Essay on "Intelligence Community the History"

Essay 11 pages (3153 words) Sources: 11

[EXCERPT] . . . .

It had neither a name nor an officially designated leader other than the attorney general. Yet, these former detectives and Secret Service men were the forerunners of the FBI." (FBI.gov, nd).

By the year 1916 arrived the FBI had grown from less than 50 agents that focused on banking issues, to over 300 agents. The expanded role of this organization brought many changes to the way intelligence could be incorporated to both domestic and international politics. The FBI became responsible for international security missions, border patrol, and other quasi-military operations in Central and South America. Soon before World War I the FBI's role began to focus on the German and British nationals within America. World War I would start a new chapter or era in intelligence history as the results of total war became inescapable and required the many practical uses for intelligence.

Within the military itself, new branches and techniques of intelligence were developing as well. As technology progressed with new weapons of war, the intelligence gathering technology grew as well. MI-8 within the Army was created during this time to help decode and code information. British intelligence played a major role in bringing the United States into World War I. Public revelations of German intelligence attempts to prevent U.S. industry and the financial sector from assisting Great Britain greatly angered the American public. Subsequently, British intelligence presented Wilson with the decryption of German diplomatic and naval traffic showing a German effort to entice the Mexican government into joining Germany against the United States in return for Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico if Germany won the war. (Guest, 2011).

Shortly after WWI, the FBI expanded dramatically under its newly appointed director, J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover was granted sweeping and dramatic powers that dramatically expanded the duties and operations of the intelligence community. The FBI was heavily involved in all aspects of what is now modern day terms of intelligence. Espionage, counterespionage, sabotage and other international threats were objectives of the FBI. Both domestic and international targets were of interest to FBI under this new regime the political landscape grew significantly alongside this evolution as well.

World War II drastically propelled the growth in strength of the intelligence community as technology and conflict became ignited again at a global level. There was a very chaotic time and much was at risk both politically and militarily. Within the military, the intelligence community created the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). This organization was used primarily as a weapons against the axis powers around the world. The contributions to the evolution of the intelligence community and its role in politics is deep and profound.

The attack on Pearl Harbor in 1942, a terrorist attack, demonstrated the limitations of the intelligence community in many aspects. While some may contend that this attack was allowed by military powers in order to propel the country into the war, the intelligence committee may have had to look like they had failed in order to align itself with the broader national interests of going to war. This political tactic became necessary due to the increase in media and information. The more information available to the masses, requires and equal and opposite disinformation campaign in order to protect national secrets and preserve the American way of life.

The Cold War.

Modern day spy tactics were perfected during the Cold Years ending in the 1990's. The

Bipolar world that was created out of the political agreements after World War II, noted a new dynamic within the intelligence community that essentially changed the way intelligence was used and practiced. "This period is of particular interest. The 1950s and 1960s were the formative years of the Soviet nuclear program. By the end of this period, Moscow had a mature nuclear weapons technology base and a thoroughly integrated and redundant weapons complex, the configuration of which remained largely the same until the end of the Cold War. In many ways, these were also the most dangerous years of the Cold War, " (Bukharin,2007) The 1962 Cuban missile crisis and other dramatic events of that period were of critical significance in shaping approaches to national defense, foreign policy, and intelligence that served each country for the balance of the Cold War confrontation.

On July 27, 1947, President Truman signed into law the National Security Act of 1947, creating a new and challenging postwar national security framework. A National Security Council was created to assist and systemize a complete and competent national security policy. The Act created the position of Secretary of Defense and unified the separate military departments (the Army, the Navy, and the newly-created Air Force) under this position. The Act also established the Joint Chiefs of Staff to serve as the principal military advisers to the President and the Secretary of Defense. Also most importantly, the Central Intelligence Agency was established with the Director of Central Intelligence as its head. At the time of its creation, the CIA was the only agency charged with a national intelligence mission.

The Modern Era of the Intelligence Community

The tasks that are now required from the national intelligence services and how they relate to the very complex and rapidly changing political structure are now more in demand and dangerous. In a world where everyone is a potential terrorist with the means to communicate and breach new political ground, makes this landscape the challenge that it truly is. Effective and efficient leadership is now in demand more than ever in this community because of the nature of the threats that are currently being presented to these institutions.

The terrorist attacks of 9/11 and other violent wars across the globe, intelligence services have become under much criticism. The failures of the intelligence community should not be overlooked when such a preventable attack was seemingly allowed to happen. The sheer size and demands of the intelligence community at that time was much smaller than it is now, but regardless there were serious breaches of communication and policy within the intelligence community that directly impacted the ease in which these attacks were carried out. A certain sense of embarrassment was felt throughout this community as the Pentagon itself, the military headquarters of the most powerful military in the world was compromised by a supposed 20 man militia of Saudi nationals.

Much like Pearl Harbor, this event catapulted the intelligence community into a new era where failure has become not an allowable option. The War on Terror, an abstract and questionable approach to intelligence gathering, has provided a new background to operate intelligence operations. This new landscape has effectively been driven by change in national policy and politics. It is clear that new consumers of intelligence are becoming more evident in recent times. This is happening both domestically and internationally, once again broadening the scope and range of duties this community holds responsible.

Technology has also contributed to the new challenges the intelligence community now faces in this changing political world. Warner (2013) reported "Armed with billions of tweets, Google searches, Facebook posts, and other publicly available social-media and online data, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is sponsoring research projects involving 14 universities in the United States, Europe, and Israel with the goal of using advanced analytics to predict significant societal events." It appears that the intelligence community has now created a new standard of performance by trying to predict the future. In past history, many ruling empires would hire soothsayers and sages to help in guiding the domains' futures. This is very much the case today in the intelligence community where the creation of information and possibilities is now taking precedent over what is really happening. It may become very easy for those in this community to lose their way and become sidetracked to the mission and that mission's purpose.

The immense amounts of data that are being gathered by computer technology both helps and harms intelligence gathering efforts. Information is only useful when it can be applied in a political application and many times the things that are being gathered are only for the sake of gathering things.

Conclusions

Gaouette (2012) suggested that the future of the intelligence community is ever evolving and changing when she wrote "New technologies, dwindling resources and explosive population growth in the next 18 years will alter the global balance of power and trigger radical economic and political changes at a speed unprecedented in modern history, says a new report by the U.S. intelligence community." If this is indeed true, political astuteness is absolutely necessary for the community to survive. Aligning itself with the poltical and strategic objectives of the national interests are key in making it relevant and important. Using the knowledge of the past can help form and shape ideas, but should not be relied upon for predictive behavior or fortune telling. Intelligence is and always be a slightly elusive quality that requires patience, understanding and empathy of the human spirit for… READ MORE

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