Author: Daniel R. Coats
Affiliation: Director of National Intelligence
Organization/Publisher: United States Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Date/Place: 2019, U.S.
Type of Literature: Policy Report
Number of Pages: 14
Link: https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/National_Intelligence_Strategy_2019.pdf
Key words: National Security, Strategic Environment, Mission Objectives
Brief:
The 2019 National Intelligence Strategy (NIS), sets a policy guide to U.S. policymakers to make informed decisions on national security issues for the next four years. The guidelines mainly involve two major themes: an assessment of the strategic environment, and mission objectives. The document asserts that the global strategic environment is rapidly changing, and consequently leading to the weakening of Western influence as a result of the global shift of economic power to the East. This development dynamic poses an increasingly complex, uncertain, diverse and interconnected national security threats to the U.S. In addition to the traditional challenges of the economic rise and military modernization of China, Russia’s effort to increase its overseas influence, the acquisition and use of weapons of mass destruction by emerging regional powers, the rapid global technological advancement, particularly in the realm of space, cyberspace, and emerging disruptive technologies pose immense threat to US national security. Technological advancement will enable broad range of actors to secure sophisticated capacities which were available only to well-resourced states in earlier times. The document proposes seven mission objectives of the intelligence community (IC) to deliver timely, insightful, objective, and relevant intelligence support to policymakers in order to cope with these challenges. According to the report, the objective of the activities of the U.S. intelligence community is to advance national security, economic strength, and technological superiority, while maintaining America’s values of privacy, civil liberties, transparency and public accountability.
By: Jemal Muhamed, CIGA Research Associate
