How to Fix the Spooks' New 'Vision'

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence recently released their new vision for the future of the spooks and spies community. And, shockingly enough, it's actually pretty smart -- sparking a bit of optimism for those who think serious change is too long in coming. It's a more far-reaching document than I have seen come out of the IC (Intelligence Community) in the past. The parts about supplying intelligence to everyone from the Departments of Health and Human Services to international organizations to private sector and non-governmental organizations were especially heartening.

That said, it still doesn't reach far enough. Everyone in the IC likes to say that we're in a period of unprecedented and extensive change. If that's the case, I'd expect the response to match the challenge. Some suggestions:

Reducing the size and workload of various agencies. Too many agencies are doing too much of the same thing. Some competition is good, but internal community competition isn't real competition: its cannibalism. If it doesn't deal exclusively with classified information, give it to a university or think tank or contractor. If you are in the information business you ought to be using the best resources period -- not duplicating an existing effort simply because its people are not cleared. That's particularly the case with OSINT, open source intelligence, which so many now say is the source of first resort. ....