National Intelligence Strategy Addresses Traditional and Emerging Threats

The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) has released the 2019 National Intelligence Strategy, which is intended to provide the U.S. intelligence community with strategic direction for the next four years. In its opening pages, the document notes that the strategic environment is changing rapidly, with threats continuing to be posed by traditional adversaries as well as emerging from new actors and technologies like violent extremist groups and cyber tools. An article from the Washington Post identifies what it considers to be the Strategy’s most profound observations on the specifics of the threat environment, which include that many adversaries are continuing to pursue capabilities to inflict catastrophic damage to the U.S. through the use of weapons of mass destruction. The Strategy also assesses that information, communication networks, and systems will be at risk for years to come despite growing awareness of cyber threats and improving cyber defenses. To address these and others threats, the Strategy identifies a series of objectives, one of which it to enhance intelligence through partnerships with a host of other organizations. These organizations include state, local, territorial, and tribal offices as well as private sector entities.