On the Twelve Days of Christmas My SecDef Gave to Me . . . . . (continued).

Twelve Learning Cultures,

Eleven Hybrid Agencies,

Ten Presidential Missions . . .

            The U.S. Intelligence Community has held the country together since 1947 in the absence of an effective National Security Organization.  With the rise, though, of the new, effective national security system championed by General James L. Jones and built on the Project on National Security Reforms thorough blueprint, Forging a New Shield, it will be possible to reconfigure the U.S. Intelligence Community as a critical source of interagency organizational expertise.  Incoming presidents can be served by the U.S. intelligence community through the pre-positioning of ten agile intelligence-enabled organizations.

            End the War in Iraq.  President Bush combined the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War under Meghan OSullivan and then under his War Czar Douglas Lute.  President-elect Obama is likely to decouple the two wars into two distinct presidential missions:  end the war in Iraq and defeat Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.  The intelligence community is more agile than either the permanent stovepipes (e.g. Defense, State) or even the more nimble hybrid agencies (e.g. Marines, NASA, Coast Guard, Centers for Disease Control).

            Defeat Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.  A presidential mission has a four-year shelf life.  No president should burn up presidential missions for subsequent presidents through the establishment of permanent bureaucracies devoted to those missions.  The intelligence community is not a stovepipe; expected incoming Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair can run ten presidential mission groups catalyzed by intelligence professionals who are skilled at drawing on resources from multiple departmental stovepipes and hybrid agencies.

            Significantly Reduce the Threat of Counter-proliferation.  The Weapons of Mass Destruction Report released on December 2, 2008, is yet another persuasive document arguing for a whole-of-government and smart approach to siphoning loose nukes and other WMDs off of the world stage.  In order for this agenda item to rise to the top of presidential consciousness, it will have to be anthropomorphized into a member of the presidential national security team.

            Blend Counterterrorism into Other Trans-governmental Missions.  Congress only allocated 1000 slots to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and perhaps half of those slots are used up by employees of the National Counter-terrorism Center in Tysons Corner, Virginia.  The nations counter-terrorism director and the nine other presidential mission coordinators -- should be a full member of the presidential national security team.

Renew the Directorate of Operations.  The best information is obtained in the course of action, and the primary action teams around the world are the country teams in U.S. embassies. Treating the CIAs Directorate of Operations as a presidential mission team would help restore the credibility the unit deserves.  Investing in a new generation of American patriots who are comfortable in multiple languages, diverse cultures, and occasionally ambiguous legal status should be a high priority for a president who wishes to combat terrorism with smart power.

Build a Whole-of-Government Cyber-security Capability.  The counterintelligence culture can be fused with the National Security Administrations computing expertise and the FBIs emerging skills to learn rapid response techniques to attacks on the nations cyber structures.

Inject More Regional Professionals into the State Department.  Much of the intelligence community is composed of regional experts.  The State Department must grow significantly to provide an effective counterweight to DOD and DHS.  Systematically moving large numbers of regional experts from the Intelligence Community into the State Department can increase the effectiveness of the U.S. governments understanding of local issues. 

Retain International Alliances to Avoid a Nuclear Iran.  Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, and Iran have acted in ways that pop them out of a regional national security concern into a presidential national security mission.  President-elect Obama will need to be able to rely on Gen. Jones to manage the presidential national security team as a whole, and Gen. Jones will need to be able to rely on Admiral Blair to manage the ten presidential mission teams that are an important subset of the presidential national security team, and Admiral Blair will need to be able to rely on an executive from the intelligence community to manage the Iran portfolio.  Iran has grown over many years into what MIT students call a wicked hahd problem that will require intelligently led collaboration among multiple components of the U.S. government.  Iran is not a problem that can be resolved with a lead agency solution.

Retain International Alliances to Avoid a Nuclear North Korea.  Traditionally there has been ambiguity over whether ambassadors report to the Secretary of State or the President.  Similarly, there is ambiguity over whether special envoys, such as Christopher Hill, report to the Secretary of State or to the President.  By moving the North Korea negotiation up to the level of the presidential national security team and by swarming intelligence community resources in support of a presidential mission team, it may be possible to bring more national unity of effort to the task than by handling it in a functional stovepipe.

Pour Political Capital into Resolution of Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.  Tony Blair and General Jones worked together as special envoys to the Middle East.  Most experts continue to agree that the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts continue to fuel anti-American sentiment in the Arab world that will translate into attacks on Americans abroad and at home for years to come.  By putting the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on a very public list of ten presidential mission teams before the beginning of his administration, President-elect Obama could set into motion a well-conceived and well-organized four-year timetable that could yield three Nobel Prizes in 2012.

The incoming presidential national security team might choose other presidential missions but the list should probably be restricted to ten in order to establish a manageable precedent for subsequent administrations.  Darfur, Myanmar, Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, energy independence, economic national security, and climate change are all viable candidates for a presidential national security team, so the list here is only illustrative.  The main point is that the resources of the intelligence community can be used more intelligently by shifting away from their current status as one of many stovepipes, and from the current structure by alphabetically sexy platforms (NRO, NSA, NGA, CIA, DIA, FBI, etc.) toward a more agile, success-driven presidential national security team.