By Cliff Montgomery – Feb. 27th, 2009
New inter-agency structures supposedly meant to provide a superior intelligence response to national securitythreats were the subject of a recently-disclosed Intelligence Community (IC)Directive, one of the last producedby the Bush Administration.
The directive established “Communities of Interest” (COI), “to maximize intelligence collection and all-sourceanalytic coordination.”
“IC stakeholders in the maritime and air COIs shall aggressively collaborate and share information toproactively identify and mitigate threats posed within these domains as early and as geographically distantfrom the U.S. as possible,” stated the January 2009 directive.
The maximization of air domain awareness “directs development and improvement of new capabilities thatenable persistent and effective monitoring of all aircraft, cargo, people, and infrastructure in identified areas ofinterest and at designated times, consistent with protecting civil liberties and privacy,” stated the directive.
Exactly how the U.S. government is to engage in a “persistent and effective monitoring of all…people andinfrastructure in identified areas of interest” without conducting an “unreasonable search and seizure” ofindividuals and their activities was not immediately clear from the directive.
“Creating a shared common awareness among intelligence, law enforcement and operational communities is acomplex task,” added the directive, “and many associated policy and legal implications must be resolved toachieve success.”
The January 14th, 2009 directive was signed by Bush Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell.
This drive to create a world-wide, integrated intelligence power–which supposedly will protect America fromsome unknown, unnamed groups of devils forever on the verge of destroying civilization–was no singularbrainstorm from McConnell, but had been an essential part of the Bush Administration’s so-called “War onTerror.”
The McConnell directive, made effective in the last days of the Bush Administration, squares nicely with a July2008 National Intelligence report entitled, Vision 2015: “A Globally Networked and Integrated IntelligenceEnterprise.”
This fascinating study apparently put forth what had been the Bush Administration’s vision of a massive,ever-intrusive intelligence community.
Note two constants in the National Intelligence study:
1.)“land security” was a matter beyond any actual enemy. – No one person or group was the enemy of”homeland security.” The ‘enemy’ instead was anyone who may interfere with absolute U.S. economic, social,political or military dominance. Since such people may appear 100 years down the road as well as in the nextfew days, “homeland security” was to be a perpetual concern.
2.) The constant emphasis on fear. – Every change in the world was a cause for fear, every new player on theworld stage was an opponent, every one with a different view or different way of life, a potential enemy.Invisible devils were everywhere and nowhere–American citizens were forever defenseless, and forever on theverge of obliteration.
We offer a mere opinion here, but we think history proves it to be sound. True defenders work to make you feelat ease and less fearful – that, after all, is the whole point of defense. Defenders do not constantly stoke yourfears and prey on vague, undefinable worries. Such may be the work of people interested in gaining somepower over you, but it cannot be the action of those seriously interested in defending you.
Having stated that, we provide quotes from Vision 2015, below:
“We live in a dynamic world in which the pace, scope, and complexity of change are increasing. The continuedmarch of globalization, the growing number of independent actors, and advancing technology have increasedglobal connectivity, interdependence and complexity, creating greater uncertainties, systemic risk and a lesspredictable future.
“These changes have led to reduced warning times and compressed decision cycles. Although thisinterconnected world offers many opportunities for technological innovation and economic growth, it alsopresents unique challenges and threats. In this environment, the key to achieving lasting [U.S.] strategicadvantage is the ability to rapidly and accurately anticipate and adapt to complex challenges. […]
“The future portends discontinuities with new threats from non-traditional actors, new modes of attack, andmore lethal impact. Intelligence must be more integrated and agile to assist in preventing and responding tothese challenges. […]
“To these persistent threats we add a growing array of emerging missions that expands the list of nationalsecurity (and hence, intelligence) concerns to include infectious diseases, science and technology surprises,financial contagions, economic competition, environmental issues, energy interdependence and security[i.e., oilsupplies, etc.], cyber attacks, threats to global commerce, and transnational crime. […]
“For [intelligence] collection, the challenge will extend beyond developing a critical source or exploiting a keydata stream, to determining how to synchronize dissimilar platforms and sources against fleeting and vaguelydefined targets, using our collection assets to prompt, detect and respond to what the collection systemdiscovers. Deep and persistent penetration is key for collection. [Emphasis in the original.]”
