The DCI s Family of National Intelligence Guidance Documents

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84B00506R000100110004-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 15, 2002
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: April 1, 1975
• Content Type: REGULATION

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The DCI's Family of National Intelligence
. Guidance Documents
1. The DCI relies on four major documents to provide guidance
to the Intelligence Community on substantive intelligence priorities.
They are listed below in ascending order of specificity-,. The first
three were initiated by Mr. Colby; the fourth, in one form or another,
has existed since the 1950's. They are normally reviewed and revised
annually.
a. Perspectives for Intelligence
b. Objectives for the Intelligence Community
c. The Key Intelligence Questions
d. United States Foreign Intelligence Priorities (usually
referred to as DCID 1 /2, of which it is an attachment)
2. Perspectives for Intelligence, 1975-80
This document was issued by the DCI in July 1974. It
consists of three parts. Part I is entitled Major World Problems and
describes the world environment in which the Intelligence Community
is expected to have to function during the balance of the 1970's. It
projects major world trends and forecasts major changes in the
world environment.
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3. Part II of the Perspectives paper is entitled the Role of
Intelligence. It describes in general terms what are likely to be
the major areas of priority and focus, and the major problems,
for the Intelligence Community during the coming five years. It
attempts to illuminate how intelligence priorities are most likely
to change over this time span.
4. Part III is entitled Implications for Planning. It describes
management problems which the changing world environment is
likely to impose on the Intelligence Community and suggests broad
areas of activity that will require special consideration and focus.
It is intended to stimulate early action on matters requiring planning,
research or development.
5. A revised version of this document, to cover the period
1976-81, is currently in preparation. Consideration is being given
to the inclusion of a fourth section which will attempt, in very general
terms, to project world trends, and their implications for intelligence,
to the year 2000.
6. Objectives for the Intelligence Community for FY 1975
This document, submitted to the President annually, sets
forth the DCI's substantive and management objectives for the
Intelligence Community. Although still in a broad framework,
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intelligence objectives are identified in much more specific terms
than in the Perspectives paper and are keyed to a one-year time
frame. The substantive objectives in this document identify the
following priority areas of intelligence interest:
a. Soviet political, security and economic policies
and intentions;
b. Soviet military and political capabilities to exert
influence or power outside the USSR;
c. Soviet compliance with the Strategic Arms Limitation
agreements and the Limited Test Ban Treaty, the Mutual
Balanced Force Reduction and similar negotiations;
d. Internal and external policies and capabilities of
the Peoples' Republic of China;
.e. Political, security and economic situations or
crises significantly affecting United States interests;
f. International economic policy decisions and-
negotiations relevant to vital interests of the United
States.
7. The Key Intelligence Questions (KIQs) for FY 1975
This document responds to and is an expansion of the
Objectives paper. It lists and describes those specific intelligence
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topics (currently 69) considered to be of highest current interest to
national-level consumers. The KIQs strategy reports identify those
aspects of each topic which require current emphasis in collection,
analysis, and reporting. They also identify which elements of the
community are expected to contribute to the resolution of each KIQ.
8. United States Foreign Intelligence Priorities (DCID 1 /2
Attachment) for FY 1976-1980
This document, unlike the other three, is designed to provide
the Intelligence Community with a comprehensive overview, in
tabular form, of the relative priorities of 102 different (generalized)
intelligence topics with, respect to most countries of the world. It
is thus possible to determine at a glance, for example, that ".RDT&E
on and characteristics of strategic defensive systems" in the USSR
:rates a "1" priority (the highest) but only a "7" (the lowest) in
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that "International investr A" rates a "3" in both the
and
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"Energy resources and policies"
.rates a "2", while "Internal security situation" rates a "4". The
numerical priorities in the tables reflect solely on the relative
importance of topical?., information' on .foreign countries to the policy
formulation, planning and operations of the United States Government,
without regard to the manner in which these intelligence needs may
be satisfied. It is recognized that the need for specific types of
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intelligence collection responding to these priorities will vary from
topic to topic and from country to country, and that in some cases
open sources will prove sufficient.
9. No firm schedule for the production of these guidance
documents has yet been established. When Mr. Colby became the
DCI, he wanted to respond as quickly as possible to the President's
directive of November 1971 that the DCI provide stronger leadership
to the Community. Timing of the issuance of these documents with
the Community's normal program/budget cycle was thus a secondary
consideration at that time. It is recognized, however, that to have
the greatest impact on the annual program planning of the component
elements of the Community the Perspectives, Objectives, and KIQs
should probably appear in that sequence and relatively early in the
calendar year. We are attempting to move toward that kind of
scheduling.
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