An Introduction to National Security - Federal Agencies And Organizations That Focus On National Security Issues

Providing for the national security of the United States is one of the primary duties of the federal government. The Executive Office of the President, U.S. Senate, and the House of Representatives act to establish policy and allocate resources to ensure national security. These policies are then carried out by the wide variety of federal agencies and offices that focus on diplomacy, trade, arms control, military intervention, espionage, money laundering, the environment, and immigration.

Executive Office of the President

The president is the highest executive leader of the United States and the commander in chief of all of the armed forces. As such, the president and his deputies are ultimately responsible for most decisions about national security.

Established by the National Security Act of 1947 (and later amended by the National Security Act Amendments of 1949), the National Security Council (NSC) is a part of the Executive Office of the President. Its primary function is to assist the president on all foreign policy and national security matters. The NSC is headed by the president, and its regular participants include the vice president, secretary of state, secretary of the treasury, secretary of defense, assistant to the president for national security affairs (also called the national security adviser), the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the director of central intelligence. Other key personnel, such as the president's chief of staff, counsel to the president, attorney general, and the assistant to the president for economic policy, are also invited to attend NSC meetings when necessary. Other branches of the Executive Office of the President that are involved in national security matters include:

• Office of Management and Budget
• National Security and International Affairs Division
• Office of National Drug Control Policy
• Office of Science and Technology Policy
• Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

The United States Congress

The U.S. Congress, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate, is crucial to any national security policy. The U.S. Constitution does not assign the executive branch supreme authority—it must have the support of its legislature. All laws and resolutions must be passed through both houses of Congress before the president can act on them. Treaties negotiated by the president must be ratified before the Senate before they are official. Select committees within Congress (such as the Committee on International Relations and the Subcommittee on Intelligence) also serve to oversee policies related to national security and international affairs. Congressional committees and offices related to national security include:

• Congress Budget Office, Defense and International Affairs
• Congressional Research Service
• U.S. Senate Committees: Appropriations; Armed Services; Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Energy and Natural Resources; Finance; Committee on Foreign Relations; Committee on the Judiciary; Select Committee on Intelligence
• U.S. House of Representatives Committees: Appropriations; Banking and Financial Services; Budget; Commerce; Economic and Educational Opportunities; International Relations; Judiciary; National Security; Resources; Science; Transportation and Infrastructure; Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

Government Agencies and Organizations

Key agencies and organizations of the U.S. government are involved in the implementation of national security initiatives and programs that gather tactical military intelligence; respond to transnational threats, terrorism, or cyber warfare; provide border security; and aim to thwart narcotics trafficking, international organized crime, and the covert employment of weapons of mass destruction. Perhaps chief among government organizations is the Department of Defense, which includes the U.S. Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy. The armed forces all play vital roles in safeguarding the country's national security and are called in to enforce and defend U.S. security policies when needed. Figure 1.1 shows the involvement of these forces in the intelligence community. Additional agencies within the Department of Defense support military and security operations. Other federal entities involved in national security include:

• The Department of Commerce—Bureau of Industry and Security, International Trade Administration
• The Department of Energy—National Nuclear Security Administration, National Laboratories and Technology Centers
• The Department of Homeland Security—the U.S. Coast Guard, the Citizenship and Immigration Service, the Customs and Border Protection Service, the Office for Domestic Preparedness, the Transportation Security Administration
• The Department of Justice—the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Drug Intelligence Center
• The Department of State—Foreign embassies, regional and functional bureaus, the National Foreign Affairs Training Center
• The Department of the Treasury—Office of International Affairs
• Independent Agencies—the Peace Corps, U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, U.S. International Trade Commission, Export-Import Bank, Overseas Private Investment Corporation, U.S. Agency for International Development
• Federally Funded Research and Development Centers—the Center for Naval Analyses, RAND Corporation, the Institute for Defense Analyses

THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY. Headed by the director of central intelligence (DCI), the U.S. intelligence community includes the Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, Army Intelligence, Navy Intelligence, Air Force Intelligence, Marine Corps Intelligence, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, and aspects of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Homeland Security, Department of the

FIGURE 1.1

Treasury, Department of Energy, and Department of State. The main goal of the intelligence community is to prevent, detect, and defend against immediate and long-term threats to national security. The DCI is aided by another group, called the National Intelligence Council, which is composed of government intelligence officers as well as members of the public (academic or nonprofit organizations) and private sectors.

The intelligence community also includes national centers to address specific security threats: the Counterterrorist Center, the Crime and Narcotics Center, the Directorate for MASINT (Measurement and Signature Intelligence) and Technical Collection, the El Paso Intelligence Center, Information Analysis Infrastructure Protection, the National Drug Intelligence Center, the National Virtual Translation Center, the Terrorist Screening Center, the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, and the Weapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation and Arms Control Center.