Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance: Actions Are Needed to Increase Integration and Efficiencies of DOD's ISR Enterprise

Abstract

The Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (USD[I]) has the authority to oversee DOD's ISR enterprise; however, the broad scope and complex funding arrangements of DOD's ISR enterprise make it difficult to manage and oversee. The scope of the ISR enterprise and capabilities include many different kinds of activities conducted by multiple agencies. As a result, ISR activities may be funded through any of several sources, including the Military Intelligence Program, the National Intelligence Program, overseas contingency operations funding, and military service funds. To manage DOD's large ISR enterprise, the USD(I) serves as DOD's senior intelligence official, responsible for providing strategic, budget, and policy oversight over DOD's ISR enterprise. However, the USD(I) does not have full visibility into several budget sources that fund DOD's ISR enterprise, such as national intelligence capabilities, dual use assets, urgent operational needs, and military personnel expenses related to ISR. The USD(I)'s inability to gain full visibility and clarity into all of DOD's ISR financial resources hinders efforts to develop an investment strategy for ISR and to achieve efficiencies. DOD has developed general guidance in directives and other documents emphasizing the need to identify efficiencies and eliminate duplication or redundancies in its capabilities, which provides a foundation for further action. In August 2010, the Secretary of Defense directed that the department begin a series of efficiency initiatives to reduce duplication, overhead, and excess. However, the scope of the review pertaining to ISR was limited to analysis activities and excluded activities associated with collecting ISR data--one of the largest areas of growth in ISR spending.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA544297

Entities

People

  • Amie Steele
  • Ashley Alley
  • Brian Mazanec
  • Davi M. D'agostino
  • David Keefer
  • Gina Flacco
  • Gregory Marchand
  • Margaret Morgan
  • Robert Breitbeil
  • Timothy Persons

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Congress
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Department Of Defense
  • Homeland Security
  • House Of Representatives
  • Information Systems
  • Intelligence Collection Disciplines
  • Intelligence Community (United States)
  • Law
  • Military Operations
  • Military Personnel
  • National Security
  • Reconnaissance
  • Surveillance
  • United States Government
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Geospatial Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence Analytics
  • Public Financial Management and Budgeting