A Hedge Against Politicization: An Impartial Intelligence Community for America
Abstract
Today the National Intelligence Community (IC) is mired in a dilemma that challenges the credibility of our national policymaking process. Intelligence assessments inconsistent with policymaker political objectives have often been subjugated by partisan second guessing. Policymakers who tailor raw intelligence to fit their needs, coupled with intelligence leader's complicity have cast serious doubts on the intelligence community's analytical independence. The IC's failure to predict the 9/11 terrorist attacks and its inability to accurately determine the viability of Iraq's WMD program are not illustrations of ineptitude, but instead, an indictment of a deeply flawed system prone to manipulation and analytical gerrymandering. This paper will dissect the relationship and challenges that exist between the intelligence community and policymaker. It argues for an impartial intelligence enterprise free of analytical biases and preconceived partisan political dispositions. This paper proposes modeling the IC after the Federal Reserve or Congressional Budget Office in order to create a nonpartisan institution free to provide sound intelligence advice to policymakers based on unblemished analysis.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA521962
Entities
People
- Bruce A. Stephens
Organizations
- United States Army War College