| Title: |
Counter-Bioterrorism: U.S. Intelligence Challenges
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| Author(s): |
Howard Kirk Mardis, Lt Col, USAF |
| DTIC Keywords: |
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| Abstract: |
This paper discusses challenges the US intelligence
community faces in helping to counter bioterrorism—a real and
emerging threat that has the potential to cause mass destruction
in the United States. It includes background material on a number
of issues related to the threat of bioterrorism to help the reader
understand why the bioterrorism threat is real, why it may be
growing, and why it could potentially inflict mass destruction.
As part of this process the paper reviews key factors associated
with bioterrorism threat analysis. This paper argues that US intelligence
is at a crossroad, facing a number of challenges including the
need to improve its foundation. To make the system more dynamic
and efficient, the intelligence community needs to foster a more
innovative customer-relationship management system and adopt more
aggressive information management and human resource management
strategies. Improvements in these key areas of the intelligence
foundation will lead to enhancements in a wide variety of intelligence
missions—not simply counter-bioterrorism. When faced with transnational
issues like bioterrorism, this paper recommends that the community
needs to be more focused on contributing to the success of specific
mission threads, as opposed to a myopic focus on individual organizational
success. A focus on applying organizational expertise and talents
to specific mission threads, like bioterrorism, will serve as
a catalyst to meaningful improvements in to traditional intelligence
collection and analytical functions. It will also lead to smart
incorporation of new intelligence procedures and ideas such as
harnessing the potential of Open Source Intelligence. This paper
argues that collectively addressing these challenges will allow
the intelligence community to focus more effectively on emerging
threats and help deter and, if necessary, preempt bioterrorist
attacks. It contains recommendations on enhancing intelligence
areas to help counter any future bioterrorist more effectively.
These improvements will not only enhance the counter-bioterrorism
mission but many will directly benefit other intelligence missions.
Comprehensive review of some specific intelligence issues, especially
those involving collection sources and methods, was not possible
in an unclassified study. |
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