support. When this program becomes fully operational in FY 1997, it will provide a number of on-line services: course registration, schedules, career service requirements, catalogues, training records, and employee development plans.
All of the programs outlined above should be continued and, where feasible, applied to other IC agencies. When actual participation by other agencies is not possible, the Training Directors' Consortium should at least ensure that the programs are studied for lessons learned.
Since many of these activities are underway, the implementation plan has already been established by the responsible agencies. The Training Directors' Consortium, where applicable, will arrange briefings at its monthly meetings on these activities and incorporate these initiatives into the needs and capabilities assessment it is conducting under Phase II of the National Performance Review.
Benefit: Any effort to share resources or to make more efficient use of resources through joint projects and planning will help offset past training budget cuts. These efforts will also help training offices meet the many new challenges arising from a downsized work force adapting to a rapidly changing environment.
Issue: The ongoing efforts are scattered and not Community-wide. They must be incorporated into the Community-wide needs and capabilities assessment to be conducted by the Training Directors' Consortium.
A December 17, 1994 Presidential Decision Directive approved the creation of the Security Policy Board (SPB), including the Training and Professional Development Committee (TPDC). TPDC membership reflects the SPB, with 27 different Executive Branch federal departments and agencies represented. The TPDC mission is to develop professionalization standards and training for the security field. Accomplishment of this mission requires reinvention to reflect a paradigm shift from risk avoidance to risk management. Initial tasks for the Committee include fostering interdepartmental/agency communications and working relationships; identifying and cataloguing existing courses, products, and training resources; consolidating duplicative training; identifying educational gaps, coordinating the development of new Community training, promoting centralized training and awareness resources, and creating professional development policy, standardization, and criteria.
In NPR Phase II, the TPDC will do the following:
The TPDC will work with other committees under the Security Policy Board and with the respective departments and agencies in the federal government, as represented by the Board, to reinvent professional security training.
Benefit: Reinventing the security professional field will enhance the overall national security posture within the federal government.
Benefit: A better-trained security professional will be able to make more cost-effective, risk-managed decisions in support of customers.
Issue: There will be initial cost outlays associated with enhancing professional security training. As with other training programs, however, long-term savings will accrue with a strong training program.
When government property becomes excess to the needs of an IC agency, a formal bureaucratic process is undertaken to release that equipment from the property inventory. Often usable and unusable property is treated similarly, in that it must be reported to DLA or GSA for possible reuse. This process takes too long; as a consequence, valuable warehouse space is used awaiting permission to release the equipment. Also, since each IC agency acts as an independent entity, otherwise usable property might be lost to the IC.
Some reform of the excess property process has already taken place, especially at NSA, which has received waivers from DLA permitting unserviceable equipment to bypass DLA screening. It is recommended that more interagency screening take place to permit maximum utilization of serviceable equipment throughout the IC. To facilitate this screening, excess equipment lists will be advertised via Intelink. Where waivers have not been received, application should be made for them. Within the last year, IC agencies have transferred more than $17 million of serviceable equipment to local primary schools and universities (Project Outreach). To the greatest extent possible, this outreach effort should be expanded in the name of community service and in the spirit of openness being fostered within the IC.
Technology is moving so rapidly that replacement of capitalized equipment, especially terminals, workstations, and servers, is being pursued on as short a recapitalization schedule as budgetary constraints will permit. Since each IC agency has a different fiscal capacity to recapitalize, some offices and projects may lag significantly behind technology advances. Proper reutilization could provide, in some cases, a bridge to programmed recapitalization.
An interagency process action team will be formed to institutionalize best practices within the IC. This PAT will also assure that to the maximum extent possible an interagency swapping program is encouraged and Project Outreach is expanded. To the extent possible, Project Outreach contributions should be advertised in order to maximize positive publicity in the community. Sharing of warehouse space should be investigated.
The Security Policy Board was formed to centralize security policy development, evaluation, and implementation of many of the recommendations made by the Joint Security Commission. A vast majority of the recommendations will create tremendous cost savings, benefits, and efficiencies for the IC and its industrial base. A security cost model is currently under development by the Security Policy Board, because historically the cost of security has been extremely difficult to ascertain.
Community-Wide Badge Reciprocity Program:
CIA, NRO and NSA implemented the Automated Information System Security Implementation Manual (AISSIM 200) to maximize efficiencies allowed by DCID 1/16. For the first time, these organizations are using the same set of standards for protecting automated information.
All organizations are working toward implementation of the new DCID 1/21 for physical security of Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs). This will allow great opportunity for elimination of the multiple security inspections contractors must currently support, because the various IC organizations will be able to accept each other's accreditations. The accreditation process also presents the greatest potential for savings, since costly errors tend to occur at the front end of SCIF construction.
DCI Directive 3/15 dated August 2, 1993 establishes the DCI Foreign Language Committee (FLC) as the focal point for all foreign language-related issues within the IC. Among the Committee's tasks are strategic planning, program and budget reviews, special studies on foreign language capabilities and needs, and fostering interagency coordination and cooperation. The FLC also is charged with outreach to other elements of the US Government and to academia and the private sector.
The FLC has reinvented the way it serves its IC customers. Through its efforts to foster Community-level analysis and response to problems, it is breaking down the parochialism that characterized a number of the individual IC agencies in the past. In the place of parochialism, we now have strengthened lines of communication, the sharing of resources, the avoidance of unnecessary or duplicative expenditures, and a renewed sense of creativity.
Because of their success in reinventing the way they support their customers, four components working under the auspices of the FLC were designated as "Reinvention Laboratories." In December 1994, the FLC's achievements in "making the government work better and cost less" were recognized by Vice President Al Gore, who presented the Committee with a "Hammer Award."
Despite the fact that it is a committee and does not have the infrastructure of a program office, the FLC has crafted a strategic plan to chart a course of action for the future that capitalizes on current strengths, and positions the foreign language community for the challenges of the post-Cold War environment, while embracing the ideals of good government embedded in the NPR program. The Committee's plan defines the goals and activities that it needs to undertake to reach its goals.
In NPR Phase II, the FLC will take steps to implement its strategic goals in the following areas:
Standardizing foreign language testing: In response to tasking in NPR Phase I, the FLC developed and published a methodology by which to standardize foreign language testing among the four federal language schools. As it reaches major milestones in this multiyear effort, the FLC will report on its progress to the NPR and other stakeholders within the IC.
Unification and commercialization: The FLC will coordinate plans for a unified language training system for the IC and explore the feasibility and advisability of opening the system to other federal agencies and marketing government-developed language training materials for secondary commercial use.
Leveraging the use of technology: The FLC will continue to explore ways to introduce technology into the workplace to support distributed foreign language training and to enhance the productivity of linguists in an operational environment. Further, it will support programs to provide interconnectivity among linguists to enhance their individual capabilities, to foster their professional development, and to provide access to central repositories of on-line data.
Through its "Reinvention Laboratories," the FLC has demonstrated its commitment to customer service and the cost-effective use of resources. Its strategic goals are consistent with NPR objectives, and it has a track record of success.
The FLC will continue to rely on the active participation of its members and an ongoing dialogue with its stakeholders to implement its strategic goals.
Standardizing foreign language testing
Issue: Reassessment of language skills may result in a linguist being ineligible for language-designated positions or earning less language incentive and maintenance pay.
Unifying foreign language training system
Issue: "Turf" issues associated with new divisions of labor or joint endeavors.
Commercialization
Issue: May require enabling directives, regulations or legislation.
Leveraging the use of technology
Issue: Many linguists will need computer training.
The customer now will find openness and a spirit of cooperation in the foreign language community, where parochialism and "turf" prevailed in the past. As a taxpayer, the customer will be satisfied that tax dollars are being spent in ways that make sense, that support important objectives, and that procure essential products and services.
The United States has engaged in foreign intelligence activities since the days of George Washington, but only since World War II have those activities been coordinated on a government-wide basis. Following the war, the nucleus of what is now known as the "Intelligence Community" was set in place by the National Security Act of 1947. The "Community," as it is often called, has evolved since that time, with significant changes following the end of the Cold War. Further changes lie ahead as Community leaders and a bipartisan commission seek to redefine the roles and capabilities of US intelligence in a rapidly changing world.
The need for a centralized intelligence system was recognized when the Office of Strategic Services3 was abolished after the end of World War II. Following considerable debate-and after an interim arrangement-President Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act, establishing the National Security Council (NSC); the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); the Department of Defense (DoD); and the Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
The National Security Act charged the CIA with coordinating the nation's intelligence activities; and correlating, evaluating, and disseminating intelligence which affects national security. In addition, CIA was to perform such other duties and functions related to intelligence as the NSC might direct. The Act also made the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) responsible for protecting intelligence sources and methods.
The 1947 Act has been amended by legislation and supplemented by executive direction on a number of occasions since its enactment. Today, it calls for the DCI to:
The National Security Act directs the DCI, as head of the Intelligence Community, to:
To its credit, the Intelligence Community recognized the need for change early, and took actions to address that change. In the mid-1980's, before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Community was already expanding the resources it devoted to new national priorities such as counterterrorism, nonproliferation, and counternarcotics. As a result, by the time the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the share of resources devoted to the Soviet target had already been decreased.
The Community placed even greater emphasis on change following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. Intelligence customer needs were reassessed through the National Security Review (NSR) 29 process and reported in National Security Directive (NSD) 67. A wide range of topics were addressed by more than 60 Intelligence Community task forces: the analytical and the estimative process, the structure and management of intelligence, politicization, Community management, support to military operations, and many others. Task Force recommendations led to a number of important actions, including:
Additional steps were soon taken to further integrate intelligence activities. These steps included:
With the assistance of the Congress, the Intelligence Community has been streamlining its work force-beginning well in advance of the 1993 NPR-related executive order on streamlining. The Community set forth a downsizing strategy in 1990 as it noted that the rising cost of personnel could only be afforded at the risk of future investment, and that its long-term capabilities to provide customer support would suffer without major investments. Streamlining was greatly aided by two pieces of legislation, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1993 and the CIA Voluntary Separation Act, which authorized the payment of separation incentives.
By 1999, in response to Congressional direction and other factors, the three major Community agencies (CIA, NSA, and DIA) will have reduced personnel more than 23 percent from their 1990 baselines-almost double the NPR goal of 12 percent for all federal agencies. CIA, NSA, and DIA each developed strategies for streamlining and analyzing personnel needs for the future, and stressed vigorous communications with their work forces as downsizing proceeded. NRO is also being affected by drawdowns in organizations which supply their personnel, including CIA, the Air Force, and the Navy.
Reductions are proceeding as planned; layers of management and staff personnel have been reduced substantially while consolidating functions and organizations, reducing infrastructure costs, and eliminating duplication. Challenges still lie ahead: maintaining the proper skills mix, sustaining response to incentivized separation, and down-sizing the executive corps. The Community is sharing downsizing experience with other government agencies through the President's Management Council.
The NPR provided an opportunity to build further upon the process of change already in place in the Intelligence Community. Beginning in the spring of 1993, the Community became a full participant in NPR's effort to "build a government that works better and costs less." Two teams were formed, one building an outside view and the other an inside view of the Community. Their work resulted in an NPR report on the Community4 that reached two fundamental conclusions:
The DCI discussed the NPR report on the Community with the Vice President in August 1993. The DCI and the Vice President agreed on a set of more than 30 actions in seven areas:
All of the NPR actions are being addressed at this time. More than 50 percent are complete, more will be complete soon, and all are either on or ahead of schedule. Highlights include the advancement of work on the National Intelligence Needs Process, the establishment of the Intelink network to interconnect Intelligence Community elements and their customers, and the establishment of a government-wide set of standards for foreign language testing.
Other fundamental changes were made in the Community in response to the broader recommendations of the main NPR report. For example, Community elements are on track with programs to reduce internal regulations by 50 percent. In addition, the Community established a Quality Council, chaired by the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence (DDCI), in compliance with an executive order on managing reforms. The Council is overseeing implementation of NPR actions and promoting quality initiatives throughout the Intelligence Community. In further compliance with the order's recommendations, components of the Community are performing self-assessments using the criteria of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award/Presidential Award for Quality-and are using the results to guide action.
In keeping with the spirit of NPR, the Community has also established four "reinvention labs," activities supported from the top where innovative thinking and action is the norm, and where waivers of cumbersome rules and regulations are granted. A Battlefield Reinvention Lab, led jointly by DIA and the Joint Staff, was established as a result of an NPR report recommendation, with its focus shaped by the Vice President and the DCI. It examined how to improve intelligence support to ground forces in combat, at Division level and below. Its results have been briefed to seniors, and an action plan will guide their implementation.
Another of the labs consists of a collection of activities under the sponsorship of the DCI's Foreign Language Committee. The activities resulted in publication of a Unified Testing Plan for foreign languages, with common standards; significantly improved interagency cooperation and sharing in language learning; the development of tools to help the Coast Guard and the Immigration and Naturalization Service deal with illegal immigration; and the creation and marketing of innovative, interactive video language training in a joint venture with the private sector. The team members participating in the activities were recently awarded Vice President Gore's reinventing government "Hammer Award."
The third lab is the TIPSTER Text Project, whose objective is to develop fundamentally new tools for rapid search and retrieval of needed information from massive, multilingual bodies of text. It is an innovative partnership between intelligence agencies, Defense, industry, and academia. Commercial products are already emerging, and there are several prototype government applications. TIPSTER is now developing a common text-processing architecture and moving from the research to the operational environment.
The fourth lab, added only recently, is a reengineering activity directed at improvement of imagery exploitation. The effort has been designated as project "ExPReS" (Exploitation Process Reengineering Study).
The quality movement itself is taking root in Community elements and is already producing significant results. The National Security Agency, for example, has a quality activity that is several years old. Its teams have:
NSA is making extensive use of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award as a guide to management processes and is using it as the basis for a new "NSA Improvement Cycle," a long-term framework for performance improvement within the organization. In that context, NSA has placed emphasis on leadership and strategic planning over the last several months. Its efforts are now focusing on process improvement/reengineering and performance measurement.
CIA also has a several-year-old quality management activity that has produced significant results. Exemplifying progress, CIA's Office of Information Technology (OIT) was a finalist in the 1994 competition for the President's Quality Improvement Prototype award, the second highest award for quality in government. Examples of quality achievements in CIA include the following:
CIA is also using the Baldrige Award criteria. Last year, each of its major components conducted a self-assessment using the criteria of the award, and follow-on actions were taken. A new round of assessments is just beginning, using a refined and even more sharply targeted "performance excellence" approach.
Quality management approaches are being used elsewhere in the Community, as well. DIA, for instance, used business process improvement methodology to streamline their Automated Data Processing (ADP) acquisition process, cutting their processing time by 65 percent. DIA is now applying the methodology to non-ADP acquisitions such as services contracting and security. In addition, DIA recently conducted a survey of its entire work force to seek ideas for achieving positive change. In response, DIA formed 28 volunteer task forces to help streamline and improve Agency performance.
DIA and other DoD intelligence counterparts undertook an initiative to revolutionize intelligence printing, publishing, and dissemination in the "information age." The Combined Intelligence Publishing Service (CIPS) makes published information more readily available to the decisionmaker and warfighter by identifying and eliminating non-value-added activities; and simplifying, stream-lining, and consolidating core activities. The CIPS also emphasizes cost savings and reuse of assets wherever possible. As a result, the Office of Naval Intelligence printing facility was combined with DIA without degradation of service to the customer; and several other support memoranda of agreement between members were executed to maximize resource use.
Elsewhere among the DoD elements of the Intelligence Community, a number of physical consolidation actions have already been taken to help deal with personnel reductions and limit the effects of those reductions. For example, the DoD Intelligence Production Community (DoDIPC) has eliminated 17 production organizations, reassigning their missions to the remaining production centers. DoDIPC has also reduced and consolidated theater intelligence personnel into combined-Service Joint Intelligence Centers (JICs) at each combatant command. A number of General Military Intelligence (GMI) and Scientific and Technical Intelligence (S&TI) resources have likewise been consolidated and realigned throughout the Service intelligence agencies. And the General Defense Intelligience Program (GDIP) Program Manager relocated US Southern Command and US Space Command resources to two other existing JICs. All of the above efforts have resulted in enormous savings and better use of available resources, as well as increasing timeliness, quality, and customer responsiveness.
CIO, the Community's newest member, has embraced the principles of quality management from its inception. It held an all-hands seminar on quality as part of a "CIO Quality Day" last December. CIO has published a strategic plan and a management plan, both of which are firmly based on quality management precepts. CIO will begin implementing a formal quality training curriculum for its senior management early in FY 1996, to be followed by quality training for the entire work force over the next two years.
The National Reconnaissance Office in the late 1980s embarked on an intensive examination of its basic mission. Working with its customers, the NRO put in place major changes to its organizational structure and programs to improve customer support, to enhance synergy between program offices, and to provide greater opportunities for NRO personnel to contribute to a wide range of intelligence missions.
To further its work in the quality area, the Intelligence Community became a member of the Council for Continuous Improvement (CCI) in mid-1994. CCI is a non-profit consortium of approximately 170 private and public sector organizations who have banded together to learn from each other in application of quality management techniques. CCI membership affords access to extensive, up-to-date training materials; extensive conferencing and networking opportunities; and pathways to experts for advice and consultation. Government membership is growing, and CCI has just assigned a resident customer representative to the Washington, DC area. The Community is playing a leadership role in CCI regional activities, participating fully in the first CCI eastern regional conference last October and serving on the eastern regional core group. This participation will help shape CCI activities to best meet Community needs.
It is clear that the Intelligence Community has already made use of the tools advocated in NPR Phase II. The Community contracts with the private sector to provide support in areas such as intelligence analysis, collection systems, and administrative services. For example, the NRO now has contractor support in conducting security background investigations, and CIA is planning a similar approach. In addition, an example of franchising is found in NSA's handling of DIA payroll.
The Intelligence Community has recently been recognized for the proactive steps it has taken to meet the challenges of a changed world. Articles in such periodicals as The Quality Observer and Quality Digest have praised the Community's efforts-participating in the National Performance Review and in embracing a quality management philosophy-to "reinvent the intelligence process to better serve" its customers, the American people.
Over the last several years, the Intelligence Community has instituted fundamental changes in the way it manages its budget resources, and more changes are on the way. During the 1995-1999 Intelligence Program budget reviews, the Deputy Secretary of Defense (DepSecDef) and the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) decided that the current intelligence budget structure should be modified to reflect changes in US intelligence since the end of the Cold War and to institute management efficiencies in a reduced fiscal environment. A new focus on the customer being served was clearly needed.
Concurrently, the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) in its FY 1994/1995 Defense Authorization report, directed the Secretary of Defense to consider a new set of funding categories for intelligence in the Defense budget. It specifically requested a report that identified intelligence programs and activities which supported:
As a result of the above direction, a general review was conducted of intelligence activities. Subsequently, the DepSecDef, with the concurrence of the DCI, approved establishment of the Joint Military Intelligence Program (JMIP) on June 1, 1994.
With this change, resources for US intelligence activities are now set forth in the:
The NFIP was established by several Presidential executive orders (EO 11905 in 1976, EO 12036 in 1978, and EO 12333 in 1981), and subsequently codified in the Intelligence Organization Act of 1992. The DCI is responsible for developing and presenting to the President an annual NFIP budget for national intelligence activities.
JMIP provides a more structured approach to the management of intelligence activities in order to:
TIARA was constituted more than a decade ago and defined to be an aggregation of Defense intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance, and target acquisition programs that are outside the NFIP and that:
Further details regarding NFIP, JMIP, and TIARA are provided below.
The NFIP is comprised of all programs, projects, and activities of the Intelligence Community designated jointly by the Director of Central Intelligence and the head of a United States department or agency, or by the President. Excluded are those portions of the Defense budget that are set aside for TIARA and JMIP.
Programmatically, the NFIP incorporates all national-level intelligence, counterintelligence, and reconnaissance activities of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, and all civilian federal agencies and departments, as well as the Intelligence Community management structure. The NFIP is comprised of two major components: national level intelligence programs within the Defense Department and those in federal departments and agencies outside the DoD:
Defense programs
Civilian programs
Community-wide NFIP program
The programs above are not organizations, but structures that manage resources for intelligence operations and activities. Organizationally, the NFIP provides funding for the Central Intelligence Agency, an independent agency; a number of foreign intelligence and counterintelligence elements attached to the Department of Defense; and foreign intelligence and counterintelligence elements of the Department of State, Department of Energy, Department of Treasury, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Two central staffs are attached to the DCI to assist him in carrying out his Community management and intelligence production responsibilities. These are the Community Management Staff and the National Intelligence Council.
The component programs of the NFIP are independently managed by officials known as program managers. They receive policy and fiscal guidance from the Director of Central Intelligence and submit their individual budgets to the DCI through the Community Management Staff (CMS). Once they have been approved by the DCI, the CMS consolidates them into a single NFIP budget that is submitted to the Congress as a part of the President's budget. During execution, military and civilian organizations expend funds approved by the Congress, with the CMS monitoring these expenditures and the DCI approving and managing requests for reprogramming of funds into, within, and out of the NFIP.
In light of the need for better integration of intelligence capabilities within a joint structure, the JMIP was established in Defense to:
JMIP is composed of four programs:
Each of the above programs currently consists of former TIARA or selected NFIP programs (such as the U-2 and other airborne reconnaissance aircraft that were transferred to Defense due to realignment of general program responsibilities agreed to by the DepSecDef and the DCI) whose primary customer base was judged to be multiple Service, or Defense-wide. Review will be taken in the future to determine if other programs should also be realigned.
TIARA is comprised primarily of many separate intelligence or intelligence-related capabilities that are essential for tactical operations conducted by the military forces of a single Service. Originally, the principal reason for aggregating these accounts was to identify those portions of the Defense budget to the Congress that specifically supported intelligence and intelligence-related activities outside the NFIP. Today, it is more important to account for all intelligence capabilities on the battlefield in order to ensure that commanders at all levels can readily draw upon intelligence in times of crisis or conflict. Since many of the timely collection and exploitation capabilities are at the tactical level, it is essential that they be included in overall planning and programming which addresses national, theater/joint, and tactical support needs.
TIARA programs are designed, built, and/or operated by the Military Services and compete for funding with all other Service combat and combat support programs. As such, there is no resource "fence" placed around TIARA; rather they compete within the overall resource top line provided to the Service by the Department. It should be noted that the intelligence-related programs of the Advanced Research Projects Agency are also included in the TIARA aggregation due to the focus on Service tactical needs. Likewise, Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is included in TIARA rather than JMIP.
There is no single program manager for TIARA. Each Service uses its own management structure in overseeing and implementing TIARA efforts. TIARA is thus highly decentralized as compared to the NFIP and the JMIP. This allows the Services greater flexibility in meeting and balancing their needs and responsibilities for supporting tactical operations.
The Assistant Secretary of Defense (Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence) monitors, oversees, and coordinates TIARA activities for the Department. In certain areas, such as inter-operability of systems or information exchange, implementing standards are issued so that critical support can be provided across Service/joint command boundaries. Further, the ASD(C3I) is responsible for recommending programmatic changes as part of his overall responsibilities within the Department's Planning, Programming, and Budgeting System (PPBS) process. However, as stated previously, there is no single program manager or program executive specifically for TIARA capabilities.
In summary, the composition of TIARA has changed significantly in the past year. While still based on the definition created over a decade ago, its focus under the recent reorganization of intelligence programs is on integral capabilities of the tactical commander. Through this realignment, the Department of Defense believes that much greater effectiveness will be achieved, and the Services/Defense Agencies can better focus on specific customers to meet their needs.
The Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence have reached an agreement that all US Intelligence-national, departmental, and tactical-will be reviewed jointly. This is to ensure that critical issues are addressed in a corporate manner, thereby providing the most effective intelligence support possible for all US intelligence customers.
This reinvented process relies on a new framework of program analysis and evaluation of intelligence programs against the missions of US intelligence. This framework seeks to ensure that decisions on US intelligence investments and operations are based on an understanding of the needs of intelligence customers, whether they are national policymakers, military commanders, or law enforcement officials. This new approach will entail changes in the structure of US intelligence programs, as well as the identification of the success factors for intelligence support to missions across the US government.
In June of this year, an Intelligence Program Review Group (IPRG) was established to review intelligence resources, programmatics, and priority issues involving the NFIP, JMIP, and TIARA. The IPRG is co-chaired by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security (DASD(I&S)) and the Executive Director for Intelligence Community Affairs (EXDIR/ICA). The IPRG will, based on the issue reviewed, recommend courses of action to an expanded Defense Resources Board (E/DRB) for TIARA, JMIP, and Defense NFIP issues or to the Intelligence Community Executive Committee (IC/EXCOM) for non-Defense NFIP issues.
The E/DRB is co-chaired by the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Director of Central Intelligence. The broad and diverse membership of the IPRG and the E/DRB assures that a corporate perspective will drive decisions and recommendations. It also assures coordination of all intelligence activities across US military and civilian intelligence programs.
The IC/EXCOM is chaired by the Director of Central Intelligence and attended by the Deputy Secretary of Defense. Other members include directors of intelligence components within the NFIP, to include non-Department of Defense participants, such as the Departments of State and Energy. This body will address all intelligence activities and issues that affect non-Department of Defense components.