Defense Primer: National and Defense Intelligence (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Revised April 22, 2024 |
| Report Number |
IF10525 |
| Report Type |
In Focus |
| Authors |
Anne Daugherty Miles |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
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Summary:
The U.S. intelligence community (IC) is charged with
providing intelligence that is “timely, objective,
independent of political considerations, and based upon all
sources available to the intelligence community” to
decision makers in the national security policy process.
Decision makers in need of intelligence are thought of as
“customers”—the President, National Security Council
(NSC), heads of departments and agencies of the executive
branch, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, senior
military commanders, Members of Congress, and others as
the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) determines
appropriate. The IC tends to group its customers into two
categories: national-level and warfighters at the
operational- and tactical-level.
The IC is a collection of disparate organizations that all
carry out some intelligence-related function. Today, it is
comprised of 17 component organizations spread across 2
independent agencies and 6 separate departments of the
federal government. The bulk of the IC resides within the
Department of Defense (DOD).
