In this day and age of massive budget deficits and increased Congressional Oversight has the DIA become redundant?
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the mission, capabilities and roles of the Defense Intelligence Agency within the American Intelligence Community and the value it brings to the National Security agenda of the United States government. The symbolic relationship between the Defense Intelligence System and warfighters is responsible for the high mission success of the United States military (Sagan, 2004). This paper will assess the relationship between the Defense Intelligence Agency and policymakers, defense planners and warfighters. It will also discuss whether the Defense Intelligence Agency has become redundant in the present age of increased Congressional Oversight and massive budget deficits.
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In the United States, both non-state and state actors now try to challenge citizens, the government, and the military, making the country’s military constant. The Defense Intelligence System is therefore committed to provide relevant defense intelligence to policymakers, warfighters, and defense planners of the United States in order to prevent strategic surprise. Certainly, the government of the United States is in great need of intelligence generated by the Department of Defense that will provide the cabinet members and the President with enough insight required to make wise decisions (Erwin, 2013).
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The part of the government that needs this intelligence the most is the executive branch that is charged with the responsibility of making complex decisions as far as the utilization of the United States military is concerned. For the Defense Intelligence Agency to effectively perform its role within the American National Security agenda, it must possess the necessary capabilities such as the ability to gather, process and analyze defense and military-related information with the aim of stating the best action that should be taken (Erwin, 2013).
The above mentioned attributes of the Defense Intelligence Agency has made the American warfighter to achieve success on the battle field since early 1960s. Some may argue that the primary role of the Defense Intelligence Agency was to provide policy makers with relevant intelligence information concerning the Cold War of America (Erwin, 2013). Since the end of the America’ Cold War, the Defense Intelligence Agency has evolved following transformation of geopolitics. Currently, the Defense Intelligence Agency has made the world a smaller place to live in with the help of modern technology. The United States enemies are still capable of gaining endless access to the country through cyberspace. This has made the Defense Intelligence Agency to utilize a vast Information Technology component to target the United States enemies. This way, the Defense Intelligence Agency has been able to provide secure and agile intelligence information for the effective defense of the United States (Sagan, 2004).
In addition to the DIA’s expertise in cyber warfare, the agency also displays competency on Measurement and Signature Intelligence technology that is used to scrutinize, control, interrupt, and eventually obliterate the nuclear development programs in North Korea and Iraq. This level of competency places the Defense Intelligence Agency at a very important position within the National Security system and the overall American Intelligence Community by keeping policymakers, defense planners, and warfighters informed about the threats presented by the United States enemies. The ideal mission, capabilities and roles of the Defense Intelligence Agency can be said to be imperative to the priorities of the America’s National Security because the agency takes a leading position in the current geopolitical climate of the United States (Erwin, 2013).
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In order to make a conclusion as to whether the Defense Intelligence Agency is redundant or not, it is important to analyze the agency’s mission, roles and capabilities as well as those of other members of the Intelligence Community. Critical analysis of the missions of the American Intelligence Community reveals an overlap of duties and operations indicating lack of redundancy and presence of unity of purpose. Both traditional and modern strategic visions of the Defense Intelligence Agency demonstrate its strong capabilities that are aimed at ensuring the overall wellbeing of policy makers, defense planners, and warfighters of America. Currently, the United States still continues to deploy its troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. These proofs make it very difficult to declare the Defense Intelligence Agency redundant. However, it is important to acknowledge that the global economic crisis have caused great negative impacts on the American Intelligence Community as a whole. This may make some government official to make quick conclusions that the Defense Intelligence Agency has lost value and relevance to the United States security system (Erwin, 2013).
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The value and lack of redundancy of the Defense Intelligence Agency can be evaluated based on the victories that the American warfighters have enjoyed for more than 50 years. Many people will agree that the Defense Intelligence Agency serves a very important role to the United States National Security agenda based on numerous victories achieved in the sphere of conventional warfare. The fact that American enemies are still ready to attack the nation, the country remains a nation of war (Sagan, 2004). The value of the Defense Intelligence Agency to America can therefore be judged through a comprehensive view of the performance of the American warfighters towards Afghanistan, Iraq, and towards terrorism. Few individuals may doubt the value of the Defense Intelligence Agency. However, many international and local groups that are interested in a secure and safe America may argue that the Defense Intelligence Agency is of great value t the Department of Defense and to the overall United States National Security (Sagan, 2004).
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According to Erwin (2013), the Defense Intelligence Agency acts as the sole source of defense intelligence that helps defense planners, policymakers, and warfighters to make necessary decisions. The agency deploys intelligence strategies globally with the main interest of defending the national security of America. In addition, the Directorate for Information Management and Chief Information Office serves the purpose of delivering secure digital intelligence for the general decision advantage of the National Security of the United States. Again the Defense Intelligence Agency partners with those who can contribute to its intelligence mission globally only to make the United States safe and secure (Sagan, 2004).
According to the Deputy Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, the agency has implemented numerous initiatives to ensure compliance with the United State Department of Defense. One area of implementation is adoption of the National Intelligence derivative classifier training module that is done to all affiliates and employees to enhance their expertise. The Defense Intelligence Agency, like the National Security Agency consumes a larger part of the national intelligence budget of the United States due to its relevance to the nation. It can therefore be concluded that the Defense Intelligence Agency is not redundant as it provide the Department of defense with numerous analytical products (Erwin, 2013).
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