Trident HLS502 module 1 case December 2017

Module 1 - Case

THE HISTORY, ROLE, FUNCTION, AND ORGANIZATION OF THE U.S. INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY

Assignment Overview

The Use of Multiple INTs

According to General James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence as of July 2013, the U.S. has relied heavily on the use of SIGINT for the identification and disruption of terrorist plots against the U.S. In a July 2013 interview, he said:

Director Clapper: Well, two cases that come to mind [in which SIGINT disrupted the terrorist plots], which are a little dated, but I think in the interest of this discourse, should be shared with the American people, they both occurred in 2009, one was the aborted plot to bomb the subway in New York City in the fall of 2009.

And this all started with a communication from Pakistan to a U.S. person in Colorado. And that led to the identification of a cell in New York City who was bent on a major explosion, bombing of the New York City subway. And a cell was rolled up and in their apartment we found backpacks with bombs.

A second example, also occurring in 2009, involved one of those involved, the perpetrators of the Mumbai bombing in India, David Headly. And we aborted a plot against a Danish news publisher based on the same kind of information.

So those are two specific cases of uncovering plots through this mechanism that prevented terrorist attacks. (full transcript is available at :

http://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/speeches-and-interviews/195-speeches-interviews-2013/874-director-james-r-clapper-interview-with-andrea-mitchell).

Clearly, the national intelligence capabilities exceed only our SIGINT capabilities.

Case Assignment

In this case, your task is to:

Summarize the use and capabilities of 3 other INTs that would have been important in identifying or confirming one of these terrorist threats against the U.S. and allies

Explain specific types of information that each of the 3 INTs is capable of collecting.

Explain the limitations of each of the INTs – what they cannot be expected to reliably collect

Summarize the steps needed to analyze information across the INTs.

Briefly describe the gap between the collection capabilities of the Intelligence Community and the analysis capabilities, and propose reasons for why the IC has consistently been able to prevent the gap exposing the U.S. to terrorist threats.

Properly cite your quotations that you use to support your statements. For more information, please consult the Purdue University OWL: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/

Assignment Expectations

Assignments should be at least 3 pages double-spaced, not counting the cover or reference page. Paper format: (a) Cover page, (b) Header, (c) Body. Submit your assignment by the last day of this module.

Relevance—All content is connected to the question.

Precision—Specific question is addressed. Statements, facts, and statistics are specific and accurate.

Depth of discussion—Present and integrate points that lead to deeper issues.

Breadth—Multiple perspectives and references, multiple issues/factors considered.

Evidence—Points are well-supported with facts, statistics and references.

Logic—Presented discussion makes sense; conclusions are logically supported by premises, statements, or factual information.

Clarity—Writing is concise, understandable, and contains sufficient detail or examples.

Objectivity—Avoids use of first person and subjective bias.