Domestic Intelligence
1. Introduction:
Develop a research paper to address domestic intelligence collection and analysis of your selected terrorist group from your Red Cell Midterm Assignment. Building on the information that you started in your midterm, prepare a new research paper that addresses which intelligence collection disciplines and agencies are essential to effectively collect on and analyze information about the red cell threat you chose in 5-7 full pages of content (not counting title or reference pages).
2. Domestic Intelligence Collection and Analysis:
Specify the most effective intelligence collection and analysis methods against the terrorist organization likely to conduct an attack within the United States that you selected by clearing answering all 3 of the following:
A) What domestic intelligence collection efforts would be best utilized on the organization you selected? (Intelligence Collection disciplines discussed in week 5) Do not focus on overseas intelligence collection programs; this is an HLSS course and we are focused ONLY on collection within the U.S. homeland.
B) Which members of the IC would be the best collectors of intelligence on this particular organization within the country? (the intelligence and law enforcement agencies of the intelligence community we discussed in week 2) You may address agencies that collect overseas and within the homeland as the terrorism nexus overlaps both domains. You may also consider some of the field agencies of DHS (since DHS I&A is just an office and does not collect) as some of the operating components do collect like ICE, CBP, USCG, and the Secret Service (who does focus on terrorism financing). Again, this is a Homeland Security course, so focus on the agencies that can support the homeland (like the FBI), NOT primarily overseas intelligence collection of foreign targets. Clearly focus your paper only on domestic intelligence and law enforcement and remember the CIA does not collect intelligence on Americans domestically, they are a foreign intelligence agency (as are ALL of the military intelligence branches). See the readings from week 5 as well as this link to Executive Order 12333 (2008) https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/eo/eo-12333-2008.pdf. However, the NSA is very different as they can and do collect both foreign and domestic communications (when authorized by a court [like FISA] or under certain conditions by the Attorney General to support the FBI). See https://www.nsa.gov/about/faqs/sigint-faqs.shtml
C) What intelligence analysis strategies would be the most effective and why? (choose only from the analytical strategies discussed in the week 6 lesson and specifically the reading A tradecraft primer: Structured analytic techniques for improving intelligence analysis or found at this link https://www.hsdl.org/?abstract&did=20945). Remember that critical thinking (brainstorming) and situational logic DO NOT in themselves constitute an analytical approach — be specific and pick at least two specific strategies you think will help analyze what can be collected on a clandestine terrorist group attempting to attack the U.S. homeland.
Note: Only focus here in this progress paper on intelligence collection disciplines, the most appropriate IC agencies to play a role, and the most effective analytical techniques to employ in this scenario. As a paper for this HLSS course, these questions are to be answered as it relates to collecting and analyzing intelligence on the terrorist group plans and activities within the U.S. as they prepare to attack. Do not address how to stop this attack, that will be the topic of your recommendations in your final paper due in week 7. That final paper will address what law enforcement and security officials here in the homeland can do to detect, identify, and warn on and potentially stop the hypothetical attack. You should readdress your hypothetical attack from your midterm using only a paragraph or two (unless you were specifically told that you did not address the attack in sufficient detail in your midterm).
