The Intelligence Community: Department of State

There has seldom been an organization in the world with the power and influence of the Department of State.  It is the premier diplomatic entity of the most powerful country in the world with influence in every nearly every country and intelligence pouring in from all over the globe.  It was founded by Congress and President George Washington on July 27, 1789 as the Department of Foreign Affairs and it was the first federal agency to be created.  Its first Secretary of State was Thomas Jefferson. 

 The State Department gathers and analyzes intelligence in numerous ways.  The primary form of intelligence gathering is through U.S. embassies all over the world.  Ambassadors and embassy staff serve as diplomatic contacts but also as open intelligence agents, reporting their activities and those of prominent foreign leaders and agencies to the Department of State and in turn to the Intelligence Community.  Intelligence reports come in via a secure telegram system called the cable system.  Tags are included on the cable to determine who gets the information.  This allows a very large amount of consumers to be up to date on the most important details that the embassies handle.

 The Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) handles all of the intelligence analysis and research within the Department of State.  Its primary mission is to gather and analyze intelligence to serve U.S. diplomatic efforts.  It uses all sources of intelligence, provides valuable independent analysis of events for policymakers, and ensures that intelligence activities support both diplomacy and defense activities. It also is responsible for dealing with geographic and political boundary issues.  INR also produces written products that cover the full range of geographic and functional areas of expertise. It is the focus for all policy issues and activities involving the Intelligence Community and is the Secretary of State’s principal adviser on all intelligence matters.

 Founded October 1, 1945 as World War II was ending, the INR originally was the Research and Analysis Branch of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).  President Harry Truman did not originally believe in having an organized intelligence organization in a time of peace so he broke up the OSS between the State and War Departments.  When the National Security Act of 1947 created the CIA, the INR stayed with the State Department as its own intelligence agency.

 The INR is headed by an Assistant Secretary of State and is composed of three main divisions:  Intelligence Policy and Coordination, Analysis and Production, and Research.  Research is responsible for all internal and external research as well as publications and reports of the Bureau.  Intelligence Policy and Coordination Is responsible for the intelligence resources and any operations that are in effect.  Analysis and Production has analysis divisions within its structure that are responsible for several groups: Africa; East Asia and Pacific; Near East and South Asia; Inter-American Affairs; Russia and Eurasia, Europe; Economics; Strategic, Proliferation, and Military Issues; Geographer and Global Issues; and Terrorism, Narcotics and Crime. 

 Recently the INR has been notable because it was the only Intelligence Agency to deny that Iraq had any weapons of mass destruction and it entered its dissent into the National Security Estimate of 2002.  This is commonly referred to as “Footnote 1.”  Due to this, the INR was spared a scathing review that every other agency received in the aftermath of the 2003 Iraq invasion.  It is also being looked upon as a model for reviewing the Intelligence community as a whole. 

 Overall the Department of State, and specifically the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, play a very valuable role in the Intelligence Community.  Diplomatic Intelligence can sometimes be even more important that military intelligence.  In a world where military force is increasingly being frowned upon, this is a source that is crucial for the continuation of American security.