The Intelligence Studies Essay is curated by the Intelligence Studies Project at the University of Texas. It focuses on questions on a variety of topics related to intelligence, from cyber threats to the details of government infrastructure for assessing intelligence information.
Latest in Intelligence Studies Essay
It is not too early to begin planning a turnaround for U.S. intelligence under a new chief executive who appreciates the Intelligence Community’s unique capabilities, its fragile assets, and essential contributions to America’s national security.
The FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS) is an essential hub for bringing together federal and sub-federal data, and should therefore reside within DHS, given the latter’s role as the primary interlocutor between federal and sub-federal agencies.
What impact will we see from President Trump's revised executive order requiring both the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the CIA to participate in National Security Council deliberations?
The United States needs more than the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) to ensure that our legislators and their staffers are transparent about their contacts with foreign actors who may be seeking to exert influence.
Two major faults have compromised the FBI’s development. The first is its lack of a defined mission. Second, the Bureau’s conceptualization of national security has not kept pace with the United States’ needs.
The United States has long been a target of hybrid warfare by states seeking to disrupt or influence U.S. decision-making.
This Intelligence Studies Essay assesses open source research to determine the relative effectiveness of two alternative strategies for directing lethal attacks against terrorist groups: leadership decapitation, or degradation of mid-level management.
Update: After this essay was written, but before it was posted, the White House issued a memo and accompanying Fact Sheet further elaborating on its plans for CTIIC. For commentary on how those documents relate to the original essay, see this post.
We are excited to announce the launch of a new feature here at Lawfare: "The Intelligence Studies Essay," an occasional series curated by the Intelligence Studies Project at the University of Texas.