ABSTRACT

Throughout its history, the United States has embraced intelligence with varying degrees of intensity. During the Revolutionary War, George Washington skillfully employed intelligence to defeat the stronger British forces. Up until the latter half of the twentieth century, however, intelligence was employed primarily during wartime. The Cold War proved to be the impetus that gave birth to the modern U.S. intelligence community (IC). Beginning with the National Security Act of 1947, for the next four decades, the IC directed its efforts primarily against the Soviet Union and its allies. As a result, agencies grew adept at tracking the activities of large, monolithic military powers. Even as the Soviet Union crumbled and the threat of terrorism emerged, however, agencies continued to operate as they had during the Cold War. As the 9-11 attacks demonstrated, the strategies that worked well against large nation-states and armies were far less successful when employed against small, flexible, networked terrorist groups. Preventing terrorism is now the IC's number one priority; the community continues to evolve and position itself to confront this and other challenges.