Department of Defense, Under Secretary of Defense (Intelligence)
Department/Agency: Department of Defense
Position:
Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence
Executive Schedule: Executive Level III - Presidential Appointment with Senate Confirmation
Major Responsibilities:
- Advise Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense on intelligence, counterintelligence and security
- Oversee DOD intelligence agencies and field activities
- Supervise training, equipping and staffing of Pentagon defense intelligence positions
- Recommend allocation of defense intelligence resources and justify budget before Congress
- Advise Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics on intelligence-related procurements
- Supervise intelligence activities and programs and coordinate with the rest of the Intelligence Community
- Oversee surveillance and reconnaissance operations
- Coordinate efforts to ensure interoperability of intelligence systems
- Protect sensitive information
Key Competencies and Preferred Qualifications:
- Background in intelligence
- Pentagon experience
Insight:
Stephen Cambone was the first to take on the role of Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence after the office was created in 2003 to better coordinate the Pentagon's intelligence gathering. Cambone outlined four major responsibilities in a December 2003 interview with the ISR Journal.
“One is to ensure that the war fighters and the intelligence analysts get the information that they need when they need it, in a format that's useful to them,” he said. “We've complemented that with a second office to think about how we need to prepare ourselves for that period 10 or 15 or 20 years from now, by way of investment in our technology, our organization and our people.” He also highlighted counterintelligence and defense intelligence budget tracking as two key functions of his office.
Cambone said he and his team studied the disconnect between those who gather intelligence and those who analyze and respond to that information.
“We concluded that a concerted effort needed to be made to horizontally integrate the enterprise that allowed for both the upstream and downstream processes to be connected in the middle by the means of communication and analysis and distribution — collection on the one hand and [analytical] products on the other, and getting them connected in the middle by the right processes,” he said.
The under secretary of defense for intelligence is charged with exploring and advocating for the investment in new technologies to improve the collection and sharing of intelligence information. Cambone touted the Space-Based Radar program as a step toward an uninterrupted data stream that can provide a complete intelligence picture. He also pushed for a Web-based approach to information sharing across the steps of the intelligence gathering and analysis process.
Cambone’s successor, James R Clapper, Jr., was assigned the added role of director of defense intelligence in the office of the director of national intelligence. “The objective here is to facilitate staff interaction and promote synchronization,” Clapper said. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell made the change to the job description.
The next intelligence under secretary must continue the work of his two predecessors to coordinate the intelligence efforts across multiple agencies and components to ensure that no vital piece of the intelligence puzzle slips by undetected.
Key Relationships – Within the Department or Agency:
Secretary of Defense
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Heads of Defense Intelligence Components
General Counsel of the Department of Defense
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration
Director, DOD Counterintelligence Field Activity
Defense Intelligence Agency
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
National Reconnaissance Office
National Security Agency
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Department of Defense Inspector General
Key Relationships – Within the Government:
Intelligence Community
Director of National Intelligence
Central Intelligence Agency
Department of Justice
Department of State
Congressional committees
Key Relationships – Outside the Government:
Foreign governments
International organizations
Nomination Referred to:
Senate Committee on Armed Services
Current Position Profile:
1. James R. Clapper, Jr., M.A. (Confirmed April 15, 2007). Retired lieutenant general, U.S. Air Force. Dual-hatted as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, reporting to the Director of National Intelligence. Former director of the National Geo-spatial Intelligence Agency and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency. Worked in intelligence industry, including COO of Detica DFI, after 32-year Air Force career. Served on task force that investigated the Khobar Towers bombing in 1996.
Recent Position Profiles:
2. Stephen Cambone, Ph.D. (2003-2006). First Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. Former DOD director of program analysis and evaluation. Former principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy and special assistant to the secretary and deputy secretary of defense. Former director for strategic defense policy. Former senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and research director of research at the Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University.
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