Testimony: Office of Intelligence and Analysis' Vision and Goals
Under Secretary and Chief Intelligence Officer Caryn Wagner
and Principal Deputy Under Secretary Bart Johnson, before the House Committee
on Homeland Security, on the Office of Intelligence and Analysis' Vision and
Goals
Release Date: May 12, 2010
Cannon House Office Building
Introduction
Chairman Harman, Ranking Member McCaul, and distinguished
Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you
today to discuss the vision and goals for the Department of Homeland Security’s
(DHS) Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A).
This is my first testimony before the Subcommittee on
Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment since my
confirmation on February 11, 2010. I am honored to serve as the Under Secretary
for Intelligence and Analysis and Chief Intelligence Officer for DHS. I look
forward to working closely with this Subcommittee and the Congress to lead and
strengthen the critical intelligence mission of the Department.
The Office of Intelligence and Analysis Strategic Vision
I&A's overarching vision is to be the trusted leader in
meeting our nation’s homeland security intelligence needs. This vision drives
our core focus of strengthening the Department's and our partners’ ability to
protect the homeland by accessing, integrating, analyzing, and sharing timely
and relevant intelligence and information, while protecting the privacy and
civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans.
I&A’s programs and activities align with the core DHS
missions designated in our recently completed Quadrennial Homeland Security
Review (QHSR). Intelligence and information sharing are identified as key
activities for the Department in the QHSR. To that end, I&A plays a critical
role to DHS’ success in all of its core mission areas: preventing terrorism and
enhancing security; securing and managing our borders; enforcing and
administering our immigration laws; safeguarding and securing cyberspace;
ensuring resilience to disasters; and strengthening and maturing the
Department.
I have spent considerable time reviewing the roles,
missions, functions and alignment of I&A since my confirmation in February.
Much of my review has focused on what I&A must do to enhance its support to
core customers at the Department and to its non-federal partners at the state,
local, tribal and territorial levels. I have also evaluated how I&A can
improve upon the services that it already provides to the Intelligence
Community (IC) and its interaction with Congress. I am focusing now on four
main areas:
Creating a true homeland security information-sharing
enterprise through greater focus on the state, local, and major urban area
fusion centers;
Unifying and sustaining a DHS intelligence enterprise as the
Chief Intelligence Officer of the Department;
Producing first-rate analytic products tailored to the needs
of core customers, including to those not often served by traditional members
of the IC; and
Establishing the program management processes necessary to
improve the morale, efficiency, and professionalism of I&A as an
organization.
In the last few months, we have made substantial progress in
defining priorities, improving management processes, and determining the best
structure for I&A to meet the goals that I have set forth. I would be
remiss if I did not express my appreciation for the outstanding work and
leadership of Principal Deputy Under Secretary Bart Johnson during his tenure
as Acting Under Secretary; much of what I propose today builds on his
foundational efforts. The following specific steps, already underway, will
translate I&A’s goals into an organizational and program-execution reality.
Executing the Strategic Vision
Two basic themes drive I&A’s need for realignment: (1)
the need for I&A to maximize support to core customers and; (2) the need
for I&A to take better advantage of its collective resources.
I have also identified areas in which we can improve
I&A’s organizational structure. I&A’s proposed realignment consolidates
similar activities, invests more resources in areas of required core
competencies, and frees up existing resources for new endeavors.
I&A’s proposed realignment establishes four core
offices, three of which are supervised by a Deputy Under Secretary: Analysis;
Enterprise and Mission Support; and Plans, Policy and Performance Management;
and the fourth by a Director of the Department’s new Joint Fusion Center
Program Management Office (JFC-PMO). The I&A Principal Deputy Under
Secretary will have direct responsibility for overseeing the overall fusion
center effort. We plan to forward a reprogramming action to consolidate the
resources of the legacy State and Local Program Office (SLPO) into the JFC-PMO.
We are also determining the relationship the JFC-PMO will have with the
emergent National Fusion Center Program Management Office (NFC-PMO) directed by
the White House.
I will now describe in further detail some of the key
initiatives underway that support the four focus areas previously described:
(1) supporting state and local fusion centers; (2) strengthening the DHS
intelligence enterprise; (3) providing first rate analytic information to core
customers; and (4) improving I&A management and processes. These focus
areas are the guiding principles under which I&A’s goals have been
established.
1. Supporting State and Local Fusion Centers
A primary role of I&A is to share intelligence and
information with our partners at the state, local, tribal, territorial, and
private sector levels. The state, local, tribal and territorial first
responders and first preventers are the leading edge of the homeland security
enterprise. The linchpin of our interaction with our non-federal partners is
through stronger partnerships with state and local fusion centers. Fusion
centers are a vital tool for strengthening homeland security, and it is
I&A’s job to work closely with state, local, tribal, and territorial
partners on some of the nation’s most pressing homeland security issues.
Further strengthening this capability is a top priority.
We are continuing to expand the level of cooperation and
information sharing with our state, local, tribal and territorial partners via
a robust network of intelligence and law enforcement agencies participating in
state and local fusion centers. Secretary Napolitano approved the plan to
implement the Joint Fusion Center Program Management Office (JFC-PMO) on March
15, 2010. The JFC-PMO will bring to bear all the Department’s resources – not
just I&A’s – to support information sharing among state, local, tribal,
territorial, and federal law enforcement partners, as well as to coordinate
relevant support from all DHS elements, not just from I&A. The Department
is now considering how the JFC-PMO will align with the White House’s direction
that DHS be the lead agency in establishing the National Fusion Center Program
Management Office (NFC-PMO). I&A developed an implementation plan for the
NFC-PMO with the assistance of state and local representatives and more than15
federal agencies. The implementation plan was widely coordinated throughout the
federal government and will soon be sent to Secretary Napolitano for her
review.
To leverage the capabilities of our non-federal partners,
I&A has deployed 55 intelligence officers to fusion centers nationwide and
plans to deploy a total of 70 officers by the end of FY 2010, with the ultimate
goal to deploy personnel to all 72 designated fusion centers and assign 10
regional coordinators to the field. I&A has installed the Homeland Secure
Data Network (HSDN), which allows the federal government to share Secret-level
intelligence and information with state, local and tribal partners, at 33
fusion centers. Additional centers are undergoing facilities certification to
be accredited to house HSDN. This burgeoning network greatly expands two-way
information sharing flows between federal and non-federal homeland security
partners. We are also partnering with the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil
Liberties and the DHS Privacy Office to provide training to federal, state and
local fusion center personnel, to ensure privacy, civil rights and civil
liberties are appropriately addressed in fusion center activities and products.
2. Strengthening the DHS Intelligence Enterprise
I&A is continuing to take concrete steps to promote a
unified, collaborative DHS intelligence enterprise. Our goal is to make
intelligence activities at DHS more integrated, efficient and effective, and to
allow DHS, both headquarters and components, to give and receive better
intelligence support. A critical tool in this effort is the Homeland Security
Intelligence Council (HSIC), which I chair in my role as Chief Intelligence
Officer. The HSIC is comprised of component intelligence leaders and other key
officials representing a broad range of DHS activities that require
intelligence support. The HSIC is focused on governance-level, DHS intelligence
enterprise-wide objectives, such as overseeing the completion of the first
coordinated, enterprise-wide analytic production plan, playing a leading role
in reviewing DHS-wide protocols for disseminating Homeland Security
Intelligence Reports and preparing an FY 2012 consolidated intelligence budget
recommendation to the Secretary.
Another successful example of the power of the DHS
intelligence enterprise is the DHS Threat Task Force (DTTF). The DTTF was
established in the summer of 2009 to support the Zazi and Headley
investigations. The DTTF is composed of I&A analysts and representatives
from the DHS operational components and ensures that all the Department’s information
and expertise is brought to bear on an issue or investigation. Last summer, the
DTTF provided information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on
hundreds of additional individuals who were determined to be potentially
relevant to specific, high-profile cases. DHS reactivated the DTTF on Christmas
Day, after the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253. We
institutionalized this task force to focus and unify the efforts of the whole
Department on mitigating terrorist threats to the homeland. These efforts have
directly contributed to the effective use of watch lists and have supported
Department programs for passenger travel analysis and airport screening
procedures.
I&A recently completed a comprehensive set of Standing
Information Needs (SINs) that uniformly document ongoing intelligence and
information needs of the entire Department. These SINs improve DHS’ ability to
participate in the IC’s collection management processes and the quality and
quantity of information received in support of those needs, as well as the
information I&A produces. In addition, since October 2009, our Collection
and Requirements Division assisted more than 20 fusion centers in developing
their own SINs, with the goal of improving the level of support they can receive
from the Department and the rest of the IC. We are putting in place tools to
ensure our analytic products adhere to information needs of both departmental
and non-federal partners. These same SINs also provide the starting point for
I&A’s planning and performance measurement activities.
3. Providing First Rate Analytic Information to Core
Customers
I&A’s analytic programs now better align with the
Secretary’s priorities and the Department’s SINs, and encompass those analytic
topics that are most meaningful for homeland security. Our analysts – in
partnership with National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) and the FBI – address
threats to the homeland from both international and domestic terrorist groups
and actors and also analyze terrorist tactics, techniques, and procedures to
inform the development of protective measures at home. As a result of recent
trends, I&A is working closely with its IC partners to develop a framework
for analysis of homegrown violent extremism that is consistent with protecting
privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties.
I&A has primary responsibility within the IC to analyze,
evaluate and disseminate analysis on threats to homeland critical
infrastructure. Through our robust relationship with the private sector and
partnership with DHS’ Office of Infrastructure Protection (IP), we routinely
assess the impact of threats to industry and, with our IP partners, identify
specific vulnerabilities and consequences that could result from terrorist
attacks or other hazards. We are working with IP to improve the partnership and
the utility of the products produced in this area.
Our border and immigration security analysts focus not only
on terrorist threats to the U.S. on or at our land and maritime borders, but
also address trends regarding travel, asylum and refugee issues and the rising
violence on the Mexican side of the Southwest Border. I&A, in fact,
uniquely supports the U.S. government’s efforts to identify, track, deter and
prevent terrorists from traveling to the homeland. I&A’s role in preventing
terrorist travel focuses on providing targeted intelligence analysis that leverages
unique DHS databases and expertise, and on sharing information broadly within
DHS and also with the U.S. government and foreign partners. I&A plays a key
role in monitoring changes to and effects of global immigration and travel
security policies, provides direct support to DHS asylum and refugee programs,
informs Customs and Border Protection targeting rules and Transportation
Security Administration screening measures, and produces unique assessments on
alien smuggling and illicit travel patterns in support of the IC and other
customers.
I&A also possesses a cyber intelligence analytic
program. This team provides a national intelligence analytical framework in
support of key cybersecurity customers, such as the DHS National Cybersecurity
and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC), the DHS United States Computer
Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), and the Industrial Control Systems CERT. We
are working with partners in the community to collaborate on strategic cyber
analysis, and we continue to determine the amount of analytic support necessary
to the Department’s cybersecurity mission.
I&A also maintains expertise in the fields of health
intelligence and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) issues
to serve its departmental, federal, state, local, tribal, territorial and
private sector partners. DHS is a co-founder, with the Defense Intelligence
Agency, of the National Center for Medical Intelligence at Fort Detrick,
Maryland, which focuses on a broad range of foreign medical risks that could
threaten the United States. We use our combined research and analytic talents
to produce all-source threat analyses on human health, agriculture, and food
security to support DHS components – a recent example being the health
intelligence we provided to support first responders’ relief efforts in Haiti –
as well as federal, state, local, tribal and territorial government agencies
and the private sector. Our analysis goes beyond just the science of health
threats to address relevant foreign policy and socio-economic issues that could
adversely affect homeland security operations and critical infrastructure and
key resources.
On CBRN issues, our experts collaborate with their IC
partners on broad-ranging assessments and national-level exercises; provide the
threat basis for risk assessments that drive DHS policy formulation and
detection and response programs; and provide practical insights to state,
local, tribal and private sector partners on CBRN indicators they might
encounter in the course of their operational and law enforcement roles.
4. Improving
Management and Processes
To ensure that I&A is able to meet the broad range of
its responsibilities, I am placing great emphasis on strengthening its
planning, management and performance oversight functions. I&A is making
considerable progress developing fair and transparent policies and
decision-making processes, aligning resources to priority missions, and
assessing the efficacy of investments. I&A has established leadership-level
policy, personnel, and resource requirements boards to improve the management
of I&A’s workforce, programs and budget. As part of my commitment to
improving management, policy development, and business processes, I&A’s
realignment proposal establishes a Deputy Under Secretary for Plans, Policy and
Performance Management (PPPM), as discussed earlier in this testimony. This new
element will enable more streamlined and integrated strategic planning,
programming and performance measurement, and budgeting life cycle processes.
PPPM will further the Department’s intelligence mission by providing DHS
intelligence enterprise and departmental information sharing management
guidance by overseeing the Executive Directors of both the Homeland Security
Intelligence Council and the Information Sharing Governance Board. For example,
PPPM will be the focal point for our partnership with the DHS Chief Information
Officer to improve departmental information sharing governance and establish
enterprise-wide best practices.
The new Deputy Under Secretary’s responsibilities will
include developing and unifying applicable strategies, plans, and policies for
the entire intelligence mission cycle, leading to integrated DHS intelligence
and information-sharing enterprises focused on mission and customers. PPPM will
also develop a detailed I&A strategic action plan that will include a
mapping of all organizational activities and performance management metrics to
measure program execution and effectiveness. This, in turn, will institute
valid metrics to measure success and create a systemic cycle that facilitates
organizational improvement. Finally, it will serve as I&A’s primary focal
point for intelligence policy planning and representation of the intelligence
mission to the rest of DHS, the larger IC, and the national security policy
community.
I&A's proposed Office of Enterprise and Mission Support
is intended to centralize intelligence mission support functions for I&A,
as well as the larger DHS intelligence enterprise. It is designed to maximize
the effectiveness of our information technology knowledge management,
counterintelligence, training, collection requirements, and external operations
programs.
Intelligence training is a critical capability that will
enable fulfillment of I&A’s strategic goals, and the proposed Office of
Enterprise and Mission Support will build on existing I&A training
successes. This program, which will be staffed by additional intelligence
trainers, is intended to support the establishment of a culture of disciplined
intelligence work in I&A.
Immediate Way Forward
These steps are a beginning, and I&A will undergo
further refinement over time. I&A must—and will—continue to mature its
management and business standards; move towards more proactive, collaborative
and prioritized process planning and; ensure that all of its activities align
with DHS missions and goals.
Conclusion
Members of the Subcommittee, I appreciate the opportunity to
appear before you today to discuss the strategic vision for I&A. I&A
has made significant strides, and we continue to adapt ourselves to the
continuing emerging needs of the Department. I&A has a vital and unique
mission, and we will continue to improve our strategic posture to more
effectively support core customers.
I&A’s efforts to gather, assess, analyze and share intelligence and information will continue to be guided by the dual imperatives of protecting the country from those who wish to do it harm, and protecting our privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. With your support, the leadership of Secretary Napolitano, and the fine men and women of I&A, I believe we can accomplish our goals and fulfill these imperatives. I look forward to keeping the Subcommittee apprised of I&A's continued progress.