Document: U.S. National Intelligence Strategy 2019

January 23, 2019 1:20 PM

The following is the recently released U.S. National Intelligence Strategy 2019.

Letter from the Director of National Intelligence

As the Director of National Intelligence, I am fortunate to lead an Intelligence Community (IC) composed of the best and brightest professionals who have committed their careers and their lives to protecting our national security. The IC is a 24/7/365 organization, scanning the globe and delivering the most distinctive, timely insights with clarity, objectivity, and independence to advance our national security, economic strength, and technological superiority.

This, the fourth iteration of the National Intelligence Strategy (NIS), is our guide for the next four years to better serve the needs of our customers, to help them make informed decisions on national security issues, and to ultimately keep our Nation safe. The NIS is designed to advance our mission and align our objectives with national strategies, and it provides an opportunity to communicate national priority objectives to our workforce, partners, oversight, customers, and also to our fellow citizens.

We face significant changes in the domestic and global environment; we must be ready to meet 21st century challenges and to recognize emerging threats and opportunities. To navigate today’s turbulent and complex strategic environment, we must do things differently. This means we must:

  • Increase integration and coordination of our intelligence activities to achieve best effect and value in executing our mission,
  • Bolster innovation to constantly improve our work,
  • Better leverage strong, unique, and valuable partnerships to support and enable national security outcomes, and
  • Increase transparency while protecting national security information to enhance accountability and public trust.

This National Intelligence Strategy increases emphasis in these areas. It better integrates counterintelligence and security, better focuses the IC on addressing cyber threats, and sets clear direction on privacy, civil liberties and transparency.

We have crucial work before us. Our customers depend on us to help them to make wise national security decisions, and Americans count on us to help protect the Nation, all while protecting their privacy and civil liberties. We must provide the best intelligence possible to support these objectives; doing so is a collective responsibility of all of our dedicated IC professionals and, together with our partners, we can realize our vision. Our ongoing goal is to continue to be the very best intelligence community in the world. Thank you for your service and for bringing your talent and commitment to the work of keeping our Nation safe each and every day. Thank you for your dedication to our mission and to the security of our fellow citizens as we take this journey together.

[signed]

Daniel R. Coats
Director of National Intelligence

Download the document here.

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