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The 2015 National Security Strategy: Authorities, Changes, Issues for Congress
National Intelligence Strategy22
Requirement. The Intelligence Authorization Act for FY2015 (PL. 113-463, Title 50, U.S.C.
3043a) required, for the first time, that the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) prepare a
comprehensive National Intelligence Strategy (NIS) to meet national security objectives for the
following four-year period, or beyond if appropriate. The NIS must be prepared every four years,
beginning in 2017. In part, this requirement codifies an existing practice; the DNI has been
producing a NIS since 2005,23 but the statute contains specific requirements.
Contents of the Mandate. By statute, the NIS must be consistent with the most recent national
security strategy, as well as the strategic plans of other relevant U.S. departments and agencies
and any other relevant national-level plans. The NIS must also
1. address matters related to national and military intelligence, including
counterintelligence;
2. identify the major national security missions that the intelligence community is
currently pursuing and will pursue in the future to meet the anticipated security
environment;
3. describe how the intelligence community will utilize personnel, technology,
partnerships, and other capabilities to pursue the major national security missions
identified in paragraph (2);
4. assess current, emerging, and future threats to the intelligence community,
including threats from foreign intelligence and security services and insider
threats;
5. outline the organizational roles and missions of the elements of the intelligence
community as part of an integrated enterprise to meet customer demands for
intelligence products, services, and support;
6. identify sources of strategic, institutional, programmatic, fiscal, and technological
risk; and
(...continued)
prioritized. See President George W. Bush, The National Security Strategy of the United States, September 2002,
available at http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/nsc/nss/2002/. The 2006 NSS maintained the same basic
format and content as the 2002 NSS, though it added an additional area of effort ("challenges and opportunities of
globalization") for a total of nine, and it included, in each area, a discussion of "successes" since 2002. See President
George W. Bush, The National Security Strategy of the United States, March 2006, available at http://georgewbush-
whitehouse.archives.gov/nsc/nss/2006/index.html. Under President Barack Obama, the 2010 NSS began by identifying
four "enduring interests": "the security of the United States, its citizens, and U.S. Allies and partners; a strong,
innovative, and growing U.S. economy in an open international economic system that promotes opportunity and
prosperity; respect for universal values at home and around the world; and an international order advanced by U.S.
leadership that promotes peace, security and opportunity through stronger cooperation to meet global challenges". For
each of those interests, the NSS named between three and six objectives, and for each objective, a number of sub-
objectives. While it loosely prioritized among interests-"this Administration has no greater responsibility than the
safety and security of the American people," see p.4-it did not prioritize among objectives. While it included a three-
page discussion of the importance of whole-of-government approaches, see pp. 14-16, and broadly described a division
of labor among agencies, it did not assign roles and responsibilities for accomplishing named objectives. See President
Barack Obama, National Security Strategy, May 2010, available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/
rss_viewer/national_securitystrategy.pdf.
22 For more information, see CRS Report R43793, Intelligence Authorization Legislation for FY2014 and FY2015:
Provisions, Status, Intelligence Community Framework, by Anne Daugherty Miles For further information on the NIS
or other intelligence related matters, contact CRS analyst Anne Miles.
23 See Appendix B for more details.Congressional Research Service
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Lucas, Nathan J. & McInnis, Kathleen J. The 2015 National Security Strategy: Authorities, Changes, Issues for Congress, report, February 26, 2016; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc824490/m1/13/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.