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.
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While the intelligence community is adept at collecting foreign intelligence outside the U.S., it does not neatly address how to exploit domestic foreign intelligence, largely due to conflicting narratives within the community. This needs to be rectified going forward.
Why are U.S. intelligence agencies still applying extraordinary safeguards to the incidentally collected communications of Chinese, Russian and Iranian citizens as well as the nationals of EU allies that refuse to offer similar privacy protections to Americans?
The recent midterm elections served as a reminder—comforting to many—that the Trump presidency will end. The next president will be challenged to heal a fractured society, return integrity to public service and restore essential government institutions. We will not have a full accounting of how U.S. intelligence fared during the Trump years until a credible investigation is undertaken or survivors emerge to document their experiences. The next president will confront three realities:
Darren E. Tromblay has served the U.S. Intelligence Community, as an Intelligence Analyst, for more than a decade. He is the author of Political Influence Operations (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018) and the forthcoming Spying: Assessing US Domestic Intelligence Since 9/11 (Lynne Rienner) as well as the co-author of Securing U.S. Innovation (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016).
Steve Slick is a clinical professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and directs the Intelligence Studies Project at the University of Texas-Austin. He was a member of CIA’s clandestine service, and served as a special assistant to President George W. Bush and the NSC’s Senior Director for Intelligence Programs and Reform. This essay was reviewed and approved by the CIA’s Publications Review Board.
Darren E. Tromblay has served the U.S. Intelligence Community, as an Intelligence Analyst, for more than a decade. He is the author of The U.S. Domestic Intelligence Enterprise: History, Development, and Operations (Taylor & Francis, 2015) and co-author of Securing U.S. Innovation (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016). Mr. Tromblay has been published in Lawfare, the Hill, Small Wars Journal, and Intelligence and National Security.
Darren E. Tromblay has served as an intelligence analyst with the U.S. government for more than a decade. He holds an MA from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, an MS from the National Defense Intelligence College, and a BA from the University of California and is a graduate of the National Intelligence University’s Denial and Deception Advanced Studies Program. Mr. Tromblay is the author of The U.S. Domestic Intelligence Enterprise, published by Taylor & Francis in 2016 and a co-author of Securing U.S.
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.
A Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC) established by the Director of National Intelligence in response to a presidential directive can play a valuable role integrating and assessing cyber threat data available to the government in support of policymaking and operational res