The changing focus and priorities of Post-Cold War civilian intelligence in the United States of America

Abstract

The aim of the study is to determine if any changes in US civilian intelligence focus and priorities occurred in the periods between the Cold War, the post-Cold War, and post-9/11 respectively. In order to do so, the study provides a conceptual framework of intelligence, with specific reference to the role of the policy maker, and the relationship between intelligence and policy. The conceptual framework establishes that the policy maker has a critical role to play in determining intelligence focus and priorities, but also acknowledges that intelligence should have a degree of independence. The importance of a national security policy and strategy in establishing intelligence focus and priorities, as well as the different interpretations of national security in modern times, is also discussed. The study further establishes the intelligence focus and priorities of US civilian intelligence in the Cold War, post-Cold War, and post-9/11 periods. Although the emphasis of the study is on the post-Cold War period, the Cold War era is discussed, as it was the major factor in global politics for most of the second half of the twentieth century, and served as a point of reference for the subsequent periods. The study found that no fundamental changes had occurred in intelligence focus and priorities between the different periods. In fact, the research established that relatively few “new” issues have developed since the Cold War and that a shift in emphasis mainly occurred. As a result the study, acknowledges that intelligence focus is not unique to a specific period, but tends to overlap. Additionally, it determines that intelligence focus and priorities are extensively influenced by events.