Vulture's Row 
Vulture's Row
The DNI - the other one, who is going to live in the DIAC Expansion and re-organize the community- is beginning the long process of complying with the intelligence Reform Bill . . . from where I sit as a fully-qualified plat LSO, it looks like a “ little settle in-close, OK-3 wire ” so far . . . not everyone agrees with me . . . John Lehman , former 9/11 Commission member and SECNAV isn't so sure . . . he said the last thing we needed was another bureaucracy and that is what we are getting . . . the other part that has not been touched is reform of Congressional Oversight . . . not a peep on that . . . And if someone asks “ what does this mean to Naval Intelligence except that we have to keep saying “I meant Admiral Murrett? ” . . . It means a great deal, since the ODNI staff is the place the National Intelligence Program dollars are parsed out . . . Here's what has happened since the last time the Vulture was at flight quarters . . DNI Negroponte released a thirty-page paper called The National Intelligence Strategy of the United States at the end of October . . . it is intended to be a capstone document that sums up the direction and intent for a transformed Intelligence Community . . . The Vulture won't try to capture it, pint by point, but it is clearly an instrument of change . . . but really more direction to his staff than an action road-map . . . it does lays out a framework for more unified, coordinated and effective relations between the members of the warring tribes . . . There are two strands in the document's objectives: mission and enterprise , and gently tries to determine the " best of breed " among the agencies and eliminate redundancy to find investment capital.
Centralized oversight and decentralized execution is the goal, with firm buy-in from the stakeholders. That is where all previous efforts toward reform have failed .
FY-08 is the first year that the DNI can actually direct through fiscal guidance . . . Everything in FY-06 (which is being executed now) and FY-07 (subject of the intelligence Authorization and Appropriation Bills which have just been passed) will reflect the DNI's priorities only through consultation , not direction.
The plan defines mission objectives are to:
* Defeat terrorists at home and abroad by disarming their operational capabilities. Promote the growth of freedom and democracy.
* Prevent proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction.
* Bolster the growth of democracy and sustain peaceful democratic states. (Note: as above, a new mission area for the spooks). Develop innovative ways to penetrate and analyze the most difficult targets.
* Anticipate developments of strategic concern and identify opportunities as well as vulnerabilities for decision-makers.
The other major mission area is to rationalize and de-conflict the community by treating it as an enterprise architecture . . . transforming faster than the enemy . . that is going to require cultural change to:
* Build an integrated intelligence capability to address threats to the homeland, while protecting privacy and civil liberties.
* Strengthen analytic expertise, methods, and practices wherever it is and support alternative analysis.
* Rebalance, integrate, and optimize collection capabilities to meet current and future customer and analytic priorities.
* Attract, engage, and unify an innovative and results-focused Intelligence Community workforce.
* Ensure that Intelligence Community members and customers can access the intelligence they need when they need it. (Note: this refers to secure, flexible networks and a user-friendly platform. We should be all over this as an enterprise architecture).
* Establish new and strengthen bilateral relations overseas.
* Create clear, uniform security practices and rules and enable aggressive counterintelligence activities.
* Exploit scientific and research advances to enable the IC to maintain and extend intelligence advantages against emerging threats. (Note: the panel ADM Studeman is leading is working on precisely this point)
* Learn from successes and mistakes to anticipate and be ready for new challenges.
* Eliminate redundancy and programs that add little or no value and re-invest the harvest (Ouch!)
The rose is pinned on the Deputy Directors of National Intelligence for Customer Outcomes , Analysis , and Collection to accomplish these missions. The Civil Liberties Protection officer and the Chief Human Capital Officer are also mentioned prominently . . . There is a troika tagged with fixing security and counter-intelligence . The National Counter-intelligence Executive gets the latter, the DDNI for Management is responsible for fixing policy , and MG Dale Meyerrose has been nominated to be Chief Information Officer and ensure that everyone gets what they need, cops and spooks alike . . . there are already civilians muttering to the papers that a military officer is just “too inflexible to accomplish the mission . . .. the DNI assumes the security/clearance portfolio will be coming to the ODNI from OPM , where it has resided since the dissolution of an independent Defense investigative Service last year . . .The Associate Director of National Intelligence for Science and Technology is charged with the new sources-and-methods portfolio.
This looks, as you noted, very much like a State Department document . . . But that is to be expected, I suppose . . . the Vulture will be watching, hoping the DNI “ Flies the Ball ...”
New DHS Intelligence Chief is an Old Hand
Almost three years after it was set up, the Department of Homeland Security still isn't close to integrating the ten separate intelligence offices in its 22 component agencies . . . but there is a new Sheriff in town . . . Charlie Allen , has moved over from the former Community Management Staff to head the DHS intelligence effort . . . he testified before two House subcommittees with oversight responsibilities (there are more, and that is a problem ) . . . Charlie is a legend in the Community, fondly known as “ The Great Collector” . . . he has 47 years of service already and is taking on the daunting task of defining the department's role in the increasingly crowded field of U.S. intelligence agencies and managing a hodge-podge of "nontraditional" intelligence-gathering operations . . . like document forgery and fraud . . . some customs attaches overseas are looking at such pressing Homeland Security issues as marriage fraud , rather than terrorists . . . Charlie is taking over ten separate intelligence offices, including the Coast Guard, Border Patrol, U.S. Customs and the Transportation Security Administration . . . all have different requirements and missions . . . ranging from gang and migrant smuggling to the protection of chemical plants . . . Charlie said "It is a huge and big, big problem for all of us, and it has not been done” . . . it was a glancing shot at his predecessor, retired Lt. Gen. Pat Hughes, who disputed the contention, saying he had made progress on integration “ from zero ...”
Pentagon Spies
DIA has increased its work force, including agents who recruit spies, from 6,500 to 7,500 since 9/11 . . . the combat support agency got Congress to relax rules on recruiting U.S. citizens as spies so it can burrow even deeper inside the enemy . . . Outside DIA, SECDEF Rumsfeld has empowered U.S. Special Operations Command to collect more HUMINT . . . SOCOM has added training programs in trade-craft to better teach the Special Operators how to recruit sources and track suspected al Qaeda operatives around the world . . .the Pentagon's move to recruit more spies got bipartisan endorsement from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence . . . “The committee supports the creation of the Defense HUMINT Management Office as a means of executing [Pentagon] objectives," is how the language read in the 2006 Intelligence Authorization . . . Under the provisions of the 1974 U.S. Privacy Act , military intelligence officers must disclose who they are when trying to recruit a U.S. citizen, or permanent resident alien, to spy on an enemy . . . The FBI and CIA have no such restriction . . . DIA is particularly interested in persons who can provide information on arsenals around the world . . .
Aussie Eyes Are Smiling
Australian Prime Minister Howard announced in October that his government would double the size of its intelligence agency by 2010 to combat terrorism . . . he also got something special after he inked a joint statement reflecting an agreement for a new level of intelligence sharing with the US. . . although the old "Five Eyes" caveat permitted relatively liberal sharing, the new arrangement reportedly grants Canberra access to all levels of raw US intelligence, assessments and real-time operational information for planning . . .an Australian senior officer will now be stationed at STRATCOM in Omaha . . . The right to share in the highest levels of intelligence had been reserved for the US's closest ally, the United Kingdom . . . but sharing secrets is always a dicey business . . . an Australian Defence Intelligence Organization analyst attempted to sell more than 900 TS documents for $120,000 to a "foreign spy" who was really a US counterintelligence agent . . . he was arrested at Dulles International Airport by FBI special agents when he came to collect . . .
Security
All the Vultures around town know the security clearance process in the Government has been broken for years . . . it has become a tremendous impediment to doing simple business . . . At one point, the backlog of people awaiting clearances was over 200,000 . . . Congress recognized the problem, and addressed it in the Intelligence Reorganization Act of 2004 . . . in November, Clay Johnson , Deputy Director for Management in the Office of Management and Budget, and Linda Springer , director of the Office of Personnel Management, were summoned to The Hill to answer concerns about the enormous backlog of security clearances . . . Clay chairs the new Security Clearance Oversight Steering Committee , which has delegates from OPM and all the agencies that use security clearances . . . Congress decreed that the problem be fixed not later than the end of calendar 2006 . . . the Members wanted a scorecard on how thing were going, and Clay and Linda swore that they were on track to reduce the processing time for most security clearances to 90 days . . .According to Linda, the most recent OPM count on the backlog is around 116,000, with an average processing time of roughly 274 days. Top Secret investigations in progress have declined from about 72,000 to 54,000 . . .OPM took over the backlog disaster at the Defense Investigation Service in February and now conducts 90% of the federal and contractor investigations . Linda says they plan to establish a consolidated personnel database accessible by all agencies, hire more investigators and formulate better workload projections for them . . . OPM has already hired 400 additional investigators (government and contract) bringing the total onboard to 8,400 . . . Clay warned that oversight responsibility may be transferred from OPM to the ODNI next summer, because of the DNI's direct involvement in the issue . . . CIA and NSA still run their own investigations, and have differing standards on polygraphs . . . Unifying the program under the DNI could bring standardization to the process . . . or, the spy agencies could continue to go their own way . . .Bottom line is that the DoD security clearance process will clear up considerably, and make it easier to clear people to get to work . . .
QDR Puts Emphasis On Foreign Language Capabilities,
The upcoming Quadrennial Defense Review will emphasize the need for an
improved foreign language capability . . . Operations in Afghanistan and Iraq , as well as the overall global war on terrorism, have highlighted the low-density high-value problem of linguists who can understand what is going on around US forces . . . more foreign language teachers and better training facilities at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA . . . . "Cultural awareness and language capability will have the QDR spotlight . . . Before leaving to head the World Bank, DepSecDef Wolfowitz approved a new "Defense Language Transformation Roadmap" to overhaul policy, doctrine and organizations to improve the diversity of foreign languages spoken in the armed forces . . . he wanted to enhance proficiency of linguists and create a reservoir outside the DoD . . . What does it mean to Naval Intelligence? Pentagon planners may soon require all junior officers to complete a foreign language course . . . Eventually all flag and general officers will be expected to be bilingual . . . to get there, $361.8 million in plus-ups over the FYDP for foreign language training were directed in Program Budget Decision 753 last year . . . a recent Defense Science Board "summer study " called knowledge of foreign languages "a key enabler of country and area knowledge" and that that " DOD lacks sufficient personnel with languages and skills required " . . . Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI) wants to set up a $3 million pilot program to test the feasibility of a civilian corps of language experts . . . whatever the answer, all the players seem to recognize that the U.S. has a key advantage in its diverse immigrant population . . . the number of first-generation citizens who have a good understanding of their former cultures could be a huge advantage . . . but the security system still doesn't know how to deal with it . . . Defense officials acknowledge that they must do a better job of leveraging this capability , but have not indicated an understanding of how to do so , while maintaining and adequate counter-intelligence posture . . . so far, Cold War policies of risk avoidance seem hard to change . . .
Air Force Intelligence to Get a Three Star Leader
USAF Chief of Staff General T. Michael Moseley announced two major organizational changes in late October to expand and redefine the service's intelligence and communications fields . . . Moseley said he will appoint a three-star officer to lead the intelligence field . . .he also intends to increase end-strength and stand up separate intelligence directorates in USAF headquarters around the world . . . Army has always had a three-star officer as DCSInt or G-2 . . .The current director of USAF intelligence , surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) is Ron Sams, a two-star rated pilot . . . Moseley's intelligence announcement comes at a time when a record number of career intelligence colonels - at least 23 - are retiring from the service . . . the colonels say they face a glass ceiling in the hunt for Brigadier . . . The number of general officers selected out of the intelligence career field has plummeted since General Merrill McPeak's decision to de-emphasize intelligence and fold the IN organization into Ops (IN became XOI in the early 1990's) . . . none of the Combatant Command J-2s are Air Force officers . . . Moseley thinks Air Force has lost its seat at the table in joint intelligence planning and decision-making about core Air Force mission areas in air and space operations . . . he wants to expand the career field and groom more general officers to follow the path of Gen. Mike Hayden , Deputy Director of National Intelligence . . . he also wants to grow traditional intelligence strengths in language and regional expertise and wants to build experience in UAVs and cyber-operations . . . the Intelligence Chief is expected to be named by the new year . . .based on the lack of eligible intelligence specialists ( Major General Paul LeBras just retired rfom AIA), the pick could be an operator . . . Moseley's announcement came the same day that the DNI released the new intelligence strategy . . .
Intel Info Sharing Under Fire
Former Navy 1110 John Russack is charged with implementing the Congressional mandate to share data across the restricted domains of CIA, FBI, the Combat Support Agencies (DIA, NGA and NSA) . . . He has had several combative sessions in front of the House Homeland Security Intelligence Subcommittee, the latest in November . . . John estimated that his office needs $30 million a year to facilitate information sharing . . . . He was allocated $9.6 million in start-up costs , and has privately indicated he may get $20 m from the ODNI staff in FY-06 funding. He does not have a specific funding line in the ODNI budget, and thus is subject to the vagaries of the ODNI CFO process . . . Former Rep. Lee Hamilton , D-IN, who served as the vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission, followed John . . . He made the point that the Commission thought that Congress and the Administration needed to empower John's office with dedicated resources and additional authorities . . . Hamilton has been named to the PFIAB for a two year term, as noted elsewhere from the Row . . . Thus far, the information sharing office has set up two pilot programs to determine policy, technology and security needs for information sharing . . . One provides New York FBI field office with e-mail and alerts on handheld wireless devices about relevant intelligence . . . John says he would like to have a dozen similar pilot projects by the end of next year and expand the New York initiative to metropolitan police and Washington DC . . . Also on tap, provided funds are made available, is an electronic directory of sources for federal agencies with lists of professionals across the federal government as well as state and local governments, the private sector and academia . . .
Fireworks in the House Intelligence Committee
Rep. Curt Weldon , R-PA, is a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence and has written a book about missed opportunities to stop the terrorists prior to 9/11 . . . in the Info Sharing hearing he took on former colleague Hamilton and the Commission , accusing them bitterly of ignoring information that the government had a priori knowledge about possible al Qaida members . . .Curt claims the ABLE SENTRY special study group in the Pentagon had identified Mohammed Atta as a bad guy a year before the attacks . . .he was still fulminating when he stormed out of the chamber . . . accusing the former commission vice chairman of lying and being part of a cover-up by the Bush administration . . . .He claimed he was "going to get to the bottom of it" as he left . . .
BRAC & DIA & NGA
Meanwhile, the World's Greatest Deliberative Body and the Tower of Babel on the other end of the Capitol Dome sat on their hands . . . that meant the recommendations of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission to restructure the Defense Department's network of facilities across the country went into effect at midnight November 8th as Congress declined to take issue with the results of the President's proposed base re-alignment and closure recommendation . . .The nine-member BRAC Commission delivered its recommendations to President Bush on Sept. 8 , and he passed them on to the House and Senate on Sept. 15 . . . Legislators then had 45 legislative days to reject the recommendations, up or down, or they would go into effect automatically . . .In late October, the House voted overwhelmingly to reject a last-ditch effort to halt the process and the often raucous struggle died with a whimper, not a bang . . . two major construction projects are going to spin off from BRAC and affect the National Geo-Spatial intelligence Agency (NGA) and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) . . . . . . NGA will get a consolidated campus to house thousands of workers who currently labor in unsecured commercial lease space in Reston and Bethesda . . . In addition to high-speed networks, they are going to be shopping for backbone building telecommunications infrastructure for thousands of desks at the new campus at Ft. Belvoir , just south of Alexandria , VA . . . DIA will get a facility south of the National Capital Region at Charlottesville to house approximately 1800 daily workers , with the capability of taking up the Agency's global mission in the event a COOP scenario should play out . . . The requirements are the same as for the NGA campus . . . In terms of scope, this would be on the order of the Yongsan HQ Garrison Relocation program in the Republic of Korea, only closer to home . . . Although their parent bases were killed, the Joint Reserve intelligence Centers at Fort McPherson and Fort Sheridan will reportedly stay open, only as stand-alone entities . . .
President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) Gets new Chairman and ExDir
Legendary intelligence official Joan Dempsey has left her post as the executive director of the PFIAB and joined consulting giant Booz-Allen-Hamilton as a partner . . . Joan started as a naval analyst at ONI in the 1980s, and then climbed the ranks at DIA and the Community Management Staff . . . she blazed a trail for other women in the intelligence field , and became the first Deputy Director of Central Intelligence for Community Management . . .she will be replaced at the PFIAB by Stephanie Osburn , currently Chief of Staff for the Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Management . . .Stephanie is a career CIA employee with extensive service at the Community level, including hard target policy and program evaluation . . .
The PFIAB's influence has waxed and waned over the years . . . there was a sharp controversy over the dismissal of former chairman Brent Scowcroft , National Security Advisor to Bush 1 . . . that aired publicly in the New Yorker Magazine . . . the Board was established in 1956 by President Dwight Eisenhower . . . past chairmen have included Senator Warren Rudman , House Speaker Thomas Foley , and former Defense Secretary Les Aspin after they left full-time government service . . . the PFIAB has conducted investigations (through its Intelligence Oversight Board ) of intelligence Community controversies, including lax security at DoE nuclear weapons facilities , CIA involvement with Guatemalan human rights ab uses, intelligence failures in Somalia , and the CIA's CYA investigation of CIA director John Deutch after his speedy exit from the Agency . . . it seems certain to have a more prominent role under the terms of the Intelligence Reform legislation . . . The White house also announced the appointment of Stephen Friedman to be Chairman of the Board , and also Chairman of the Intelligence Oversight Board . . . Friedman is a former chairman of Goldman-Sachs who served in the Bush 2 White House as Assistant to the President for economic policy . . . he had a previous tour as a member of the Board . . . There are other big changes in the panel's two year appointments, which are:
James L. Barksdale of Mississippi , former head of Netscape
Arthur B. Culvahouse , lawyer and former Counsel to President Ronald Reagan
William O. DeWitt , Jr., Cincinnati investor (part owner of the Texas Rangers)
Admiral James O. “Zooms” Ellis USN (Ret.), former STRATCOM commander
Donald L. Evans of Texas, former Secretary of Commerce
Martin Faga of Virginia, former NRO Director
Lee Hamilton of Indiana, former Congressman and Vice Chair of the 9/11 Commission
Ray Hunt , Texas oilman,
ADM David E. Jeremiah of Virginia, former Vice Chairman of the JCS
John L. Morrison of Minnesota, investor and senior executive of the Pillsbury Corp
Elizabeth Pate-Cornell , Stanford University Professor of Industrial Engineering