INTELLIGENCE REQUIREMENTS PRIMER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91M00696R000500140005-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 3, 2004
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: July 6, 1977
• Content Type: MF

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MEMORANDUM FOR: DCID 1/2 Ad Hoc Group
FROM:
a.,rma, DCID 1/2 Ad Hoc Group
Intelligence Requirements Primer
1. 0 Attached is the first rough draft of a
proposed Intelligence Community Staff document designed
to provide an introduction to the substantive intelligence
requirements process in the US Intelligence Community.
2. Your comments and suggestions by 15 July 1977
on the scope and approach taken and on correlation of your
input sections with the design of the paper will be
appreciated.
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THE SUBSTANTIVE INTELLIGENCE
REQUIREMENTS SYSTEM
STRUCTURE AND PROCESS
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Coordination Draft
30 June 1977
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I. INTRODUCTION
Page
A. Purpose and Scope 1
B. Responsibilities and Directives 2
C. System Evolution 4
D. System Operation 5
II. THE SYSTEM STRUCTURE
A. Basic Design 8
B. The Functional Roles in the System 9
1. Consumers 9
2. Production Coordinators 10
3. Producers 12
4. Collection Coordinators 12
5. Collectors 13
6. Processors 14
III. THE REQUIREMENTS PROCESS
A. Substantive Intelligence Requirements 15
B. Intelligence Requirements Categories and 18
Priorities
C. Selected Lists of Requirements 20
D. Production Requirements 21
1. Responsibilities and Guidelines 21
2. The Deputy to the DCI for
National Intelligence 22
3. The CIA 23
4. The DOD 24
5. Department of State 24
6. Other Members of the
Intelligence Community 25
E. Collection Requirements
1. Responsibilities and Guidelines 26
2. All-Source Collection Requirements 26
3. Collection Requirements Management
at the National Level 27
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
(Continued)
Page
E. Collection Requirements (cont'd)
4.
C
o
mmi
ttee o
n Imagery Requirements
30
5.
T
h
e S
IGINT
Committee
32
6.
T
h
e H
uman R
esources Committee (HRC)
35
ANNEXES
A. Requ
ire
m
ent
s Syst
em for Current Intelligenc
e
38
B. The
Nat
u
re
of an
Intelligence Requirement
58
C. Orga
in
niz
the
a
tio
Sys
ns/Act
tem (t
ivities Assigned Roles
o be added)
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Figure
Page Number
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
11 1 Intelligence Requirements System
Structure
1.6 2 Types of Functional Requirements
17 3 The Intelligence Production Requirements
Process
28 4 The Intelligence Collection Requirements
Process
29 5 Collection Requirements Management
41 6 Requirements System for Current
Intelligence and Warning
58 7 The Basic Data Field for an
Intelligence Requirement
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II
This document is designed to provide an understanding
of the substantive intelligence requirements system which
National Intelligence Community. It is
a companion document to the recently updated Intelligence
Community Planning System and is published annually to
describe the existing requirements system for purposes of
basic orientation and reference. It is designed to be of
value to the incoming generalist at the middle and upper
management and staff levels through presentation of a broad
appreciation of how requirements are handled in the Intelli-
gence Community. For newly-assigned specialists who are working
in a single area, the document should assist in providing an
overall context and perspective. Personnel outside the
Intelligence Community, those conducting evaluations of
intelligence and those who have oversight responsibilities,
may wish to use this document as an initial reference.
Throughout, an attempt has been made to stay away from
technical detail but yet provide a broad base of common
understanding. Suggestions which will assist in attaining
this objective are welcome.
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I. INTRODUCTION
A. Purpose and Scope
1. 0 This document is designed to provide an understanding
of the substantive intelligence requirements system structure
and process in the --US SIntelligence Community. The
focus is on national intelligence but the system described
serves the entire Community and therefore applies in some
measure to departmental and tactical intelligence as well.
2. ^ To provide a summary background for discussing
the system structure and process, the following paragraphs
describe the related Director of Central Intelligence (DCI)
responsibilities and pertinent directives, discuss the
evolution of the system and explain its overall operation.
With respect to the nature of the system design, Section
II then presents the theoretical requirements system
structure in conceptual terms with emphasis on the major
functional roles involved. This is followed in Section III
by an explanation of the actual requirements process
focusing on production and collection requirements management
and procedures.
The process for responding to current intelligence
requirements differs from that established for processing
scheduled. substantive intelligence requirements. Priorities,
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for example, are determined by the situation occuring at
a particular time. The need for near-real-time responses
has dictated the evolution of a special requirements system
for handling current intelligence requirements. This
special system is described in Annex A.
4. 0 Because some are interested in how a requirement
can be followed through the intelligence process, the
specific nature of an intelligence requirement is explained
in Annex B. The senior individuals, organizations and
entities identified with the functional roles in the
requirements system are listed in Annex C. The table at
Annex C which illustrates the geographical and topical
parallelism in consumer and producer organizations, also
lists the senior points of contact in each area at the
time this paper was published.
B. Responsibilities and Directives
1. Fine DCI, as the principal intelligence officer
to the President and the National Security Council (NSC),
is inherently responsible for determining Presidential
and NSC interests, needs and priorities. His authority
over intelligence requirements is based on the duty assigned
to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) by the National
Security Act of 1947 to "make recommendations to the NSC
for the coordination of such intelligence activities of
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the departments and agencies as relate to the national
security." Executive Order (EO) 11905 instructs the DCI
to "develop national intelligence requirements and
priorities." In carrying out these responsibilities, the
DCI determines the needs of other departments and agencies
in several ways.
The DCI uses the Intelligence Community Planning
System to promulgate basic guidance and to provide a
broad Community framework for substantive requirements
and priorities. In this he is supported by the National
Foreign Intelligence Board (NFIB) which provides (DCID* 1/8)
advice and assistance with respect to "the establishment
of appropriate objectives, requirements and priorities
for substantive intelligence." To ensure that guidance
is kept current with respect to priorities, a separate
DCID 1/2 prescribes a system which enables priorities to
be adjusted consistent with a dynamic world environment.
3. 0 The National Intelligence Officers (NIOs) act for
the DCI, both within and external to the Community, to
identify substantive intelligence needs within their
respective areas of interest. The DCI is also supported
by systems-specific collection committees in the areas
of imagery (DCID 1/13), signals intelligence (DCID 6/1),
and human resources (DCID 1/17). These committees translate
*DCID - Director of Central Intelligence Directive
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basic guidance into tailored collection requirements and
priorities for each of these major types of collection
activity.
C. System Evolution
Tne Substantive Intelligence Requireinen.ts System
has evolved over a period of years without there having
been a predesigned formal plan, any comprehensive overall
guidance or a stated Community-wide doctrine. A feature
of it has been the collegiality which has existed among
the members of the Intelligence Community in providing
support to the decision-making process at many governmental
levels. Foremost among the several driving factors behind
the evolution of a requirements system has been the desir-
ability of developing a systematic way of furnishing
intelligence support to a great variety of consumers
with both similar and varying interests. There is also
a continuing need for a method of determining and prior-
itizing those intelligence requirements which should be
accepted for action. The logic of relating intelligence
collection activity as closely as possible to the needs
of consumers and to the input required for intelligence
analysis and production is another factor which has become
increasingly important as expensive technical collection
systems have come on stream. A related aspect is the
urgent necessity to exploit, as fully as possible, the
potential output from these technical systems. As the
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spectrum of intelligence collection. capability and demand
has broadened, emphasis has been sustained on economy and
efficiency. This has resulted in an increased focus on
guiding the initiative exercised by intelligence collectors
to exploit unforeseen opportunities.
0
As requirements systems have evolved in each of
the major areas of intelligence production and collection
activity, the necessity to relate them to each other has
become more and more apparent. Refined and expanded
Community guidance has been called for to provide a common
basis for prioritization and standardization of terminology
so that correlation can be enhanced and overall effectiveness
can be improved.
D. System Operation
It should be recognized that guidance for
collectors and producers alike stems from more than one
source, and that this is the normal and desirable situation.
Ongoing routine guidance on the whole realm of intelligence
concerns is provided by the matrix of requirements priorities
established and periodically revised in the Attachment
to DCID 1/2 (discussed in detail later in this paper).
This is a dynamic system which permits revision of the
priorities as changing intelligence needs or changes in
the external environment necessitate.
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2. The second realm of requirements are those
which stem from the immediate concerns of the top level
policymakers in the government. Whereas the assignment
of priorities to topics in the DCID 1/2 Attachment is
governed by a strict set of definitions (such as being
"vital to US national survival" to qualify as a priority
one requirement), the only criterion for inclusion of
topics of Presidential interest is simply that of an
expressed need for information on the topic by the potential
user of that intelligence. This list of topics, whether
expressed in terms of Key Intelligence Questions or some
successor document, may be revised whenever necessary.
There is yet a third set or realm of require-
ments, those which may be described as ad hoc. In
following current events, situations come up which make
intelligence on certain topics of greater interest or
importance than usual, or which necessitate obtaining
additional intelligence quickly. Such situations can be
anything from a developing international crisis to an
upcoming international negotiating session. They may
relate to an upcoming unusual collection opportunity which,
if not exploited, is unlikely to come along again soon.
Experienced intelligence professionals recognize
these three realms of requirements and are accustomed to
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responding to them and to making necessary adjustments
as circumstances dictate. In practice there is seldom
any disagreement as to what takes precedence. In point
of fact, most requirements whose importance warrants it
are satisfied, within the limitations of technical capa-
bilities and the nature of the target. While it is clear
that professional judgment routinely comes into play in
making detailed decisions as to how to respond to these
various realms of requirements, the judgments are made
neither arbitrarily nor in isolation, and the interaction
among professionals and the experienced judgment of those
making the decisions are what make the system work.
5. Another way of looking at the same phenomenon
may be helpful in understanding it for those not working
within the system. There are certain topics of high level
intelligence interest, and these are expressed by means
of Key Intelligence Questions or other such selective lists.
Collection strategies, devised by the National Intelligence
Officers, ensure that the questions are adequately
addressed by the appropriate collection systems and
production analysts. Thus the several questions which
stem from each topic of concern are translated into a
larger number of requirements. At the operational level,
these requirements are in turn responded to by issuance
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of an even larger number of detailed taskings -- very
specific instructions to a given collection system to take
certain actions. The take of these multiple collection
efforts then flows back up the request chain, and eventually
is incorporated into answers to the questions, and judgments
on the issues, which stimulated the process in the first
place.
Supplementing the requirements represented
by the very selective list of high level intelligence
interests is the larger and more comprehensive range of
intelligence concerns expressed in the DCID 1/2 Attachment.
These requirements have associated priorities which
represent the best judgment of the Intelligence Community
acting collectively. Ad hoc requirements, the third realm,
act to temporarily alter the priorities of certain require-
ments, and the system expects and can accommodate this
routinely.
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