Defense Primer: Intelligence Support to Military Operations (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Revised May 9, 2024 |
| Report Number |
IF10574 |
| Report Type |
In Focus |
| Authors |
Anne Daugherty Miles; Mariah J. Armga |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
The U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) is a collection of
organizations charged with providing intelligence that is
“timely, objective, independent of political considerations,
and based upon all sources available to the intelligence
community” to decision makers in the national security
policy process. According to IC expert Mark Lowenthal,
intelligence refers to information that meets the needs of
decision makers and has been collected, processed and
narrowed to meet those needs.
The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) serves as
community manager and the principal intelligence advisor
to the President. The bulk of the IC resides within the
Department of Defense (DOD)—to include the Defense
Intelligence Agency (DIA), National GeospatialIntelligence
Agency (NGA), National Security Agency
(NSA), the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and the
intelligence components of the military services. Non-DOD
elements include the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and
intelligence entities within the Departments of Energy,
Homeland Security, Justice, State, and Treasury. The core
mission of the DNI is to lead the IC as a whole in
intelligence integration to ensure it operates as one team.
Organizations such as CIA integrate intelligence from all
sources into national intelligence in support of the nationallevel
policy process while organizations such as DIA focus
more on integrating service-specific intelligence into
defense intelligence for the warfighter. Furthermore, joint
intelligence elements exist within the DOD to provide a
common, coordinated picture for military commanders by
fusing national and theater intelligence information into allsource
assessments and estimates.
