Information Sharing and Collaboration

This white paper focuses on opportunities for integration that may be achieved by modifying the Intelligence community (IC) planning, programming, and budgeting process, i.e., the process of budget formation with an eye toward stronger, integrated execution resulting in better collaboration across the Community. Today’s process does not easily accommodate efforts to integrate programs and activities across the IC, nor do they serve the goal of a more collaborative Community. The observations and recommendations included in this paper are pertinent both to the executive and legislative branches. Modifying the process could help the IC integrate activities at the conceptual stage and minimize the tendency to cobble together capabilities later when it becomes more difficult and costly. A more streamlined and cohesive process would also offer the IC a way to develop and deploy technologies, tools, and techniques more rapidly—both for operational and collaborative use and in anticipation of new challenges.The complex and archaic planning, programming, and budgeting process was created in a different era and has worked remarkably well, considering how many people with varying roles touch the budget during the lengthy process of request and approval. The experience of 9/11, the challenges arising from agile terrorists, and the complex nature of today’s global intelligence and national security environments, however, mandate that it is time to take another look at the process.A full discussion of the intricacies of this process is beyond the scope of this paper. What is offered is a high-level examination from the role of the executive branch in developing the IC budget request to submit to Congress, to the subsequent stage when Congress considers and acts upon the request.

http://www.afcea.org/mission/intel/documents/Fall_Intel_White_Paper_2007.pdf